SAN BERNARDINO – It's not like Sonoma State has dominated in its long-running series of clashes against Cal State San Bernardino over the years.
After all, the Yotes led the series with the Seawolves 42-14 heading into Saturday night's regular season finale. But Coach Bear Grassl and his team have found opportunities over the years to remind CSUSB they have talent, too.
It was certainly on display in Coussoulis Arena as the Seawolves rallied from a 1-0 deficit after the first set to dominate sets two and three and then take a five-set victory, 3-2 over the Yotes.
It was the second time in three meetings this season that Sonoma State had prevailed in five sets. That was in a tournament at the Seawolves gym just days before the two teams met again in the same venue and Sonoma State swept the Yotes, 3-0, in the opening match of the CCAA conference season.
When was the last time a Yotes team dropped three games to an opponent in the same season? That is a trivia question for fans to look up while waiting for the CCAA conference tournament to begin on Thursday at Cal State L.A.
Meanwhile Cal State L.A. beat cellar-dwelling Chico State 3-1 on the road Saturday to finish the regular CCAA season in a first-place with the Yotes at 15-3. The two teams are the top two seeds in the conference tournament. L.A. is unbeaten at home this season.
Sonoma State finishes the regular season at 17-8, 12-6 in the CCAA.
So, how does a team with six conference losses manage to upend the 22-4 Yotes three times in one season? Let's look at a little history.
Way back in 2015, SSU defeated the Yotes 3-2 in the CCAA tournament at UC San Diego. The year before that, Sonoma State beat the Yotes in the NCAA West Regional semifinals.
It must be the matchups that create these kinds of happenings.
Sonoma State certainly matched up well against the best the Yotes had to offer Saturday night.
Or was it the 25 attack errors that resulted in a season low hitting percentage of .155 for the Yotes, the conference leader in that department.
In the fifth set, with the pressure on to maintain that incredible 73-match regular season home win streak that started in mid-September of 2015, the Yotes hit just.071 in the final set, falling 15-11 because they had just four kills on 14 swings with five attack errors. CSUSB winds up 12-1 at home for the season to date.
The Yotes fell 25-21, 18-25, 17-25, 25-12 and 11-15.
The hosts, who honored four seniors playing the final home match of the regular season – setter
Marlee Nunley, middle blockers
Jenna Patton and
Taryn King, and libero-defensive specialist
Shira Lahav – did provide some highlights throughout the match.
Junior
Ashley Robinson led the Yotes with 16 kills on .343 hitting and earned a double-double with a team high 15 digs. Freshman
Trinity Sheridan had 12 kills, offset by nine attack errors in 35 swings and hit a season low .086 for the match. Sheridan did help out defensively with a solo block and four block assists.
Patton had an uncharacteristic off night hitting with six kills, but three attack errors in 16 swings for her lowest hitting percentage of the season (.188). Remember she led NCAA Division II in hitting percentage at .497 entering the match.
King had three kills plus a solo block and four block assists. Nunley, ranked No.3 in the conference in assists, collected 35 with four kills, four block assists and two service aces. Kacie Pederson had three service aces.
Sonoma's Brooklyn Jackson, hitting just .184 and averaging just 2.1 kills per set this season, went off on the Yotes with a match-high 18 kills while hitting.300. Jen Trephan showed her versatility with a double-double – 12 kills on .391 hitting with 31 assists and seven digs.
Kiana Richardson notched 10 kills, a solo block and four block assists. Jaden Krist came up with nine kills, offset by eight attack errors and five service errors. Brynna Slayton helped out Trephan in the setting department with 21 assists.
The Seawolves didn't set the place on fire, hitting just .195 for the match (58 kills in 154 swings with 28 attack errors to go with eight total blocks. They did enough in the fifth set to win – hitting eight kills with four errors in 20 swings for .200 hitting.
As it turns out, CSUSB had to work hard to get the win in the first set, trailing 12-6 early before inching its way back into the fray and tying the match at 18-all on a Patton service ace.
A Hoffman kill tied the set at 19-all before the Yotes took their first lead since falling behind at 6-5 on a block by SSU's Richardson and Leilani Hallman.
The Yotes finally got the lead back on back to back attack errors by the Seawolves' Richardson and Jackson and won the last three points to close out the set on an attack error by Krist after Sheridan's kill made it 24-21.
The CCAA conference recognizes the winner of the CCAA tournament as the conference champion.
UP NEXT – CSUSB is seeded No. 1 for the CCAA tournament that begins Thursday with two quarterfinal matches: No. 3 San Francisco State plays No. 6 Cal State San Marcos at 3 p.m. No. 4 Cal Poly Pomona plays Sonoma State at 5:30 p.m. at the Eagles Next at CSULA. On Friday, No. 2 Cal State L.A. faces the winner of S.F. State-San Marcos at 3 p.m. while the Yotes face the winner of Cal Poly Pomona-Sonoma State at 5:30 p.m. The championship match is set for Saturday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m. Watch the matches live streaming on the CCAA Network or follow the stats at csusbathletics.com.
