The Stanislaus State Women’s Volleyball Team faced the San Francisco State Gators on Saturday, September 22, 2018. The Warriors were coming off of a victory from the night before where they took on CSU East Bay’s Pioneers. They were able to take the intensity from the previous night’s win and use it to their advantage in Saturday’s game.

The game was definitely one for the books. It took all five sets of the match for a winner to emerge. The two teams battled it out by going back and forth between set winners. Stanislaus State won sets one and three, while San Francisco State took sets two and four.

After making a comeback, and tying up the number of winning sets, the Gator fans began to get rowdy. One of the chants from the opposing fans consisted of them calling the Stanislaus Gym their house. Freshman, Nycole Britton Smith, had something to say about this. “I don’t think that SF State should have to do that. They can do that on their own territory. Not ours.” She was already fired up for how hard the lady Warriors were working, but this was a tick in the wrong direction.

The teams were tied, so set five was necessary. It was time for sudden death. Winner takes all. Each and every set was close. The closeness of points created excitement for the fans. They were on their feet, cheering on the Warriors.

While the first four sets are played to twenty-five points, the last set is only played to fifteen points. However, if one team has fifteen points and the other has fourteen, then the set will continue. The team must win by two points. It was for this reason that the final set was so long and gut-wrenching.

Fans were on the edge of their seats as the two teams went back and forth in scoring points. Finally, Stanislaus State claimed the victory by winning the set eighteen to sixteen.

After the match, senior Alana Wilson-Reid was on a high. She broke her personal best for kills in one game during Friday night’s game and tied it again during Saturday’s game. “The energy in the crowd kept the team fired up!” Despite the fight the other team put up, it was no match for the motivation provided by the fans that kept the Warriors driving for a victory.

“The energy in the arena was fantastic tonight and the ladies showcased their heart and determination to get the much-deserved victory,” said John Powell, the assistant coach for the Stanislaus State men’s soccer team.

The most excited of them all was the head coach, Mallori Rossi. “The win tonight was definitely a confidence booster and will allow us to maintain momentum as we enter the next few weeks against four more teams from the Northern Division. All week we talked about taking care of business while in front of our home crowd and our ladies did just that. We are now off to the program’s best start with a record of 10-4 and a large part of that is due to the outstanding performances and leadership from Alana Wilson-Reid and Breanna Cannon. I am extremely proud of our entire team for maintaining composure and poise while under pressure.”

The team is putting in a lot of practice and working hard on keeping motivation and intensity levels high, no matter what challenges come their way. They will be on the road for the next game. It will be a rematch against CSU East Bay’s Pioneers on Tuesday, September 25, 2018, at 6 P.M. Coach Rossi, remains positive that the team will claim victory again and extend their three-game winning streak to a four-game winning streak.