LA JOLLA -- Cal State San Bernardino fought off a strong challenge by Northern Michigan in the fourth set to claim a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon at the UC San Diego Tritons Invitational and left RIMAC Arena with a 4-0 record in the tournament.
     The Coyotes, ranked No. 2 in the nation, are now 7-0 as they head home to prepare to open the California Collegiate Athletic Association season with a titanic match against No. 7-ranked UC San Diego at 7 p.m. Friday in Coussoulis Arena.
     As she had in the first three matches of the tournament, junior outside hitter Jane Chafeh displayed tournament MVP credentials with 20 kills and 10 digs against NMU. Through seven matches this season, Chafeh is averaging 4.96 kills and 3.88 digs per set.
     Senior setter Sara Hoffman had 43 assists, 11 digs and three block assists in the finale. Freshman libero Camille Smith had a team-high 14 digs while senior Ashtin Hall had 13 digs, nine kills and three blocks, two of them solo. Sophomore Megan Johnson had five kills from her middle blocker position and five blocks, one of the solo.
      Sophomore middle blocker Samantha Middleborn had seven kills on .312 hitting with four blocks, one of them solo. Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Carty had eight kills and three block assists. The Coyotes hit .223 as a team and suffered 22 attack errors and 12 service errors against a tough Northern Michigan squad.
      The fourth set was a battle with the score tied nine times. The lead changed hands five times before the Coyotes prevailed 25-23, 25-18, 20-25 and 25-21.
       Chafeh and Hoffman were both voted to the all-tournament team along with Sylvia Schmidt, Katie Condon and Elaine Chen of UCSD, Gabriela Bulawczyk of Cal State L.A. and Stacie Meisner of Alaska-Anchorage.
    Northern Michgian, 4-4 on the season, was led by Mandie Meyer with 16 kills, eight digs, two block assists and a pair of service aces. Andree Ring had 11 kills. Amy Goldsworthy had 10 kills on .474 hitting and three blocks, one of them solo. Libero Cassie Osiecki had a match-high 20 digs and setter Abby Lovell contributed 38 assists.
       CSUSB held NMU to just .152 hitting.

GAME NO. 3
      Earlier in the day, Cal State San Bernardino picked up where it left off Friday at the UC San Diego Tritons Invitational, sweeping past Saginaw Valley State of Michigan, 3-0, Saturday in its first match of the tournament's second day.
   Chafeh continued her superlative play with a match high 17 kills and a match-high 14 digs to lead the CSUSB offense. Chafeh hit .344 (17 of 32 swings) and also accounted for two service aces and two block assists.
     Hoffman had an outstanding all-around match with 24 assists, four service aces, nine digs and four block assists.  Smith had 10 digs in the contest, which saw the Coyotes prevail 25-21, 25-13 and 25-15 over SVSU, now 4-3 on the season.
      The Coyotes hit .322 for the match. They were most efficient in the second set, hitting at a robust .522 against SVSU. SVSU hit only .011 against the CSUSB defense and a low team total of just 12 assists in the match. Allison Schlinkert had just five kills, but was her team leader.
      Middleborn and sophomore Carty each had seven kills for CSUSB. Middleborn hit .462 in the match.
       SVSU put up a good fight in the first set. The score was tied nine times but SVSU never led.