Six sets, six wins, two very different routes. Cal State San Marcos swept Minnesota Crookston and Saint Michael's on Friday at the Cougar Classic, combining a high-efficiency first match with a serving-driven second to move back to .500 through six matches.
The opening sweep ended 25-17, 30-28, 25-15. CSUSM hit a season-best .374 against Minnesota Crookston and committed 10 attack errors across 107 attempts. The Cougars finished with 50 kills to 33, 44 assists to 28, 50 digs to 32 and nine blocks to two.
Addison Kranz set the pace with 18 kills and a .455 hitting percentage. Hazel Livingston-Jones produced nine kills at .533 and five blocks, while Blayne Seligmiller added nine kills at .400 with four blocks. Blair Keith directed the offense with 38 assists and added seven digs.
The second set supplied the day's first pressure. Minnesota Crookston led 14-9 after a six-point run. CSUSM answered 8-3 to tie at 17, moved ahead 21-19 and later faced three set points. The Cougars saved all three and scored the final three points for a 30-28 win.
There was less doubt in the third. San Marcos opened 8-1, stretched the margin to 18-8 and hit .423 in a 25-15 close. Its .514 rate in the first set and .423 in the third surrounded the extended middle-set escape. The 50 kills were the Cougars' most in a three-set match this season.
Against Saint Michael's, serving runs replaced prolonged rallies. The Purple Knights scored the first two points before CSUSM answered with six straight, then used an 8-0 run to make the first-set lead 18-6. A 25-9 finish marked the first time since September 2022 that the Cougars held an opponent below 10 in a set played to 25.
Annika Blas-Cedeno controlled the next turn from the service line. With Saint Michael's ahead 2-1 in the second, the Cougars scored eight consecutive points behind her serve. She delivered three aces during the run, and CSUSM hit .444 in a 25-14 set. Blas-Cedeno finished with four aces, the match high.
The final set tightened at 6-6. San Marcos used a 5-2 run to regain control and later led 23-17. Saint Michael's pulled within three before an attack error and a Seligmiller kill completed the 25-21 result. Livingston-Jones and Kranz led with eight kills each; Keith had 26 assists and nine digs.
CSUSM led every major team category in the second match and held Saint Michael's to a .012 hitting percentage. The Cougars had 35 kills to 19, 34 assists to 14, nine aces to three, 37 digs to 34 and four blocks to one. Across all six Friday sets, CSUSM hit .325 and its opponents .079. Those numbers came from two forms of control: finishing at the net against Crookston, then using the serve to prevent Saint Michael's from building an offense. The double sweep also supplied a quick recovery after a 1-3 opening to the season, bringing the Cougars to 3-3 before the tournament finale. Neither match required a fourth set, and only Crookston's 30-28 second set reached extra points.