BIG RAPIDS, Mich.  (Sept. 3, 2016) — The 20^th-ranked Coyotes stormed back from an opening set loss in their 3-1 victory over Minnesota-Crookston in Ferris State Invite play Saturday morning.
 
Senior All-American Malika O'Brien led the Coyotes with 15 kills in the 23-25, 25-22, 25-13 25-20 victory. The Coyotes then came back Saturday with a 3-2 win over Grand Valley State to go 3-1 in the tourney.
 
Coyotes 3, UM Crookston 1
Playing at 9:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. Pacific), CSUSB fell short in the opener that was a back-and-forth set with 12 ties and five lead changes.
 
Coach Kim Cherniss's crew got it together in the second. O'Brien's six kills in the set paced CSUSB, which led by as many as eight points (21-13) before holding off UMC.
 
Two straight kills from Lauren Nicholson opened a 6-0 rally in the third and CSUSB maintained the lead throughout, stretching its advantage to 23-12 on an O'Brien kill. The Coyotes hit .552 (just one attack error) in the set.
 
The fourth set belonged again to CSUSB, as it never trailed. O'Brien threw down four kills and sophomore Hailey Jackson added three.
 
Nicholson and Jackson each had 12 kills. Jayann DeHoog set up 38 assists, and senior L Abbey Vollkommer pounced on 23 digs. Kelsey Osgood had 13 digs and DeHoog had 12.
 
On the block, CSUSB had 16 block assists, thanks to seven from Jackson and six from Kaili Scott.

Coyotes 3, Grand Valley State 2
Down 2-0, CSUSB rallied back with an improved effort on the attack. The Coyotes totaled 16 attack errors in the first two sets, before having just 13 over the final three -- all wins.

Nicholson led with 28 kills -- 17 in the final three sets -- and 22 digs, while O'Brien had 11 kills with one solo block and six block assists. Jackson had double digits in kills with 10.

Vollkommer had 27 digs on the match and Osgood keyed 13 digs. Sophomore Amanda Reifer popped five block assists, with Jackson and Scott each with four.

CSUSB continues on the road this week at the Division II West Region Showcase at Rohnert Park. The Coyotes take on Alaska-Anchorage on Thursday night.