TURLOCK, Calif. – For the third-straight season and 14th time in program history, the No. 1 CSUSB Coyotes are the CCAA Champions.
The 2018 Yotes did it on Saturday night on the campus of Stanislaus State in a 3-1 win over No. 17 Cal Poly Pomona. CPP took set one, but CSUSB came firing back with three-straight set wins. Conference Player of the Year Alexis Cardoza led the charge with 19 kills and Hailey Jackson added 13. Sascha Dominique joined them in double figures with 10. Jayann DeHoog dished 50 assists and Leilia To'omalatai was big again with 23 digs.
The Coyotes fell behind and lost set one 25-18, but a block and kill from Mikaela Grove fueled a three-point lead in set two and another block made it 24-18, as CSUSB won 25-23. CPP took an early lead in set three, but a kill from Jackson tied it at 14 and it was back and forth until a sneak kill from DeHoog and a kill from Cardoza ended it 25-23. The Yotes had no interest in a fifth set racing to a 15-9 lead in set four on a kill from Dominique. CPP got no closer than four points as CSUSB won it 25-19.
"We always stay focused on our side of the net and make the correct adjustments," Cardoza said.
The match was even with CSUSB hitting .271 and CPP hitting .216, but CSUSB led in blocks 9-4, and only had 14 errors compared to 22 for CPP.
"We did a great job maintaining our composure tonight and it's a great win for our program," head coach Kim Cherniss said.
Alexis Cardoza was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament and Jackson, DeHoog, and To'omalatai joined her on the All-Tournament team.
The Coyotes (26-2) will advance to the NCAA West Regional next week as either the number one or two seed, and host or travel to Western Washington. The selection show is live on NCAA.com tomorrow at 7 pm.
