No. 5 Cypress Bests No. 7 Fullerton in Three Games

Cypress – The fifth-ranked Cypress Chargers took down No. 7 Fullerton in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-20) on Halloween night to improve to 16-2 overall and 6-2 in conference. Fullerton falls to 12-4 and 5-4 in OEC matches.

Three players tallied double-digit kills as Lindsey Ray leading the way with 16. Makayla Taylor added 13, while Charity Dennis had 10. Ray also led the team in digs with 16, while Ave Mikaele (14) and Kim Calinawan (11) each had double-digits digs.

Cypress had control of the first set until Fullerton tied the game at 11 all, prompting Head Coach Nancy Welliver to call a timeout. The Chargers responded and retook the lead. With Cypress up 16-13, Fullerton called timeout to regroup. Cypress continued to lead, but Fullerton would tie the game at 22 all as Welliver called a second timeout. The halt in play helped as the Chargers went on to win 25-22.

In set two, Cypress again took an early lead. With the game tied at eleven, the Chargers would retake the lead at 15-13 causing the Hornets to call timeout. Out of the break, Fullerton used a 5-0 run to take an 18-13 lead, which caused Cypress to call timeout. The team responded and went on a 5-0 run of their own to retake the lead at 20-19. Fullerton called timeout, but Cypress extended its lead to 22-19. The Hornets came back and tied the game at 23 all, but the Chargers would score two unanswered points to end the set.

In the final set, the two teams were tied often while trading slight leads, but Cypress would use a 9-2 run to lead 19-13. Fullerton closed to within three (20-23), but couldn't catch the Chargers as they went on to win the third and final set.

Cypress will head to Golden West on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 6:00 pm before returning home to face Riverside on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7:00 pm.