Box Score: No. 6 Coyotes def. UC San Diego 3-0

SAN BERNARDINO -- The stars were out Saturday night in sixth-ranked Cal State San Bernardino's 3-0 win over rival UC San Diego to close the CCAA regular season.

You could take your pick on who stood tallest for Coach Kim Cherniss' squad:

-- Senior Nicole Moore led the way with 12 kills on Senior Night after she opened the night singing the National Anthem.

-- Senior Jane Chafeh's nine kills and 10 digs in the 3-game win.

-- Junior Megan Johnson, who fired a 7-1-15 attack with five block assists.

-- And junior All-American Samantha Middleborn, who was 9-0-10 on the night, a .900 attack percentage against the Tritons, and finished the weekend with an unheard of attack percentage of .857 in the weekend's matches against CSUEB and UCSD.

All told, the Coyotes thoroughly defeated the Tritons 25-14, 25-14, 25-18 for their season-best 12th straight win and necessary momentum heading into next week's NCAA Tournament.

CSUSB fired a .451 attack percentage against the CCAA's second-best squad and snapped the Tritons' 11-match winning streak. The last team to defeat UCSD? Well, that would be the Coyotes, who earned a 3-1 win on Oct. 8.

The Coyotes never trailed in winning the first two sets and had just three attack errors in those sets.

In the third set, UCSD grabbed a 10-5 lead after a Chafeh attack error.

But that set up the Coyotes' run that put necessary momentum on their side. Two Middleborn kills and a pair of attack errors from UCSD cut the deficit to 10-9. Each team traded kills -- one from UCSD's Kaitlin Potter and one from Chafeh,

And with the score 11-10 UCSD, the Coyotes got rolling.

Freshman Danielle Newcombe entered the contest on a libero change. Teammates Johnson and Moore combined on a block assist and Newcombe fired a service ace and CSUSB led 12-11.

Another kill from Johnson put the Coyotes up by two points and CSUSB never let the lead get under two points after a UCSD service ace.

MATCH NOTES: The NCAA Tournament field and host sites will be announced Sunday night at 7 p.m. Pacific time at www.ncaasports.com. ... The Coyotes are assured of making the field by virtue of winning the CCAA regular-season title and look to hosting rights for the tourney... The victory was the Coyotes' 43rd consecutive at home and the 33rd consecutive home conference win. The last conference team to defeat CSUSB inside Coussoulis was UC San Diego in Oct. 2008.... Middleborn has been the top attack percentage hitter in the country all season long and now logs in at a phenomenal .495 (235 kills/41 errors/392 total attacks)... The victory marks the Coyotes' 19th 3-0 win this season and the 17th in conference play.