GOLDEN, Colo. (Sept. 2, 2017) — A pair of five-set matches turned in No. 15 CSUSB's direction Saturday, en route to a pair of victories over No. 13 Wayne State and Colorado Mesa on the final day of the Oredigger Volleyball Classic, held at Colorado School of Mines.
 
CSUSB (3-1 overall) returns home before traveling to Anchorage, Alaska, for next week's Division II West Region Showcase. The Coyotes face Concordia, Ca., on Thursday, and conclude with matches against Western Washington, California Baptist and Alaska-Anchorage.
 
No. 13 Wayne (Neb.) State (W 21-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-19, 18-16)
Senior outside hitter Lauren Nicholson fired 23 kills, including seven in the decisive set for the 5-set win over the Wildcats of Wayne, Neb.
 
CSUSB drew to match point on three occasions late, only to have WSC come back to tie. At 16-16, Nicholson fired off a kill and with Hailey Jackson setting, Nicholson nailed another one for the victory.
 
Nicholson hit .391 (23/5/46) with 14 digs for 23.5 points. Equally impressive was freshman Alexis Cardoza, who drilled five service aces with five kills and 16 digs.
 
Sophomore OH Moira Murphy earned 17 kills with four block assists. Both Sascha Dominique and Jackson had nine kills, while Dominique had two aces. Jackson had four block assists.
 
Colorado Mesa (W 20-25, 11-25, 28-26, 25-10, 15-10)
Down 2-0, CSUSB and CMU had 11 ties in the third set and the Coyotes were on the brink of a 3-0 sweep when they trailed 25-24.
 
A service error and attack error put CSUSB up 26-25. After a CMU kill, freshman Lydia Morohunfola put the Coyotes ahead 27-26. Then Murphy drew a kill and the Coyotes staved off the sweep.
 
The Coyotes hit .304 in the fourth and hit .500 on 9 of 10 sideouts in the fifth for the victory.
 
Murphy led with 13 kills and Jackson had 12. Cardoza and Leilia To'omalatai each had three service aces, and Morohunfola and Cardoza each had seven block assists.
 
"We got three of four, fought back in all three of the wins and played a bunch of freshmen … this was a good weekend,'' head coach Kim Cherniss said. "Against Wayne, Diana (Maile) stepped it up and connected with our middles. Lauren was so good late, and both she and Moira made very good choices. And I can't say enough about Leilia, who defensively gave us 31 digs. A good win against a very good team.
 
"And against Mesa, a huge learning curve to come back and play strong. Four freshmen on the court a lot doing some very good things. Alexis on the right shored us up defensively and contributed with skills that don't show up on the stat page. And again, Leilia gave us a lot defensively.''