BOX SCORE
SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay volleyball team wasn't great throughout Friday night's match, but it was great when it needed to be. The Otters came up with clutch points late in all three sets to earn a 25–23, 27–25, 25–23 sweep of San Francisco State in The Kelp Bed.

SFSU was the first to 20 points in every set. But each time it appeared as if the Gators were headed to victory, CSUMB made big plays to rally for the win. In fact, from the point at which the Gators reached 20 points in each set, the Otters out–scored them a combined 27–11.

CSUMB biggest rally came in the third set, when SFSU raced to a 21–14 lead only to see the Otters claim 11 of the final 13 points to close the match.

Junior outside hitter Julia Ashen (North Salinas HS) put the exclamation point on each set win. She recorded kills to close out sets one and three and combined with DJ Gresham-Ryder (Stockton/Cesar Chavez HS) for the block that ended set two. Ashen finished with a match–high 17 kills, throwing in 11 digs, two blocks and an ace for good measure.

Sophomore Jessica Malcolm (Lodi HS) added 14 kills of her own. She did her part in the third set, putting down the kill that started CSUMB's match–clinching 5–0 run. She followed that by serving her third ace of the night before serving out the match with the help of two Ashen kills and a Gator hitting error.

Gresham-Ryder put down six blocks for the second consecutive match to lead both teams. Sophomore libero Rachel Cookus (Thousand Oaks HS) added a match–high 21 digs.

The statline of the night, however, belonged to junior setter Kelsey Johnston (Ripon HS) who dished 37 assists to become just the third player in CSUMB history to go over 2,000 career assists. Johnston is now the proud owner of 2,016 assists. She is 66 assists behind Dana Grimm for No. 2 on the Otter career list and 127 shy of Nicki Sanderson's school record of 2,143.

Friday's win moves CSUMB's record to 12–6 overall and 6–4 in the CCAA. SFSU dropped to 8–10 and 3–7. The Otters play their biggest home match of the season to date Saturday, hosting No. 11 Sonoma State in The Kelp Bed for a 7 p.m. first serve.