LA JOLLA (Nov. 20, 2015)  -- No. 19 Cal State San Bernardino advanced to the first-ever California Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball tournament championship match Friday night with a 3-1 semifinal victory over host UC San Diego on Friday night.
 
At last, the second-seed Coyotes get an opportunity to face regular-season champion Sonoma State, a team that beat the Coyotes 3-2 in Rohnert Park early in CCAA conference play; their only meeting of the regular season.
 
The title match is set for 7 p.m. at UC San Diego's RIMAC Arena. Sonoma State beat Cal Poly Pomona, 3-0. The winner gets the automatic CCAA berth in the NCAA West Regional.
 
The victory improved the Coyotes to 26-4 while the Tritons dipped to 19-11. 
 
All-CCAA first-team choice Alexandra Torline led the Coyotes with 18 kills and contributed 11 digs and four block assists.  Sophomore Lauren Nicholson had 13 kills, 12 digs and three block assists. Senior Ashley Solis also had 13 kills to go with 16 digs as the Coyotes prevailed 25-17, 18-25, 25-19, 25-23.
 
Junior middle blocker Malika O'Brien came through with 12 kills two solo blocks and seven block assists. Freshman setter Jayann DeHoog had 55 assists.
 
The Coyotes hit .256 for the match, while UCSD hit just .149. Danielle Dahle led both teams with 21 kills.  CSUSB's Kaitlyn Christner and the Tritons Heidi Sierks both led team-high 19 digs for their respective teams.