SAN DIEGO — Despite a 14-kill performance from Lyla Traylor, Cal State Fullerton women's volleyball dropped a three-set match to UC San Diego on the road Saturday night.
Traylor hit at a team-best .257 clip en route to recording her 14 kills, also tallying three digs and a block on the match. Julia Crawford notched 11 kills and nine digs while Lolo Fonua added five kills for the Titans. Elizabeth Schuster orchestrated the Titan offense with 27 assists to go along with nine digs, while Nadia Koanui contributed a team-high 15 digs.
The Titans couldn't quite overcome a hot-hitting UC San Diego offense that tallied 47 kills on a .293 hitting percentage. Cal State Fullerton nearly forced a fourth set after dropping sets one and two, ultimately falling 26-24 in the third to move to 9-7 on the year and 3-5 in conference play.
UC San Diego got off to a quick start to begin the match, leading 7-0 before a kill from Fonua put the Titans on the board. The Titans clawed their way back into the game, as kills from Traylor and Crawford and a Danielle Jefferies block brought them within two, 9-7. Teams then traded points, as kills from Fonua, Traylor and Jefferies brought the score to 18-15 for UC San Diego. The Tritons proceeded to finish the set on a 7-3 run to take a 1-0 match lead.
S1 | Air Crawford ��#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/wQIKhKgtws
— Titans Volleyball (@Fullerton_WVB) October 16, 2022
Cal State Fullerton jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period following Traylor and Crawford kills and a block by Jefferies and Crawford. The Tritons fought back, but a Jefferies service ace later put the Titans up 6-5. UC San Diego then used a 4-0 run to go up 9-6. A Fonua kill kept the Titans close at 10-8, but the Tritons went on to score seven of the next eight points to take a 17-9 lead. The Titans scored the next two, but UC San Diego finished the set off strong, winning 25-14 to go up 2-0 in the match.
S2 | @lyla_traylor starts the second set off with her sixth kill of the match ��#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/4yW4YcN25E
— Titans Volleyball (@Fullerton_WVB) October 16, 2022
The third set started off back and forth, as kills from Fonua and Traylor gave the Titans an early 5-3 lead. The Tritons came back to take a 6-5 advantage, but a 6-0 Titan run highlighted by back-to-back kills from Crawford gave the Titans an 11-6 lead. UC San Diego responded with a 5-0 run to go up 13-12 before a pair of kills from Traylor later put Cal State Fullerton up 17-15. The Titans extended their lead to four, 20-16, on another two kills from Traylor. The Tritons refused to go away, however, using a 6-2 run to tie things up at 22. Back-to-back UC San Diego attack errors brought the game to set point for the Titans, 24-23, but the Tritons proceeded to score the next three to take the set, 26-24, and complete the sweep.
The Titans remain on the road next week with a pair of matches at UC Davis and UC Riverside. Cal State Fullerton will first take on UC Davis on Thursday, October 20th, at 7:00 p.m.
WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
FOLLOW THE TITANS
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (FullertonTitans) and Snapchat (FullertonTitans). In addition, the volleyball team has established its own Twitter (@Fullerton_WVB) and Instagram accounts (Fullerton_WVB).