SF State Women’s Volleyball team came away with a split decision on Friday in a two-game matchup on day one of this weekend’s Seaside Invitational at the Golden Gymnasium in San Diego. 

The Gators started strong once again to start the 2019 season, sweeping Southern Nazarene 26-24, 25-20, 25-18 in match number one, before losing the finale of the Friday tournament to Point Loma, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22. 

With a season opening sweep, the Gators now have five consecutive regular season victories going back to last season as well as securing their third consecutive season opening victory.

Fourth year head coach Matt Hoffman, along with emerging star and leader of the team, senior middle blocker Bailey Johnson, were a motivating force behind this year’s Women’s Volleyball team. A Bailey Johnson kill provided the offense early for the Gators, followed by freshman Trinity Barr with her first recorded kill in her collegiate volleyball debut. The Gators would go on to lead by a score of 3-1 following the Barr kill. Hoffman had some inspiring words for the newcomer Barr.

“Trinity had a good first day for us, she played well. I feel like when she starts to go out there and get a little more comfortable, competing a little bit more, it can only keep getting better for her from here,” Hoffman said. “What impressed me about our win was that we really played our style of game that we wanted to play, we play with a lot of grit, and really fought through some tough moments.” 

The Gators would go on to continue the scoring and come away with a sweeping victory of the Crimson Storm. The Gators lone senior Bailey Johnson lamented herself in SF State history by hitting .625, sixth in school history for game one.

Game two featured a back and forth affair against Point Loma, who ultimately etched out the victory. Bailey Johnson, Trinity Barr and Payton Jenson all powered the Gators to keep the matchup competitive throughout. Although the Gators would eventually lose this bout with Point Loma, it was much more about the resilience that this squad will return with tomorrow for this weekend’s final day of the Seaside Invitational. 

The Gators are set to take on Concordia (Calif.) and Seattle Pacific next. This has the potential of being a historic year for SF State volleyball; one that has a lot of built up anticipation.