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California State University at Bakersfield Athletics

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HayleyMcCluskeyDJ01
Courtesy of Derek Johnson
3
Winner Montana St. MSU 4-4,0-0 Big Sky
1
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 3-6,0-0 WAC
Winner
Montana St. MSU
4-4,0-0 Big Sky
3
Final
1
CSU Bakersfield CSUB
3-6,0-0 WAC
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Montana St. MSU 25 25 23 25 (3)
CSU Bakersfield CSUB 16 23 25 20 (1)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

McCluskey Tallies 20 Kills As CSUB Falls to MSU



MISSOULA, Mont. – After a hot start to the weekend, the CSU Bakersfield volleyball team came up against a strong Montana State squad on Saturday morning at the Farmers State Bank Invitational. The Bobcats bested the `Runners, 3-1, handing Bakersfield its only loss of the weekend.

"I saw some great things from our team this weekend," said Giovana Melo, CSUB's Director of Volleyball. "We were definitely better than we have been all season. I was not happy with today's results, though. I didn't think we were as resilient or disciplined, but we saw some things we need to get better at this week before playing at home next weekend."

Montana State used a 10-2 run to pull ahead of the `Runners, 12-6, early in the first set. The Bobcats continued their momentum through the rest of the set and Bakersfield was unable to close the gap, falling by a score of 25-16. The bright spot of the first set was sophomore Hayley McCluskey, who tallied six kills on a .545 hitting clip.

The Bobcats came out strong again in the second set, leaping ahead to an 8-3 lead. A CSUB timeout helped the `Runners regroup and Bakersfield answered with a 10-4 run of its own to take a 13-12 lead. The two teams were neck and neck until Montana State earned set point at 22-24 and finished off the set with a 23-25 win over CSUB.

Disappointed by the finish to Set 2, the `Runners came out roaring in the third set, taking a 12-5 lead early on. Montana State climbed back into the set, trailing 15-13, but the `Runners kept the Bobcats an arm's length away the whole set. Bakersfield extended the match to Set 4 with a 25-23 victory. McCluskey continued to shine for the `Runners, tallying a career-high 16 kills to that point.

In the fourth set, Montana State pulled away early, taking a 10-4 advantage and then sprinting ahead to 20-10. Bakersfield began to rally, pulling within four points at 24-20, but the Bobcats scored the final point to finish the match with a 3-1 victory.

McCluskey's 20 kills reset a CSUB season-high, tying teammate Brooke Boiseau's 2017 season-best total. Fellow sophomore Leisa Elisia tallied a double-double on Saturday with 18 assists and 10 digs. Redshirt senior Sidney Wicks added 20 assists of her own.

After their third-straight road tournament, the `Runners (3-6) are finally set to come home and play in the Icardo Center. CSUB will host the Roadrunner Classic, Sept. 20-21, with six total matches on the agenda. Bakersfield will kick off the tournament Friday morning against San Francisco, then the `Runners will tackle UC Davis Saturday morning before getting a rematch with Fresno State Saturday evening.
 
~GoRunners.com~
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