The Golden Eagles are now third place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) conference with a 9-5 record after a split weekend series against Cal State East Bay and Cal State Monterey Bay. The team lost 3-1 to the East Bay Pioneers on Friday, Nov. 1, but flipped the score on Saturday, Nov. 2, against the Monterey Bay Otters 3-1.
In the same game, the Golden Eagles’ Emily Elliott broke the CCAA all-time career kills record, standing atop at 1848 kills. She did it in three and a half years playing with the Golden Eagles, and in her final season.
“Feels great, really unreal,” said Elliott. “Still probably won’t hit me until later,”
The Golden Eagles looked shaky from the get-go Friday, committing eight errors in the first set alone. The errors, alongside the Pioneers’ 13 kills, were too much for the Golden Eagles to overcome, losing the set 25-17.
In the second set, it seemed the Golden Eagles tightened things up more, only committing three errors. The offense ran through outside hitter Samarah DaCoud, who got seven of the Golden Eagles’ 13 kills in the set. Though the Golden Eagles held an eight-point lead in the set, the Pioneers weren’t done yet, making a 5-0 run in the latter half of the set to bring the game within two. The team was able to keep the Pioneers at bay and win the set 25-19.
Errors ramped up again for the Golden Eagles in the following sets, seven in the third and five in the fourth. The Pioneers continued their trend from the previous set and went on a 7-0 run, taking an 11-5 lead and ultimately dominating the set 25-12. In the final set of the game, the Golden Eagles found themselves down by seven and the Pioneers nine points away from victory. A 6-0 run fueled by kills and a couple of service aces made it a new game, 16-15 — but eventually, the Pioneers took the set 25-23, and ultimately the game 3-1.
Saturday was a new slate for the Golden Eagles against the Otters, but the game started similarly as the Golden Eagles lost the first set. Errors were again prominent in the first set, seven total, and a few sporadic runs helped slowly increase the Otters’ lead to an eventual 25-19 set win.
The Golden Eagles offense found their groove after the first set, running through right-side hitter Emily Elliott who had 24 total kills in the game. They also cut down their errors after the first set, with three in the second set, four in the third, and three in the fourth. The Golden Eagles followed suit as the Otters, going on sporadic runs to fuel the offense and win the second and third sets with a score of 25-17.
Like their previous game, a team seemed to be running away with the final set before the other kicked it into high gear. The Golden Eagles were running away with the final set, going on a 7-0 run early in the set, and a 5-0 run later. They got up to a 20-10 lead before the Otters came roaring back, going on a 7-0 run to put them right back in the game. After a couple of time-outs called by the Golden Eagles, they were eventually able to stop the Otters’ attack and win the final set 25-21 and the game 3-1.
Head Coach Juan Figueroa addressed the recurring pattern across this season, allowing opponents to catch up to them after building substantial leads.
“I’m just trying to keep them focused, keep them engaged in the game,” said Figueroa. “That’s been our main problem this year, we have leads and a lot of the games we’ve lost, we’ve been up.”
Figueroa addressed the mistakes in Saturday’s game but is hopeful about improving as the season progresses.
“We were a little more efficient today but we’re still not where we want to be,” said Figueroa. “We’re still giving teams way too many points, forcing errors that are hurting us a lot.”
Elliott touched upon the adjustments the team made throughout the game to come back and win after the first set.
“I think from the get-go we weren’t following the game plan,” said Elliott. “Once we saw what they were bringing in that first set, we adjusted on block and on defense we got a little scrappier. We just followed the game plan in blocking their power shots.”
The team has seen an uptick in errors this year, compared to last year’s national championship-winning team. Last year, at 21 games into the season, the Golden Eagles averaged 19.19 errors a game, compared to 19.86 this year. In conference play only, 14 games in, the Golden Eagles averaged 16.5 errors last year compared to 19.4 errors a game this year.
“Being a little young and inexperienced is weighing on us, but we just got to keep trying to get better, try to be as efficient as we can be,” said Figueroa.
The Golden Eagles are on the road for the next two games, facing Cal Poly Pomona on Friday, Nov. 8. The Broncos are undefeated so far in conference play, boasting a perfect 14-0 record atop the standings and having already clinched a spot in the CCAA tournament. Elliott is looking forward for the game.
“I’m just excited,” said Elliott. “As a senior, it’s one of my last times playing there and I’m just excited to play and give it all we got because now they are one of the best teams in our conference and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
The final road game of the regular season will be the following day, Saturday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. against the Cal State San Marcos Cougars at The Sports Center on campus. The Golden Eagles will return home for their final two regular season home games on Thursday, Nov. 14 against Cal Poly Humboldt, and Sonoma State the following day, both in the University Gym.
This article was first published in the November 6 print edition of the University Times.
