California State University, Monterey Bay issued the following announcement on Oct. 23.
Otters rally to win in five behind 16 kills from Kaylie Honberger
One night after Cal State Monterey Bay missed a thrilling come-from-behind victory in five sets by a single point, the Otters finished another comeback with authority, rallying to
beat Stanislaus State 26–24, 15–25, 22–25, 25–15, 15–7 Saturday night in The Kelp Bed.
CSUMB got strong performances up and down the lineup, including a match–high 16 kills from junior Kaylie Honberger (Rocklin/Whitney HS). Mollin Helfrich (Pinole/Salesian Prep),
Abby Knapp (Atwater HS/Gonzaga) and Lauren Reeves (Atascadero/Templeton HS) added 13 kills apiece. For Helfrich, the 13 kills matched her career high, also set against
Stanislaus State (Sept. 21, 2019).
The Otters had a big comeback within the comeback to take the first set. They trailed 14–5 out of the gate before an 18–8 run of their own knotted the set at 23–23. A Honberger
kill saved a set point against, allowing Sophia Torres (Temecula/Chaparral HS) to serve out the set.
Stanislaus closed the second set with a 13–5 run to win going away. The Warriors appeared to take control of the match when they scored five of the final seven points to break a
20–20 tie in the third.
But Honberger took over in the fourth set, putting down five kills and a pair of aces as the Otters never trailed while leveling the match. She followed by serving the first five points
of the fifth set and the Otters never looked back.
THE MATCH WAS OVER WHEN… Kaylie Honberger served the first five points of the deciding fifth set. Stanislaus never got closer than three points the rest of the way.
ONE THE BLOCKS… Led by a career–high six blocks from Mollin Helfrich, the Otters stuffed a season high 10 balls Saturday night in the win over Stanislaus State.
MOVIN' ON UP… With 18 digs in both matches this weekend, Sam Chavez moved into the No. 24 slot on the Otter career digs list with 376. She passed Paige Burrell (370). Next
up is Whitney Hirst with 412.
TOP 10 FULLBRIGHT… This one went a bit under the radar, but Aly Fullbright became just the 10th player in Otter history to reach 400 career assists with 28 helpers this
weekend. She'll enter next week with 415 assists.
LEADERS OF THE RAFT… POINTS: Kaylie Honberger 18.0; KILLS: Kaylie Honberger 16; BLOCKS: Mollin Helfrich 6; ACES: Kaylie Honberger 2; DIGS: Sam Chavez 18.
THE LAST WORD… "Tonight felt great! I'm so proud of our full-body turn around following a tough loss. We had multiple players step up offensively with Abby, Kaylie, Mollin and
Lauren working hard for their results. Chav and Alexa (Blunt) did a fantastic job of not just playing defense, but communicating to the players around them. Some great growth all
around." — CSUMB Head Coach Courtney Materazzi
THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters continue their 4–match homestand Friday (Oct. 29) when Humboldt State visits The Kelp Bed for a 5 p.m. first serve.
Original source can be found here.
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