Reporter
After a 3-1 victory in Chicago, Ill. earlier in the season, the CSU Bakersfield volleyball team swept Chicago State University at the Icardo Center on Saturday, Oct. 21.
The Roadrunners (14-10, 7-2 WAC) dominated the Cougars (10-15, 1-8 WAC) in straight sets, giving them two straight three-set sweeps.
With the win over the Chicago State and help from New Mexico State University and Seattle University, CSUB regains the top spot in the Western Athletic Conference, taking a half game lead over the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
“The jobs not done yet, we have to do all the same things, we have to work just as hard and we don’t just get to take a back seat” said senior middle blocker Haylee Roberts.
The first set began with neither team being able to pull away. Each team went back and forth going point by point until the score reached 8-7 in favor of the Roadrunners.
CSUB finally broke free of a one point lead after two attack errors by Chicago State gave the Roadrunners a 10-7 lead.
The Roadrunners continued to expand their lead and ended the set on a 17-8 run, winning the set, 25-15 after an attack error by the Cougars.
CSUB used eleven players in that first set.
“Its big,” said CSUB coach Giovana Melo “it says a lot about our team and what we’ve been doing”.
In the second set, CSUB and Chicago State tried to pull away from each other in another power struggle. The set saw 11 ties and five lead changes.
With the score tied up at 19 apiece, CSUB junior right side/middle blocker Mattison Degarmo got a kill to give the Roadrunners the advantage. Degarmo ended the night with nine kills.
That was followed by service aces from senior setter Fabiana Andrade and senior outside hitter Aleksandra Djordjevic, giving CSUB a 24-21 lead. Andrade added 20 assists, 2 service aces and 4 digs. While Djordjevic posted 6 kills, 3 service aces and 7 digs.
Bakersfield native, freshman outside hitter Emily Hansen sealed the deal for the Roadrunners with a kill and a 25-21 second set win. Hansen contributed with eight kills to the Roadrunners win.
In the third set, CSUB jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Chicago State fought back and once again both teams would fight for an advantage.
With the score knotted at 9-9, a kill by Roberts and a service ace by Andrade gave the Roadrunners the space they needed to take control.
CSUB ended the game on a 16-4 run in route to a 25-13 set win and a three-set sweep of Chicago State.
The Roadrunners have now won two straight games after coming off a two-game losing streak.
“These two games got us right back on track,” said Hansen. “We came out strong just like the team we used to be, and we showed we can come back from a loss.”
The Roadrunners will go on a three-game road trip over the next two weeks and return home for their final two games, Thursday, Nov. 9th against UTRGV at 7 p.m. and senior night, Saturday, Nov. 11tth against NM State at noon.
