The Golden Eagles showed no mercy against Cal State San Marcos, winning all three games with 25-14, 25-22 and 25-20. This marks the fifth straight win for the team.
A wave of energy surged through the ladies right from the jump as they started their pre-game warm up with dancing and smiling faces.
The Cougars couldn’t seem to execute on the court, committing 24 costly errors throughout the match. Those errors turned into kills for Daisy Crenshaw, Alejandra Negron, Julia Azevedo and Karla Santos.
Head coach Juan Figueroa felt like his players stuck with the game plan, which kept their opponent from playing their style.
“They got here a little late, so they couldn’t really find their rhythm and we took advantage of it,” he said.
The first game started off with a missed serve by freshman setter Shea McGovern, but the Golden Eagles quickly bounced back after a kill from Crenshaw. They ended with an 11-3 run over the Cougars, and the team was able to stay ahead. Kills by Crenshaw and Negron closed out the first game.
The second game could have gone either way. Both teams rallied back and forth for what seemed like the entire game. Just when the Cougars were finally finding their mojo, Negron stomped it out quickly with an ace and a kill that got her team to game point. Santos eventually finished the job with a kill after two lead changes and six tied scores.
In the deciding third game, Cal State San Marcos was able to get an early 9-6 lead. Cal State LA came firing back with a flurry of aces, blocks and kills. Blocks by Crenshaw and Azevedo kept them ahead, and a kill by Santos ended the match. There were two lead changes and seven ties in the game, leading to an exciting win for the Golden Eagles.
McGovern and Laisa Maeda set up their teammates nicely throughout the match. McGovern stacked up 19 assists and Maeda had 13. They were big reasons why the team was able to execute so well on offense.
Crenshaw led the team with 11 kills and eight blocks. Right behind her was Negron with nine kills with Santos also contributing six kills and eight digs.
Azevedo had five blocks and libero Jeshmarie Suarez had a match high of 14 digs.
McGovern felt her team communicated well on the court.
“We kept the ball in play even when the sets were a little off. We’ve been working on a lot of things all season, but I am proud of where we are.”
