Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Two-time defending NCAA Division II champion Concordia-St. Paul advanced to its third straight title match Friday with a 3-1 victory over Cal State San Bernardino in the 2009 semifinals before 1,378 fans in Gangelhoff Center, the Golden Bears' home court.
For the third time in seven years, Concordia-St. Paul has stopped the Coyotes from either winning the title or advancing to the title match. The Coyotes finish the season 33-2 while CSP moves on to face West Texas A&M in the title match Saturday night with a 36-0 record.
The hosts have won 73 straight matches, an NCAA record, since the Coyotes beat them 3-0 in the opening match of the 2008 season.
The Coyotes took the first set 25-20, but the Golden Bears responded and won the next three 25-18, 25-22 and 25-23.
Junior Jane Chafeh had 17 kills, 16 digs and one solo block to lead the Coyotes while senior Ashtin Hall closed out her career with 14 kills and two blocks. Senior all-American Sara Hoffman had 47 assists and 11 digs in her final match as a Coyote.
Sophomore all-American Samantha Middleborn had 10 kills and three blocks against the Golden Bears.
Sadie Lassler and Cassie Haag led Concordia with 12 kills each. Haag had nine blocks. NCAA Div. ii two-time player of the year Maggie McNamara chipped in 45 assists and 10 digs. Emily Palkert had 10 kills and Mary Slinger had 16 digs.
CSUSB hit .199 for the match while the Golden Bears hit at a .228 pace.
Head Coach Kim Cherniss said after the match, "First off, I want to say congratulations to Concordia. They're a wonderful team. It must be great to do it two years on your own court. I'm proud of our team. We had a fantastic season. We put ourselves in a position to win the national title."
Cherniss said the outstanding play of the team in the first set reversed course in the second set.
"We did not handle the ball well. We came out not handling the ball well and they came out on fire," said Cherniss of the Golden Bears' 14-4 jumpstart to the second set.
Hoffman said Concordia's strong play contributed to the lack of production on the Coyotes side of the net. "Tonight we found ourselves out of systtem a lot. It was hard to get the offense going, hard to get in system and in serve-receive we got in trouble a lot."
Cherniss, however, put the loss in perspective: "We play in a tough region, so we can't take anything for granted. It's hard to look forward right now. These girls (Hoffman and Ashtin Hall) won four conference titles and made it to two Elite Eights. But right now I'm just feeling the pain of losing these quality girls."
Hall, who had a solid post-season starting in the regionals, reflected on the national tournament and her career as a whole, saying, "It has been great. Our four years have been amazing and it got better every year. This year we're definitely disappointed we didn't get what we wanted most. We fell short, but we can't take anything away from our season. This has been the best four years of my life. It's disappointing to end like this, but it's been an honor to get here."
The senior from Yucaipa said her team fought to the end, staving off three match points in the fourth set and getting to within one point at 24-23 only to lose the set and the match on a service error.
"The closer it got to the end, the more I didn't want it to end. It's all about fighting for every single point. We struggled with things we don't normally struggle with," Hall said.
Concordia-St. Paul Head Coach Brady Starkey said of the Coyotes: "I would like to say congratulations to San Bernardino on another phenomenal season. Two losses on the year is pretty good. Getting to this point and having to play them again was fun. So hats off to them. Their setter (Hoffman) is ridiculous. I'm very glad that she is done."
Starkey praised his unbeaten, senior-laden team. "I thought our girls played hard-nosed volleyball. They came out really hot in the second set and showed a lot of poise and composure. Our girls made really good adjustments."
The second set was pivotal as CSP made the right moves to counter the CSUSB middles.
"I think early on our block was getting uplate on their middle. In the second game, we started to get up there and get good touches so she (Middleborn) had to think a little bit. As the match went on we were able to slow her down."