Shaking off a fast start by 15th-ranked Sonoma State in the first set Saturday, No. 2 Cal State San Bernardino rallied its troops to take the next three sets for a 3-1 CCAA conference women's volleyball victory over the Seawolves in Coussoulis Arena. 
    Jane Chafeh powered the Coyotes to the victory, 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18, with a match-high 23 kills and 13 digs as CSUSB improved to 14-0 on the season and 7-0 in the CCAA, holding onto at least a one-game lead over its conference foes. 
    Sonoma State is now 13-2 overall and 5-2 in the CCAA. 
    Keala Peterson (18 kills) and Allyson Sather (19 kills) were the leaders of the Sonoma State offense. Libero Taylor Krenwinkel had 15 digs and setter Lindsay Brown had 41 assists for the Seawolves. 
    Backing up Chafeh for CSUSB were Samantha Middleborn (eight kills, six block assists), Megan Johnson (eight kills, five block assists) and Nicole Moore (seven kills). Senior setter Sara Hoffman had 43 assists and 12 digs. Sophomore Morgan Carty had 11 digs, eight block assists and five kills. 
    The teams fared evenly in key statistical categories. CSUSB had a slight edge in kills (56-51) and digs (58-54) and service aces (9-8), but the big difference in the match was the blocking ability of CSUSB's front line – 23 blocks to just five for Sonoma. 
    The victory was the Coyotes' 21st in a row at home dating back to the start of the 2008 season. And, CSUSB remains unbeaten in its CCAA matchups with Sonoma State, a string of 23 straight wins dating back to the Seawolves entrance into the CCAA in 1998. 
    However, the first set sent up red flags to Coyote fans as Sonoma State seized the initiative and the momentum from a mistake-prone CSUSB side to take the first five points and lead 16-8 on a Coyote service error. 
    CSUSB never got closer than five points after that.. Sather and Peterson each had five kills in the set and the team produced four service aces. 
    The Coyotes took an early 9-6 lead in set two, but the Seawolves scored six straight points to lead 12-9 on ace by Krenwinkel. Sonoma maintained the lead until the Coyotes went up 19-18 on an ace by Carty. Sonoma responded with four straight points capped by a kill by Peterson for a 22-19 lead only to have the Coyotes knot the set at 23-all on Sonoma attack error. CSUSB closed out the set at 25-23 on an attack error by Peterson and a block by Johnson and Chafeh on Sonoma's Rikki Buchshnis. 
    CSUSB moved out to a 7-2 lead early in set three and never trailed although Sonoma got very close at 21-19 on a ace by Ali Walker. Two kills by Chafeh put CSUSB up 24-20 and Moore finished off the set with a kill at 25-22. 
    The Coyotes jumped out to a 11-3 advantage early in the fourth set and led 21-9 at one point on a kill by Ashtin Hall. Johnson ended the match with a kill off an assist by Jane Moesche. 
    CSUSB will host Cal State L.A. next Friday at 7 p.m. in Coussoulis Arena, followed on Saturday night by Cal State Dominguez Hills.