Despite some hiccups along the way, it has been a solid season for the Sonoma State women’s volleyball team, who are hitting their stride and getting the recognition they deserve at just the right time. Not only did the team go 2-0, with wins over nationally ranked teams Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino during the week of Oct. 24-30, but freshman Kaden Young and senior Kiana Richardson were named CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association) Player of the Week, for defense and offense, respectively.

The freshman, Young, has had an immediate positive impact for the Seawolves on the defensive side, with her elite instincts and athleticism. She had at least 15 digs in each of the two matches, and recorded 31 digs across eight sets overall, for an average of 3.9 digs per set. She also served up a pair of aces in the wins. Despite being just a Freshman, Young ranks sixth in the CCAA with a total of 290 digs, averaging 3.77 per set. Her average is good for eighth best in the conference.

Richardson has served as a leader for the team the entire year, and it looks like she still has her best volleyball in front of her. For the week she finished with 34 kills to just 14 errors over 82 total attempts, giving her a .244 attacking percentage on the week. She had 19 kills versus Cal Poly Pomona and 15 against San Bernardino, finishing with an average of 4.25 kills per set on the week. In addition to her work attacking, she also registered 10 blocks, four digs and three aces. Richardson sits in the top five in the CCAA with 3.61 points/set and 250 total kills, while also sitting just outside the top five, at sixth in the conference, with an average of 3.01 kills/set. Of her play, Richardson said, “I’ve been playing this sport for a long time and I notice that I always perform much better when I don’t have many expectations for myself.” She continued that focusing on having fun brings out her best performances. 

Richardson talked about how “The season has been a pleasant surprise.” The Seawolves have gone 19-7 on the year, with a 12-6 record in conference play. A big part of their success can be attributed to the camaraderie within the locker room. “Our team is so friendly, nice and inviting,” she explained. “Our team had very high expectations coming into the season due to how well we did in preseason,” she added. “Sometimes that created a disadvantage for us when the season rolled around, but we pushed past the hard moments and are doing awesome.”

SSU enters Thursday’s CCAA Tournament with the number 5 overall seed. The Seawolves will be hoping for a measure of revenge in their opening match, which will see them paired up with Cal State East Bay, who defeated the Seawolves on Nov. 3, 3-1. “Before the last time we played them we were tied with them for fourth place,” said Richardson. “ I think that those losses will definitely fuel our team to push past our limits and hopefully result in a well deserved win for the postseason.” 

A win would set up a match on Friday against Cal State San Bernardino who is certainly the team everyone is chasing given they’ve won the last six CCAA tournaments and 17 of the last 22 conference titles. The Seawolves have already found success by playing with clear heads and will continue to carry this mentality into the postseason. Richardson emphasized this, saying “Anything past our regular season would be a success for us,” adding “We’ve been so successful and it’s really exciting.”