Sophomore Mary Laupepa and senior Gabriela Bulawczyk tallied 18 kills apiece Thursday as No. 6 seed Cal State L.A. defeated No. 3 seed Sonoma State, 3-2, in the NCAA Division II West Regional quarterfinals at Cal State San Bernardino. 
    Cal State L.A. advances to the semifinals at 5 p.m. PT Friday to face the winner of the UC San Diego-San Francisco State match. 
    The Golden Eagles rallied from a slow start to take the match 20-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20 and 15-12.     
    The victory improved Cal State L.A. to 22-8 on the season while the Seawolves finished 23-8. 
    In addition to her 18 kills, Laupepa hit .615 with four assists, two service aces, and three block assists. Bulawczyk had a double-double with 18 kills, 13 digs and four block assists. Kassie Faulkner helped out with 11 kills and three block assists. Setter Kaylynne DeLaRosa had 48 assits. Libero Stefanie Gay had 20 digs. 
    Sophomore Keala Peterson led the Seawolves with 23 kills on .250 hitting with two solo blocks while freshman Allyson Sather had 14 kills. Senior Rikki Buckshnis had 10 kills on .304 hitting. Setter Lindsay Brown had a match-high 49 assists. Libero Taylor Krenwinkel had a match-high 25 digs.
Cal State L.A. hit .278 for the match while Sonoma hit just .179. 
    It was a close battle over the final three sets with the score tied 17 times with 10 lead changes during that time. 
    “We were wound up really tight in that first game and they (players) admitted it,” said Randi Smart, the head coach of Cal State L.A. “It took all of game one to get in rhythm.”
Smart said Sonoma State played low error, good volleyball but “we did a lot of isolating some of their kids and containing the outsides and that helped us.” 
    She was enthusiastic about Laupepa's contributions. “I can't say enough about Mary. She came into her own at regionals last year. She hit the weight room and has improved tremendously. We have to build the program around her next year.” 
    Sonoma State Head Coach Bear Grassl, whose team split with the Golden Eagles during the regular season, said, “They (LA) are more physical that we are and we have to counter-punch with low errors. They forced us to play their game. At the end we made some tough plays and they imposed their will on us. We did a good job of defending everybody but No. 13 (Laupepa).”