LOS ANGELES  – The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team (2-8, 0-3 CCAA) dropped a nail biter to No. 17 Cal State LA (7-3, 2-1 CCAA) in five sets (23-25, 25-21,10-25, 25-23, 10-15) on Friday night.
 
CSUSM 2 –  No. 17 CSULA 3 (23-25, 25-21, 10-25, 25-23, 10-15)
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Danielle McCasland – 8 kills | 7 digs | 4 aces
Isabelle Bakken – 5 kills | 5 blocks | 6 digs | 2 aces
Gracie Zaitz – 32 assists | 8 digs | 1 ace
Jackie Phillips – 15 digs
Alyssa Gurrola – 5 blocks

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Down by as much as 9-4, the Cougars battled back to take a 21-19 lead on a block by Alyssa Gurrola and Gracie Zaitz followed by a Gurrola kill to force a LA timeout. The Golden Eagles came back and won it at 25-23.
• The Cougars came out strong in the second set, taking a quick 3-1 lead and expanding it to 16-11 on a block by Bakken and Zaitz after a timeout. CSUSM evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-21.
• The Golden Eagles exploded in the third set, taking a swift 25-10 victory.
• The Cougars came out and were determined to force a fifth set, recording five aces in the fourth set for a 25-23 win.
• CSUSM got off to a 3-1 lead in the fifth set, but the Golden Eagles racked off four consecutive points to force a Cougar timeout. Another four-point run made it 12-8 to give CSULA a cushion before cruising to a 15-10 set win and the match victory.
   

QUICK HITS

• This was CSULA's 2024 home opener with the last match being a four-set loss to CSUSB in the 2023 CCAA Tournament finale.
• The last time the Golden Eagles went five sets on their home court was a loss to then-No. 23 Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 24, 2022.
• CSUSM tallied a season-best 12 aces and missed only six serves in the match. The Golden Eagles finished with 17 missed serves and nine aces.
   

UP NEXT
The Cougars will continue their four-match road trip with a stop at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday at 1 p.m.