PHOENIX – The Cal State Fullerton volleyball team dropped its third-straight match after falling 3-0 [16-25, 18-25, 24-16] to Eastern Washington at the Grand Canyon Classic Friday night. The Titans committed 18 attack errors and six service errors, while mishandling six receptions which led to the loss.
"We must focus on minimizing our errors," Cal State Fullerton head coach Ashley Preston said. We are beating ourselves. The focus for the next match is playing aggressively smart."
The Titans (2-3) hit .129 in the contest with 30 kills, 30 assists and 34 digs, while posting 8.0 team blocks. They trailed the Eagles (2-2) in every category with the exception of blocks.
Cal State Fullerton did well at the net as Shimen Fayad totaled five blocks with two solo stops and three block assists. Additionally, Kyra Smith posted three block assists and a solo block, while Meagan Carlson and Summer Kerins each added a pair of block assists.
Despite the Titans' solid blocking game, Cal State Fullerton suffered offensively as it only had one player reach double-figure kills. Fayad led the way with 10 kills, but also committed seven attack errors.
Rachel Hall and Precious Manu split setter duties and dished out a combined 25 assists with Hall recording 13 and Manu registering 12.
Defensively, libero Katie Roux logged 10 digs, while Manu added six and Fayad grabbed four.
In the first set, Eastern Washington broke through early as the Eagles took a 4-3 lead and never looked back. The Titans were limited to a mere .077 attack percentage, while the Eagles owned an 82% sideout percentage. Eastern Washington controlled most of the match and rolled to a 25-16 win.
The Titans fought back in the second set and hit .214, but the Eagles countered with a .406 attack percentage to lead the way. Eastern Washington jumped out in front (17-10) forcing Cal State Fullerton to take a timeout. The Titans tried to put together a rally, but came up short as they fell by a score of 25-18.
Trailing 2-0, Cal State Fullerton battled hard in the third set as the Titans fought the Eagles through 10 ties and three lead changes. Down by three in the middle of the set, the Titans clawed their way back into the game until they knotted the score at 24-24, taking advantage of three consecutive attack errors by the Eagles. However, Eastern Washington knocked down a pair of back-to-back kills to end the set and match, 26-24, as the Titans succumbed to the Eagles in three sets.
The Eagles hit .273 overall and received 12 kills from Ahuna Ka'iulani. Sophie Miller notched 23 assists and contributed three service aces. Megan LaFond led the defense with 14 digs as Eastern Washington picked up its second win of the season.
Cal State Fullerton returns to action on Saturday, September 3 when it goes up against Eastern Kentucky at noon, before taking on host Grand Canyon at 7 p.m. Live stats for both matches are available on FullertonTitans.com.