Volleyball 8/29/2009 5:32:02 PM Mike Murphy, SID

Coyotes put Alaska-Fairbanks on ice

Volleyball team finishes tournament 3-0 with 3-0 sweep of Nanooks

Megan Johnson came up with four kills and six blocks, two of them solo in the crucial second set Saturday in a 3-0 win over Alaska-Fairbanks.

        CARSON -- Cal State San Bernardino, the second-ranked team in NCAA Division II, defeated Alaska-Fairbanks 3-0 Saturday to finish the 2009 SoCal Classic with an unblemished 3-0 record.
        Once again, it was junior outside hitter Jane Chafeh showing the way with her second double-double of the tournament, with 11 kills and 13 digs, giving her 38 kills and 34 digs in the tournament. The Nanooks
gave the Coyotes a battle in the second set before falling 25-17, 27-25 and 25-19. UAF is now 0-3.
         Backing up Chafeh, once again, was sophomore middle blocker Samantha Middleborn who converted seven of 11 swings on .545 hitting. Junior Nicole Moore came off the bench to nail six of 12 attacks (.417 hitting).
        Sophomore Megan Johnson, who started the match, had four kills on .500 hitting and made a match-high six blocks, two of them solo. Her crucial plays in the second set helped set up the win.
          Redshirt freshman Camille Smith served up a match-high three service aces. Senior setters Sara Hoffman and Alyssa Auck combined for 30 assists.
          The Coyotes hit at a .250 clip for the match, holding the Nanooks to just .110 hitting. Megan Thigpen led the Nanooks with 11 kills and 16 digs.
           UAF put the Coyotes to the test in the second set. CSUSB never led by more than three points in the set and the Nanooks tied the score on several occasions before taking the lead at 22-21 on one of three blocks in the match by Sydney VanMunster. UAF made it 23-21 on a Chafeh attack error.
            A kill by Moore and a block by CSUSB's Johnson and Morgan Carty evened the score at 23. Jessica Hill put the Nanooks back on top only to have CSUSB tie the score on Hill's service error. CSUSB went up 25-24 on Johnson's solo block in a set where a team must win by two points.
            Melissa Refuerzo tied the set at 25-all with a kill off an assist by Alexa Sherman, who finished the match with 22 assists.
            CSUSB went up 26-25 on a combined block by Johnson and Ashtin Hall, then Johnson stuffed Thigpen's attack at the net for a 27-25 Coyotes win.
             In the third set, the Nanooks were hanging around at 20-19, but the Coyotes closed out the match on a 5-0 run, capped by back-to-back kills by Chafeh off assists by Hoffman and Hall.
             CSUSB will compete in the UC San Diego Tritons Invitational next Friday and Saturday in La Jolla.

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