FULLERTON, Calif. - Sophomore McKenna Painton traded in her libero jersey for a night and had a career night offensively but it was not enough as Cal State Fullerton dropped its fifth straight match in four sets (22-25, 16-25, 25-22, 21-25) to Cal Poly Friday night at Titan Gym.
The Titans (6-11, 0-4) have lost their first four conference matches for the first time since 2003. The Mustangs (7-7, 2-2) won their second straight conference match after dropping their first two.
Painton was magnificent for the Titans despite the loss, recording her first career double-double while setting career highs in kills, total attempts, hitting percentage and blocks. The 5-foot-8 sophomore tallied a team-high 15 kills on 41 attempts while hitting .171. She also added 15 digs, three blocks and two assists. Prior to Friday night, Painton had never recorded a block and tallied one kill in a match four times.
Along with Painton, Mackenzie Olsen also recorded a double-double with 44 assists and 10 digs. She also added three kills without an error along with three blocks. Holland Crenshaw added 11 kills and led the team with a .318 hitting percentage for players with double-digit attempts on the night. She also had three blocks and two assists on the night.
For the Mustangs, Raeann Greisen led the offense with 16 kills while Hannah Schleis added 12 with a team-best .476 hitting percentage. Taylor Nelson dished out 42 assists and set the Mustangs to a .204 team hitting percentage.
Trailing 2-0, the Titans fought back in the third set as they out hit the Mustangs .209 to .125 in the frame. The set featured seven ties and a pair of lead changes, the last coming in the early going as the Titans turned a 7-5 deficit into a 10-7 lead. The Mustangs would tie it at 11 but the Titans ran off five of the next six points to expand their cushion to 16-12. The Mustangs fought back with four straight points to cut the Titans' lead to one but Fullerton would never relinquish their advantage and forced a fourth set.
In the fourth, the Mustangs out hit the Titans .233 to .190 and secured the match thanks to seven errors in the frame by the Titans.
Fullerton will return to the court Saturday night when UC Santa Barbara visits Titan Gym with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m.
Notes: Friday night marked the second time this season that a pair of Titans recorded double-doubles in the same match… The Titans' win in the third set snapped a 14-set losing streak… Niki Withers had nine kills on the night and set a new career high with seven digs… Paige Reed was the third Titans player to record double-digit digs on the night, notching 10… Rachel Brown and Reed shared libero duties on Friday night, marking the first match this season in which Painton did not log any time at the position.