FRESNO, Calif. – The Sunbirds punctuated the first day of the 2023 volleyball season with a commanding 3-0 sweep of Western New Mexico, splitting a pair of matches on the first day of the Stan State Tournament Friday.
The Sunbirds opened up the morning with a match up against a CCAA foe in the Chico State Wildcats.
In the first set, the Sunbirds found themselves down early after a series of attacking errors and kills by the Wildcats. The Sunbirds struggled to come back from a deficit that was at one time as large as seven points before dropping the first set 25-18.
Chico State used a 6-1 run in the second set to grab another early lead. Down 10-4, FPU put together five straight points that started with a service ace from Rachel Plantinga to bring the Sunbirds back within one. The set continued with the back-and-forth point exchange, but the Sunbirds fell into a two set deficit after dropping the game 25-20.
With the third set tied 7-7, the Sunbirds went on a four point run with a service ace from McKenna Hughes, two kills from Mia Gilcrest and another kill from Claire Corippo. The Sunbirds held the lead for the remainder of the third set until the Wildcats managed tie the score 22-22. Gilcrest secured a service ace followed by a kill from Corinne Acosta and a set block from Makena Ogas and Geneva Elliott to win the set 25-22.
The fourth set proved to be the most contested with the scored being tied 14 times and four lead changes. Tied 25-25, the Sunbirds scored the go ahead point with a kill by Madison Girnius to go up 26-25. The Wildcats countered to tie 26-26 and then scored three unanswered points to secure the fourth set and the match.
In the afternoon, the Sunbirds bounced back with a straight sets route of the Western New Mexico Mustangs.
At the beginning of the match, both teams struggled to secure a lead more than two points. It wasn't until the set was tied at 11-11 that the Sunbirds were able to break through scoring four unanswered with a service ace from Catie Speas and a kill by Gilcrest, and a pair of errors on the Mustangs. With the lead, FPU never looked back with a series of balanced attacks to secure the first set win 25-21.
In the second set, the Sunbirds found themselves trailing for most of the set. The Mustangs built a four point lead until the Sunbirds rallied from behind thanks to Corippo's two kills and eventually worked to take the lead after two more kills from Corippo and two from Gilcrest. After three unsuccessful set points, Acosta put the bow on the 25-23 win to make it a two set lead.
FPU jumped out to an early lead in the third set at one point leading by more than ten points. Rachel Plantinga delivered an early ace and Emmalyn Camoirano strung together four points from the service line and they began to separate. Presley Hamilton and Amanda Lauer each added kills as the Sunbirds never looked back for a 25-15 win and the straight-sets sweep.
"I am proud of the efforts of our team today." said head coach Mike MacNeil. "We stayed within ourselves and made quality decisions."
In the match, the Sunbirds had over 10 different players with at least one kill. Gilcrest led the way with nine kills, while Acosta recorded 14 digs and two service aces.
"Our sideline energy was electric and I am looking forward to going to battle again with this team tomorrow."
The Sunbirds wrap up the tournament with two matches in Turlock, first taking on Western Oregon at 2pm before concluding the tournament against host Stanislaus State at 7pm.
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