Cal State Fullerton

NEW ORLEANS — Cal State Fullerton volleyball defeated Florida A&M in a 3-1 victory (25-13, 25-22, 21-25, 25-19) before falling in four sets to New Orleans (22-25, 25-12, 22-25, 22-25) on Friday. The Titans moved to 5-7 overall and 1-1 at the Pelican Invitational. 

Cal State Fullerton 3, Florida A&M 1 

The Titans outperformed Florida A&M (4-7) with 54 kills on a .224 hitting percentage, 52 assists, five service aces and 63 digs, while matching the Rattlers with 10 total blocks. Freshman Sofia Shine led the Titans offensively, tallying 17 kills on a .452 hitting percentage, while freshman Bella Risling hit .500 with 16 kills.

Fullerton opened the match with a 25-13 victory. The Titans recorded 11 kills from Risling (5 K), Shine (3 K) and Marisa Nakata (3 K), along with five blocks compared with Florida A&M's six kills and three blocks. Nakata pushed Fullerton to a 9-7 lead with two kills, while Emilia Graham posted two block assists, combining with Nakata and Risling for an 11-9 lead. Risling and Shine added kills to extend Fullerton's lead to 20-10. The Titans secured a 1-0 match lead on a 4-0 run, highlighted by kills from Shine and Nakata, a service ace by Kaia Herweg and a block assist by Hass and Sibley Oster. 

The second set featured six ties before the Titans secured a 25-22 win. Fullerton posted a match-high .367 hitting percentage, fueled by three kills each from Shine, Risling and Nakata. Florida A&M used a 6-0 run to take a 9-7 lead, but the Titans battled from behind to tie the set at 18-18 on a kill from Oster. Fullerton pushed to a 22-19 lead on a block assist by Graham and Risling. Risling then added a late kill to close the set and give the Titans a 2-0 match advantage. 

Florida A&M used a 4-0 run to seal a third-set win over the Titans, 25-21, and force a fourth set. The Titans and the Rattlers saw 12 ties and three lead changes, featuring five kills each from Shine and Risling. Hass brought the set back within one, 20-19, with her fourth kill before Shine used her 11th kill to even the score at 20-20. The Rattlers found momentum late, closing the set on a 4-0 run backed by three straight kills. 

Fullerton defeated the Rattlers, 25-19, in the fourth set. Shine led the Titans with six kills on .455 hitting in the frame. After capitalizing on consecutive Florida A&M errors, freshman Parys Taylor tallied a kill to give Fullerton a 6-3 lead. The Rattlers answered with a 3-0 run to even the set at 6-6, but the Titans pushed to an 11-8 advantage with a block assist by Graham and Oster. Errors proved to be costly for Florida A&M, allowing the Titans to extend their lead to 20-14. Kills by Shine, Crosby and Risling, along with a service ace from Graham, shut the door to the 3-1 victory.

New Orleans 3, Cal State Fullerton 1 

Friday night's match featured a reunion for head coaches Nicky Cannon and Ashley Preston. Cannon served as assistant coach under Preston at Cal State Fullerton from 2019-2021. 

The Titans were led offensively by Shine, who led all competitors with 17 kills. As a team, Fullerton tallied 61 kills with a .212 hitting percentage. The Privateers recorded 43 kills with a .210 hitting percentage and took advantage of 10 service errors by the Titans. 

Fullerton dropped the first set, 25-22. New Orleans opened the match on a 6-0 run before Shine put away three consecutive kills to cut Fullerton's deficit in half, 6-3. The Privateers tallied four kills to lead 15-9, finding another pocket of space to extend their lead to 17-9. Shine remained the driving force for the Titans late in the set with her seventh kill, creating momentum for Nakata (kill), Herweg (service ace) and Oster (kill) to cut Fullerton's deficit to 21-15. Nakata fended off two set points to bring the set within two, 24-22, with a kill and service ace, but New Orleans responded with a kill to close the set for a 1-0 match lead. The Titans posted a .265 hitting percentage compared with a .326 hitting percentage by the Privateers. 

The Titans returned with vengeance in the second set, evening the match with a 25-12 victory. Fullerton opened the set on an 8-2 run, fueled by a solo block and three kills from Hass. New Orleans cut its deficit in half, 10-5, on a Fullerton service error, but was met with a fiery attack. Three kills from Nakata and a kill from Graham pushed the Titans to a 15-6 lead before Parys Taylor added two kills for a 19-9 advantage. Hass added three kills late in the set before Herweg sealed the win with a service ace. Fullerton hit a match-high .433 in the set while holding the Privateers to a .069 hitting percentage.

New Orleans regained a 2-1 match lead with a 25-22 third-set win. Hass added six kills in the set with a .750 hitting percentage. The Privateers jumped out to a 9-3 lead before kills from Hass, Nakata and Arianna Ellis helped Fullerton trim the deficit to 11-8. Taylor and Shine added consecutive kills to bring the Titans within two, 15-13, but New Orleans maintained the lead. Nakata's service ace cut the deficit to 22-20, but the Privateers closed the set with a kill to take a 2-1 lead. 

Fullerton fell 25-22 in the fourth set as the Privateers outhit the Titans .079 to .061. New Orleans held an early 4-0 lead and continued to control the set with a six point lead, 10-4. The Titans gained momentum behind kills from Taylor, Kaieva Christensen, Shine and Ellis to pull within two, 19-17. Hass and Shine combined at the net for a block assist to survive a New Orleans match point, but a kill from the Privateers closed the set and match in a 3-1 loss. 

The Titans wrap up nonconference play against Idaho on Saturday at the Pelican Invitational, hosted by New Orleans. First serve is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. PT. 

SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitansTickets.com. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan Baseball ticketing office and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday. 

FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), X (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans), YouTube (FullertonTitansAthletics) and TikTok (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the softball team has established its own Instagram (@Fullerton_WVB) and X accounts (@Fullerton_WVB).

WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.