ST. PAUL, Minn -- Seniors Sara Rice and Jessica Granados combined for 29 kills Thursday as West Region champion Cal State San Bernardino swept past Atlantic Region champion California Univ. (PA), 3-0, to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II women's volleyball championship.
    The Coyotes, 29-3, will face Truman State, 33-7, a 3-0 winner over Nova Southeastern in the second quarterfinal match of the day at 3 p.m. PT on Friday. The match will be carried via internet broadband and live stats at www.cugoldenbears.com (select NCAA tournament web page).
    Host Concordia-St. Paul (35-1) will face Grand Valley State (33-3) in the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m. PT. Both won their quarterfinal matches in sweeps, 3-0.
    (To view a slide show of today's match and other NCAA tournament highlights, please go to     Rice, the 6-0 senior middle blocker from Yucaipa, had a season-high 16 kills on .481 hitting with three blocks while Granados, a senior right-side hitter from Beaumont,  had 13 kills on .325 hitting with nine digs. Junior setter Sara Hoffman (San Clemente) had 42 assists and two service aces.
    "Sara (Hoffman) did a great job of running our system today and keeping our team in system. The tandem of Sara (Rice) and Sara (Hoffman) has been tough all season and can be unstoppable at times if they stay in system," said Head Coach Kim Cherniss.
    Rice said of the Coyotes setter, "Transition is a big part of our game. Sara gives us the ball when she knows we're there."
    Granados chimed in on Hoffman: "She's a fast setter and can put the other team at a disadvantage and create big holes in block for us hitters on the outside."
    Cherniss had good things to say about the Vulcans. "California did a great job of scouting us for today's match. Their middle hitter Ludmila Amaral and setter Renata Silva are a tough tandem to stop."
    Amaral led the Vulcans with 12 kills on .435 hitting. It was only the second loss of the season for the Vulcans (40-2), who had their 24-match win streak snapped. The team had not lost a match since Sept. 26.
    The Coyotes  got off to a shaky start in the first set, falling behind 15-10 before rallying to take the set 25-23, then captured the second set 25-22 and dominated the third set, 25-11, to move into the Final Four for the second time in the history of the program. CSUSB was a semifinalist in 2003.
    CSUSB was so dominant in the third set that the team hit a remarkable .630 with 17 kills on 27 attacks with zero errors and was 12-12 on sideouts while California hit just .097 in the set.
    Rice had seven kills to lead the Coyotes charge in the first set, turning a 17-13 deficit into an 20-19 lead on a kill by Granados. The set was tied at 23-23 when sophomore Jane Chafeh of Fontana (nine kills) pounded home back-to-back kills to give CSUSB the set at 25-23.
    The Vulcans continued to battle hard in the second set, leading 14-12 until the Coyotes tied it up at 14-14 on a kill by Rice and a block at the net by the Coyotes.
    After CSUSB opened up a 19-16 lead on another Rice kill, the Vulcans rallied on two kills by Amaral and a Coyotes error to tie the set at 19-all. CSUSB pulled ahead 23-21 and closed out the set on a Granados kill and a Vulcans error, 25-22.
    Leading 10-8 in the third set, the Coyotes outscored the Vulcans 12-2 to take an insurmountable 22-10 lead, aided by five kills by freshman middle hitter Mercedes Winchester who closed out the match with consecutive kills. Winchester made good on five of her six attacks, all in the third set.
    CSUSB was without the services of freshman middle blocker Samantha Middleborn who reportedly suffered an ankle injury in Wednesday's practice session.
    Junior Ashtin Hall (Yucaipa) had 10 digs for CSUSB while teammate Meghan Haas had a match-high 13 digs.
    The Coyotes hit .313 for the match after starting out with a negative hitting percentage in the first half of the first set.
    Vulcans coach Stephanie Burner said "We came out excited to play and I thought we matched up well with them. We played well in the first two games but it was hard to watch that third game." On Rice's performance, Burner said, "We had a hard time stopping her with our block. She has a good arm swing and is quick to the ball."
    Burner summed up the match by saying, "It's really about which team can stay in system and control the ball. We like to run a fast offense and they did a good job returning balls and keeping us out of system."