SAN BERNARDINO -- In a battle of California Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball titans, three-time defending champion Cal State San Bernardino defeated perennial nemesis UC San Diego, 3-1, in its 2009 home opener before 305 fans in Coussoulis Arena.
    The Coyotes, ranked No. 2 in the nation, are now 8-0, 1-0 in the CCAA, while the Tritons are now 9-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference. CSUSB hosts CCAA newcomer Cal State East Bay at 7 p.m. Saturday night.
     CSUSB prevailed 25-16, 21-25, 25-20 and 25-11.
    Junior outside hitter Jane Chafeh led the Coyotes with 21 kills on .317 hitting and 11 digs to go with two solo blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Samantha Middleborn had nine kills on .500 hitting with five blocks, one of them solo. Senior setter Sara Hoffman had 32 assists, the same as Tritons setter Elaine Chen.
    Senior Sylvia Schmidt led the Tritons with 14 kills. CSUSB hit .333 for the match while the Tritons hit just .106.
    The victory extended the Coyotes' current home win streak to 18. UCSD still leads the all-time series with the Coyotes 32-16 but 12 of CSUSB's wins have come since 1999. CSUSB is now 10-8 against the Tritons dating back to 2002.
    CSUSB has six CCAA titles and the Tritons have been runnerups six times since 2000.
    The two teams took turns dominating in the first two sets, but the tide turned midway through the third set. With the score tied 17-17, the Coyotes ran off five straight points on a kill by junior Nicole Moore, a service ace by redshirt freshman libero Camille Smith, a block by Middleborn and Morgan Carty, a kill by Chafeh and another block by Middleborn and Carty, to lead 22-17.
    Middleborn finished off a 25-20 win by CSUSB in the set with a kill off a blocking error by UCSD.
    The Coyotes jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the fourth set on a solo block by Carty.
    Leading 10-6, the Coyotes went on a 10-0 run with senior Ashtin Hall serving nine straight points that included four kills by Chafeh and a solo block by Middleborn, to lead 20-6. A service error by UCSD closed out the match at 25-11.
    Chafeh is now averaging 5.0 kills and 3.71 digs a game through eight matches on .269 hitting.
    CSUSB's vaunted middle block game asserted itself in the end with 17 blocks, five of them solo while UCSD, which relied on speed and quickness, had just six block assists. CSUSB dug 47 balls to just 32 for the Tritons who were plagued by 26 attack errors and 16 service errors in the match. The Coyotes had only 13 attack errors in 99 swings with 12 service errors.