ROHNERT PARK (Sept. 10, 2016) — The 2016 Coyotes faced one of their most arduous nonconference preseason schedules in school history. Five of their eight matches would be against top-25 teams and two other foes received national votes.
Two weeks later, coach
Kim Cherniss' squad passed its preseason test with an impressive display of grit and teamwork.
On Saturday, No. 15 CSUSB (6-2 overall) took care of defending NCAA West Region champion Western Washington, ranked 14
th in this week's poll. Led by All-American
Malika O'Brien's 13 kills and .478 attack percentage, the Coyotes out-fought the Vikings 3-0 (29-27, 25-22, 25-22) on the final day of play at the Division II West Region Showcase at Sonoma State.
The Coyotes hit .305 (51 kills, 11 errors, 131 attacks) in their upper-hand victory. Both
Hailey Jackson and
Lauren Nicholson had 12 kills and
Moira Murphy added nine.
CSUSB jumped out front 5-1 in the opener and remained ahead until WWU ran a 7-1 run for a 23-22 advantage on a Coyote blocking error. The set was tied five times until setter
Jayann DeHoog earned the serve with the set tied at 27-27.
The Bakersfield native fired an ace, and a WWU attack error gave CSUSB the opener
In the second and tied at 15-15, O'Brien and Murphy posted consecutive kills and that gave a slight amount of cushion for CSUSB. Leading 23-21, Nicholson pushed the lead to three with a kill and CSUSB went on to win set two when WWU committed an attack error.
The Coyotes hit .433 in the second set on 16 kills with just three errors.
In the third, O'Brien led with six kills and Jackson added five in a set that had four ties and two lead changes.
Tied at 19-19, a block from
Kaili Scott and Jackson, and a kill from Jackson gave CSUSB a two-point lead and it stayed out front for the win.
DeHoog had 36 assists, and
Abbey Vollkommer had 18 digs.
Kelsey Osgood had 11 and Nicholson 10.
Freshman
Amy Armstrong led on the block with one solo and four assists.
The Coyotes make their home debut Saturday night against Humboldt State.
