TROY, Ala.—CSU Bakersfield completed play at the Troy Invitational with a split of a pair of matches on Saturday.

“We got a little better today,” said CSUB director of volleyball Giovana Melo.

Match 1, ETSU 3, CSUB 0

East Tennessee State defeated CSUB 25-18, 25-20, 25-17 in Saturday's opener. The match featured nine ties and four lead changes. The Bucs (3-2) would hold the Roadrunners to .065 hitting for the match (30-23-105). ETSU held an 8-4 advantage in team blocks.

ETSU's Rylee Milhorn led all players with 13 kills. Kristen Farve registered 29 assists while Hailey Aguilar had 14 digs to lead the Bucs. Kelsee Sawyer posted 11 kills. Edithza Urias added nine kills while Sophie Flemion tallied 24 assists and six digs.

Match 2, CSUB 3, Alabama State 1

CSUB rallied from a 12-7 deficit in the first set to defeat the Hornets 25-20. The Roadrunners leaped to a 10-1 start in the second set before earning a 25-12 victory. CSUB committed only one hitting error in the second set (15-1-34, .412).

The Hornets (1-5) came out of the halftime break and hit .500 in the third set (13-1-24) to win the third set 25-13. The Roadrunners hit only .069 (10-8-29) in the third frame.  With the Roadrunners up 16-15 in the fourth set, CSUB used a 7-0 spurt to take the lead and earn the first Roadrunner victory of the season 25-17.

Carol Grasso tallied a double-double of with a match high 22 kills and 19 digs. Sawyer posted 19 kills while Paige Gettman hit .538 (9-2-13). Flemion dished out 53 assists and added eight digs. Freshman Morginne Demarco had a season high 24 digs.

Alabama State was led by Rachel Smith who put up a double-double of 11 kills and 10 digs. Scout Wonsang earned a team high 16 digs for the Hornets.

“The team stepped up in the last game against Alabama State,” Melo said. “We completed in a match like I have seen us compete in practice.”

The host, Troy, was the tournament champion with a 3-0 record.  Demarco was named to the All-Tournament team. The libero from Bakersfield posted 46 digs and six assists during the tournament.

The Roadrunners travel to Omaha, Neb. next weekend for the Bluejay Invitational that will be hosted by Creighton. The tournament begins on Friday against Pacific at 3:30 p.m. (CDT). CSU Bakersfield (1-6) will open the home portion of the 2015 slate on Oct. 8 when CSUB hosts UTRGV at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at Vallitix.com.

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