The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

Katie Goldhahn, College of San Mateo head volleyball coach, is wasting no time getting her defending Coast Conference champion College of San Mateo women’s volleyball team into full swing for the new season — with 2022 state championship rematches.

After dropping a marathon opener Wednesday, 3-2 against American River, the 2022 state runner-up, the Bulldogs host defending state champion Feather River at noon Friday at College Heights Gymnasium.

CSM fell in the 2022 state semifinals to Feather River, 3-0, which then went onto defeat ARC, 3-2, for the title.

The season has started with a mini tournament among top teams from 2022. Feather River won in 5 sets at American River on Saturday and is already 5-1 on the season (splitting a pair of matches with Sierra).

San Mateo took the first two sets against ARC on Wednesday, 25-23, and 25-15. But the visiting Lady Beavers (now 2-1) bounced back at the end, 25-19, 25-21, and 15-9, for the win.

“It was so hard to not finish the way we started that match,” said Goldhahn. “We have been looking forward to our preseason matchups. We have a lot of talent on our side of the net, so we are working to find our stride and rhythm.”

A trio of freshmen had solid debuts for San Mateo. Faith Crouch (6-0, St. Francis) hit .800 and Aniyah Hall (6-3, Sequoia) hit .400 against American River. Alexa Rentar (5-2, American-Fremont) had 23 digs.