The nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat game made every point crucial, no matter who was up in the set. ‘#BEATLA’ signs were in the air held by the crowd waiting for the winning score in the main gym of Don Nasser Family Plaza.

In the first matchup between these two teams, the Gators didn’t pick up a set. The Golden Eagles beat them 3-0. However, the Gators were ready to get those three lost sets back going into this match with a two-game winning streak. This time around, they had three final scores (20-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-21). In conference, the Gators are 9-4 and 13-8 overall.

They beat Cal State LA in four sets, ending the week in third place in the CCAA conference, previously sharing the spot with Cal Poly Pomona.

Throughout the game, the Gators played with grit. After losing the first set 20-25, they fought to win the second 25-18 and so forth.

“We let things snowball in a bad way for us at their place and we’ve grown a lot since we played them,” head coach Matt Hoffman said. “Our mindset going into the game was the biggest thing throughout the game. We were talking [during] the entire game about being confident and composed, they did that even when it was tough.”

Trinity Yates, Tamiya Wilson and Rebecca Rendahl led the team with double-digit kills each. Yates swung a career-high 18 kills, leading them, and Rendahl also matched her season-high five blocks previously set in their match against Chico State.

“Once you’re confident, you can just roll with it, so I think that’s what we all were trying to roll with just our own confidence, our own abilities, knowing that we can beat them,” Yates said.

The Gators ended the game with a .308 hitting percentage, leaving Cal State LA in the dust with a .108 hitting percentage.

“Really proud of the middles and how they stepped up tonight. Being able to find them was huge to give our pins some space when they needed to, and then our defense, [on the] defensive side of the ball,” said setter Kimberly DeBoer. “We really did a good job of containing their hitters and they really had to earn anything that they got. Our blockers and defense really worked their butts off.”

DeBoer said the team’s mantra is one heartbeat and every time something goes wrong, they take a deep breath and it’s back to that same heartbeat in crunch time. When Cal State went on a scoring run, they were ready.

“We know they’re a good team. We know that they’re capable of doing that sort of thing. It’s just how quickly can we withstand it and then respond to it, not letting it get us down, just competing and digging into the moment,” said Kimberly DeBoer. “To be able to make that dig or make that serve receive [a] pass, to be able to transition so we can give our hitters a chance and it was just pure grit, pure trust and togetherness that took us to that next level in terms of responding to the runs that came at us.”

They finish the week with back-to-back home games. The next match against Cal State Dominguez Hills, at Don Nasser Family Plaza on Oct. 28 at 1 p.m.