Cal State San Bernardino cruised past San Francisco State, 3-0, Friday night to improve to 17-2 on the 2008 volleyball season and 9-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. 
    The Coyotes, ranked No. 2 in the Pacific Region and No. 3 in the nation, used a balanced attack to deal the Gators a 25-14, 25-14, 25-21 loss to drop SFSU to 11-9 overall and 4-7 in the CCAA. 
    The victory, combined with UC San Diego's 3-2 loss on the road at Cal State L.A. Friday night, puts the Coyotes in sole possession of first place with the Tritons and Golden Eagles both a half-game back at 9-3. L.A. trailed 2-0 at the outset but rallied at home for the win.
    CSUSB will host Cal State Monterey Bay at 7 p.m. Saturday while the Gators are at Cal Poly Pomona. 
    Senior Jessica Granados and junior Ashtin Hall led the Coyotes with nine kills apiece while senior Sara Rice had eight kills on .636 hitting. Junior setters Sara Hoffman and Alyssa Auck combined for 38 assists. Senior libero Meghan Haas had 14 digs and a match-high three service aces. Freshman Samantha Middleborn had four blocks, three of them solo. 
    Beth Perkins led the Gators with a match-high 10 kills on .435 hitting. Christina Johnson had a team-high 12 digs. Anne Hegli had 21 assists. 
    The Gators hit just .062 for the match while the Coyotes hit .222 well below their season and conference leading average. 
    CSUSB never trailed or shared the lead in an easy win in the first set but there were three lead changes in the second set. The Gators led early 5-4. SFSU was within two points at 15-13 when the Coyotes went on a 7-0 run to lead 22-13 on back-to-back kills by Hall and closed out the set on a shared block by Hoffman and Mercedes Winchester. 
    San Francisco State took a 9-7 lead early in the third set on a kill by Sloane Williams, but CSUSB rallied with five straight points for a 12-9 advantage on a service ace by senior Jennifer Washington. 
    The Gators got to within one point of CSUSB at 20-19 on a kill by Kelly Burke but CSUSB pulled ahead 23-20 on another Hall kill and closed out the match on a solo block by Middleborn on Williams' attack. 
    The victory gives the Coyotes a 17-1 edge in the all-time series with SFSU and the Coyotes remain unbeaten at home thus far in 2008 at 10-0, 6-0 in CCAA play.