BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The No. 1 Coyotes battled No. 2 Western Washington to the very end on their home court on Saturday night in the West Regional Championship, but eventually fell 2-3.   

Alexis Cardoza and Sascha Dominique led the attack for CSUSB with 24 and 20 kills respectively, as Jalyn Hayes added 12.  Hayes led with five blocks and Jayann DeHoog dished 62 assists, three short of her season high.  She also led with 23 digs in her final game for CSUSB.

The Coyotes dominated at the net in blocks, 13-6, and led in digs 91-88, but in the end were three kills behind, 72-75.  CSUSB hit .293 and held WWU to .241.   

The Coyotes fell behind in the first set, 10-16, but came back to tie at 18 on a block from Hayes and Amy Armstrong.  They seized control on a kill from Mikaela Grove and won 25-23 on a kill from Asia Clarke.  CSUSB fell down big in set two but came storming back to 22-23, but WWU took the final two points.  Set three was tight throughout but WWU built a three-point lead late and rode it to a 25-22 win. 

The Coyotes grabbed an 11-6 lead in set four on a kill from Dominique, and kept WWU at bay through the remainder of the set winning 25-21.  WWU jumped out to a 7-3 in the final set, and CSUSB pushed it to 14-12 on a block from Dominique and Grove, but WWU scored the final point to win 15-12.

"Tonight was an extremely exciting match with both teams going all out.  The offense was exciting and the defense was relentless," head coach Kim Cherniss said.  "I am really proud of our team, we played really hard and executed down the stretch."

The season comes to an end for the Coyotes who claimed another CCAA Championship in 2018 and were ranked number one in the nation for much of the year.