CHICO – Freshman outside hitter
Trinity Sheridan lit up the Chico State defense for 21 kills Friday night as Cal State San Bernardino swept past the host Wildcats, 3-0, in a CCAA conference women's volleyball match.
The victory was the 12
th-ranked Yotes sixth straight win CCAA conference play, improving their season record to 16-3 and their conference record to 9-2 heading into Saturday's 5 p.m. match at Stanislaus State in Turlock.
Chico State enjoyed some point spurts in all three sets before succumbing to the Yotes 25-19, 25-21 and 25-11. The Wildcats are now 4-11 overall and just 1-9 in the CCAA. The Yotes have dominated the all-time series with Chico with a 53-3 record since 1994.
Sheridan's performance was the fourth time she had executed more than 20 kills in a match. She notched 22 in wins over Regis University and Sonoma State and 21 in a victory over Metro State of Denver.
She took 36 swings against Chico and made only three attack errors for a .500 hitting percentage.
Backing up Sheridan were CCAA offensive player of the week
Jenna Patton with eight kills in 12 attacks and two blocks and
Ashley Robinson and
Marlee Nunley with six kills apiece. Robinson also contributed three aces and 16 digs. Nunley had 35 assists (nearly 12 per set) and nine digs.
As a team, the Yotes hit .347 for the match including .424 in the third set and recorded seven total blocks. On offense, the Yotes logged 52 kills to just 36 for the Wildcats.
Zoe DiNardo played well for Chico State with 19 digs. Setter Brooke Ono came up with 26 assists.
The sweep enabled Head Coach
Kim Cherniss to use several of her reserves including freshmen
Haedyn Heyes (Los Osos HS),
Allison Legates (Los Altos, CA.),
Allison Whiteman, Jr. transfer from Mt. SAC,
M'Kera Drake, a freshman from Summit HS in San Bernardino, sophomore Abbey Clark and sophomore
Jayden Chornomud from Murrieta.
In the first set, the Yotes opened up a 16-7 advantage on a combined block of Chico's Taylor Whyte by Robinson and middle blocker
Taryn King. Moments later Robinson made it 20-9 on an assist by
Shira Lahav.
The Wildcats outscored the Yotes 10-4 to trail 24-19 on one of 11 kills by Kassandra Nall, but Sheridan closed out the set at 25-19 with a kill set up by Nunley.
Once again, in set two, the Yotes moved out to 14-5 advantage on the strength of five kills by Sheridan and led 19-9 after a Chico error. Again, the hosts rallied by outscoring CSUSB 10-4 to trail 23-19 and crept within three points at 24-21 before Robinson ended the set on a kill set up by Nunley.
The story was much the same in the third set. CSUSB moved out to a 10-4 lead on a kill by King and were up 17-7 on a kill by Sheridan off an assist by Kacie Pederson. CSUSB logged four points in a row starting with a combined block by Nunley and Drake, a kill by Whiteman, a kill by Drake and a Robinson ace to lead 22-9.
The match ended when Whiteman and King blocked an attack at the net for a 25-11 finish.
