Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- West Region champion Cal State San Bernardino rallied from a first-set loss to take the next three sets Thursday and advance to the NCAA Division II volleyball semifinals with a 3-1 victory over South Region champion Tampa University.
Four Coyotes finished in double figures in kills, led by junior outside hitter and all-American Jane Chafeh with 16 kills, 11 digs and five blocks, three of them solo. Samantha Middleborn had 15 kills on .560 hitting with four block assists.
Senior Ashtin Hall, continuing her solid post-season play, had 14 kills on .342 hitting with 13 digs and two blocks. Sophomore Morgan Carty had 11 kills on .348 hitting and seven digs. Senior all-America setter Sara Hoffman had 54 assists and 10 digs.
The Coyotes, playing in front of 363 fans in Gangelhoff Center on the Concordia-St. Paul campus, hit .315 for the match in prevailing 21-25, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-20.
Ironically, the match was almost a replica of the 2003 championship tournament quarterfinals in which the Coyotes, then ranked No. 1 in the nation, beat Tampa, the No. 2-ranked team, 3-1 in Coussoulis Arena. CSUSB is now 5-0 all-time against the Spartans.
Now, the Coyotes face a familiar foe in the semifinals -- host Concordia-St. Paul -- the team that beat them 3-2 in the national championship match a year ago -- and the team that knocked them out of the 2003 title chase with a 3-2 semifinals win in San Bernardino. The Golden Bears dispatched Indianapolis Univ. 3-0 in the final quarterfinal match of the day.
First serve will occur around 5:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The other semifinal will pit Flagler College, a 3-0 winner over Dowling and West Texas A&M, a 3-1 winner over California of Pennsylvania.
After a first set in which the offenses of both teams dominated -- Tampa hit .455 and the Coyotes .379 -- and the Spartans prevailed 25-21 -- Tampa tried to take the Coyotes out of the match by moving out to a 14-8 lead in set two.
However, after a CSUSB timeout, the Coyotes began to get their mojo working.
Trailing 17-12, the Coyotes rattled off seven straight points to take a 19-17 lead on a combined block by Middleborn and Hoffman. Hall had three kills in the run. Middleborn's service ace put CSUSB up 22-19 and the Coyotes evened the match at 1-1 on a pair of kills by Chafeh to end the set 25-20.
In set three, CSUSB took a 14-8 lead on a Chafeh kill but the Spartans fought back to within one at 18-17 on a kill by Eva Dupay (10 kills on .333 hitting). After a kill by Carty, Dupay again put Tampa within one at 19-18. However, a service error and kill by Middleborn boosted the Coyotes lead to three at 21-18.
Tampa again rallied to tie the score at 21-all and again at 22-all. But CSUSB scored the final three points on consecutive attack errors by Tampa off of serves by CSUSB freshman Jane Moesche. On point 24, Tampa's Meghan Sherman was blocked by Chafeh and Johnson. Moesche then served the final point, earning a dig that led to a set by Hoffman to middle blocker Megan Johnson who ended the set with a kill shot at 25-22.
The two teams played on even terms until CSUSB, leading 15-13, when on a 7-0 run in the fourth set that included two kills each by Carty and Hall to lead 22-13. Middleborn's kill gave the Coyotes match point at 24-17, but Tampa fought off three match points thanks to leading scorer Melissa Vanderhall (18 kills on .265 hitting) but Chafeh closed out the match with a thundering kill off a Vanderhall serve.
Talking about the turnaround in set two, Coyotes Head Coach Kim Cherniss said "We just finally settled down and we made some tactical adjustments. We couldn't let what they were doing continue."
Cherniss praised the work ethic of Chafeh and Hall. Camille (Smith, 21 digs at the libero spot) was fine once she settled down and Hoffy (Hoffman) made really good decisions and handled the ball well," Cherniss said.
As a result, Tampa hit just .179, .122 and .189 over the final three sets after an explosive start.
CSUSB led the match in kills 64-58, assists 60-51, and digs 69-58 and blocks 10-7.
Tampa entered the match ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Div. II in hitting percentage, No. 2 in kills per set, No. 4 in assists and No. 10 in blocks per set. CSUSB's only top 10 ranking was No. 4 in hitting percentage (.294) and they exceeded that by 21 points in this match, proving that stats don't always tell the story.