Box Score SAN BERNARDINO (Sept. 22, 2015) -- It's far too early in the season to deem Tuesday night's 3-1 victory over UC San Diego as an avenged conquest.
It will go down as victory No. 9 in 2015 and it puts the Coyotes (9-2, 2-1 CCAA) in a good place heading into this weekend's home matches against Cal State Dominguez Hills (Friday) and No. 25 Cal State L.A. (Saturday).
A week ago tonight, CSUSB was outplayed in a 3-0 loss to the very same Tritons at Coussoulis Arena. On this night, CSUSB was much stronger at its point of strength at middle blocker. Junior
Malika O'Brien led with 16 kills on a .481 attack effort and senior
Brenna McIntosh knocked out 15 kills with six total blocks in the 28-26, 20-25, 26-24, 25-17 victory before a crowd of 1,102 at RIMAC Arena.
A back-and-forth first set hung in the balance until O'Brien took matters into her own hands. Tied at 26-26, O'Brien brought down a solo block for sideout. And she finished off the set wtih a kill, thanks to a set from freshman
Jayann DeHoog for the winner.
UCSD controlled the second set to tie that match at 1-1, and the Coyotes bounced back in another tight set. The largest lead by any team in the third was three (19-16 CSUSB), but UCSD tied the set at 24-24, and O'Brien stepped up again to stave off the Tritons.
Her kill put the Coyotes up 25-24 and threw down another for the set victory and a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set was tied as late as 13-apiece. Senior
Alexandra Torline set the tempo with a kill, and a kill from
Lauren Nicholson and a block assist from DeHoog and McIntosh put the Coyotes up 16-13.
After a UCSD timeout, the Coyotes scored two quick points -- one on an attack error and another on a kill from Torline and the Coyotes remained in front for the win.
Torline added 15 kills in 41 attacks, and senior
Ashley Solis had 16 digs and DeHoog added 14 digs with 43 assists. Sophomore
Heather Sawchuk had 10 digs in another effort from her libero position.
CSUSB finished .253 on the attack (57-17-158).O'Brien had four block assists with one solo and DeHoog had four block assists.
UCSD (6-5, 2-1) was led by Meagan Wright's 15 kills.
