SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team (1-2) pulled off five-set thriller against West Regional opponent Concordia University Irvine (1-0) before falling in four sets to Saginaw Valley State (1-1) in the evening match on Friday at The Sports Center.
 
MATCH 1: CSUSM 3 – CUI 1 (25-23, 21-25, 22-25, 25-10, 15-9)
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Sofia Hedqvist – 19 kills | .286 clip | 8 digs | 1 ace | 1 block assist
Trinity Barr – 12 kills | 10 digs | 3 block assists
Madison Turner – 8 kills | 36 assists | 19 digs
Mia Christensen – 22 digs | 5 assists | 3 aces

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars trailed early at 3-7 but rallied back to even the opening set at 8-8 on a kill by Barr.
• Back-to-back kills by Hedqvist gave CSUSM a 13-10 lead before the Golden Eagles came back to tie it at 14-all.
• Another CSUSM run gave the Cougars their largest lead of the set at 18-14 on another Barr kill. The Cougars stayed on top for the remainer of the set to take a 25-23 win in the first set.
• Despite falling in the second set 25-21, the Cougars put together their strongest attack percentage of the match with a .364 clip (16k, 4e, 33ta).
• The second set showed CSUSM spreading out its offense with four different Cougars recording three kills while Christensen served up two of her three aces.
• The Golden Eagles dominated the start of the third set, taking a quick 10-4 lead over CSUSM.
• Down 11-18, the Cougars rallied back to close the gap to 20-22 on a Hedqvist kill to force CUI to take a timeout.
• CSUSM fought off two set points before CUI took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-22 win in the third set.
• In the fourth set, the Cougars caught fire at the 4-3 mark with a 13-2 run to take a 17-5 lead.
• CSUSM racked up four consecutive points to claim the fourth set at 25-10 and force a fifth set.
• The fifth set featured six ties and three lead changes until CSUSM broke a 7-all tie with a 7-0 run before recording a 15-9 win.

MATCH 2: CSUSM 1 – SVSU 3 (25-23, 17-25, 23-25, 22-25)
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Sofia Hedqvist – 13 kills | 6 digs
Mia Christensen – 13 digs | 5 assists | 2 aces
Madison Turner – 37 assists | 17 digs
Gwynnie Wentzel – 7 kills | 1 block

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The first set had seven tie scores and four lead changes.
• At the 23-23 point, Christensen served up an ace for set point before a SVSU attack error gave CSUSM a 25-23 victory and a 1-0 lead in the match.
• The Cardinals led the entire second set after accumulating a .310 attack percentage (13k-4e-29ta) to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 win.
• After SVSU took a quick lead in the third set, the Cougars evened it at 20-all on Hedqvist's wicked top spin service ace.
• CSUSM tied it two more times before falling 25-23 as the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead in the match.
• In the fourth set, the Cougars stayed within two or three points the entire set but weren't able to stop SVSU from taking the fourth set and match with a 25-22 win.  

 
QUICK HITS

• The Cougars are now 1-2 on the season.
• CSUSM extended its win streak against CUI to three matches and are now 3-9 in the all-times series against the Golden Eagles.
• This was the first time the Cougars have played SVSU in program history.
• Turner has registered double-doubles in assists and digs in the first three matches this season.

UP NEXT
CSUSM will close out the Cougar Classic tomorrow against Biola in the finale at 5 p.m. in The Sports Center.