The dynastic Cal State San Bernardino women's volleyball team started its pursuit of its sixth-consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Association championship when it opened conference play Friday night at San Francisco State. The Yotes beat the Gators 3-1, in a match highlighted by 35 assists from
Marlee Nunley, 17 kills by
Savannah Hoffman, and 14 digs from Makena Overbay. Senior outside hitter,
Melissa Garciglia, earned 10 kills and 18 digs on the night for the Yotes.
The Yotes play at Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday at 5:00pm. Catch all of the action live on the CCAA Network at ccaanetwork.com!
CCAA PREVIEW:
CSUSB leads the all-time series against the Gators 37-3 with their last loss to SFSU coming in 2014. The Otters have never beaten the Coyotes, trailing 32-0 in their past meetings.
The Coyotes are ranked No. 10 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Assn. NCAA Division II poll.
Head Coach
Kim Cherniss returns for her 31
st season. She has a 711-229 record in that span, leading the Coyotes to 14 CCAA titles, eight NCAA West Region titles and the 2019 national championship.
The 2022 CCAA coaches pre-season poll gave CSUSB 11 first-place to repeat again as conference champs followed closely by Cal State L.A. and Cal Poly Pomona.
Since the start of the 2016 season, the Coyotes have turned Coussoulis Arena, their home court into a house of pain for visiting opponents. CSUSB is 80-6 at home since the start of the 2016 season. They had won 62 straight home matches since the middle of the 2015 season before that streak ended with a loss to Cal State L.A. in the semifinals of the NCAA Div. II West Regional last December.
The team's last in-conference loss was on the road at Cal Poly Pomona Oct. 12, 2018. Since then the Coyotes are 44-0 in CCAA play, 35-0 over the last two seasons.
CSUSB has a core of six veteran players returning from the 2021 team that earned the CCAA championship for the fifth straight year and then lost to conference rival Cal State L.A. in the West Regional semifinals after beating them in the conference tourney semifinals.
The top returnees:
- Asia Clarke, a senior outside hitter from Wildomar, who had 229 kills, 32 service aces, 308 digs and 51 block assists for a team that went 26-4 on the season, 18-0 in CCAA play.
- Melissa Garciglia, a senior outside hitter from La Paz Mexico via Arizona Western College, who produced 281 kills and 28 block assists.
- Jenna Patton, a junior middle blocker out of Redlands East Valley HS via University of Texas, San Antonio. Patton had 144 kills on .374 hitting with 16 aces, eight solo blocks and 43 block assists.
- Marlee Nunley, a junior setter from Murrieta, who led the CCAA with 11.05 assists per set on 1193 assists. She had 35 service aces, 212 digs and 56 block assists. She was all-CCAA first team.
- Makena Overby, a senior libero from Fontana who had 282 digs last season, averaging 4.09 digs per set to earn CCAA Libero of the Year honors.
- Lydia Morohunfola, a redshirt senior from Eastvale, who was injured much of last season, appearing in only 15 matches and 30 sets. In 2019 when CSUSB won the NCAA Division II championship with a 33-0 record, Morohunfola averaged 1.69 kills per set, had 16 solo blocks and 85 block assists to average 1.02 blocks per set.
The Coyotes must learn to play without three strong players who have helped them win CCAA and West Region titles and the NCAA Division II championship – the athletic departments first team national title -- during their career at CSUSB –
Alexis Cardoza,
Jalyn Hayes and
Leilia To'omalatai.
Cardoza, a Chino Hills HS graduate, was a three-time, first-team D-II All-American and two-time NCAA Div. II Player of the Year as well as a three-time CCAA Player of the Year. Last season she posted 429 kills (3.97 per set), 28 service aces, 299 digs (4.09 per set), 12 solo blocks and 26 block assists. She also earned Academic All-America honors and is nominated for the NCAA's Woman of the Year award for the 2021-22 academic year.
Hayes, a Cajon High School/San Bernardino graduate, had a solid redshirt junior season as a middle blocker, averaging 2.23 kills per set with a .382 hitting percentage which led the CCAA to go with a team-leading 31 solo blocks and 89 block assists to average 1.15 blocks per set.
Tomolatai, an Oak Hills High school graduate, had 227 digs (2.25 digs per set) as a defensive specialist/libero.
