ROHNERT PARK, Calif. - The UC San Diego women's volleyball team moved into first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Friday as it eked out a five-set win at No. 22 Sonoma State. Scores from The Wolves' Den went 21-25, 30-28, 22-25, 25-23 and 17-15.

With its sixth consecutive victory, UCSD improved to 11-4 overall and 6-1 in the CCAA. The Tritons are tied with Cal State San Bernardino at the top of the league standings. SSU, which suffered its second straight loss, fell to 11-5 on the season and 5-3 in conference play.

Sophie Rowe and Danielle Dahle combined for 39 kills and 40 digs for the Tritons. Rowe set career-highs with 20 kills and 25 digs while adding two assists, two aces and three blocks. Dahle, the reigning CCAA Player of the Week, produced 19 kills and 15 digs with an assist and two blocks.

Sara McCutchan nearly posted a triple-double with 13 kills, nine digs and eight blocks for UCSD. Setter Amber Hawthorne totaled nine kills, 54 assists, 13 digs and five blocks. Libero Katy Woodward finished with 15 digs.

Five Sonoma players registered 10 or more kills, including Caylie Seitz (20), Allyson Sather (15), Madelyn Densberger (13), Regan Richert (13) and Kelsey Hull (10). Hull and Densberger completed double-doubles by adding dig totals of 19 and 17, respectively. Richert also joined the club with 11 blocks. Nicole Gragnola had 23 digs.

The Seawolves held advantages in several statistical categories, including hitting percentage (.246 to .237), digs (95 to 88) and blocks (16 to 12). The Tritons led in set percentage (.329 to .319) and reception percentage (.935 to .924).

There were a total of 58 tie scores in the match, including 21 deadlocks in the second set.

In the fifth and deciding frame, the Tritons never pulled ahead until the very end. Down 15-14, they rallied for three straight points to take the victory. Rowe started off the run with back-to-back kills before Kameron Cooper closed it out with a kill. Hawthorne assisted on two of the kills while Brittany Lombardi set up the other.

"Tonight, we really showed that even if we're down, we're not out of the match," said UCSD head coach Ricci Luyties.

The Tritons are 3-0 in five-set matches this season.

UCSD continues its tough weekend at San Francisco State Saturday night. The match will be covered by live stats. The Gators lost in four sets vs. Cal State San Bernardino Friday night, falling out of first place in the CCAA. 

-- UCSDtritons.com --