SAN BERNARDINO – Two veteran volleyball coaches with over 1,200 NCAA Div. II wins combined and two setters who made the all-West Regional first team faced each other Thursday night.
As it turned out, Central Washington was unfortunate to face the Yotes on one of their best nights of the season and exited Coussoulis Arena in a season-ending 3-0 sweep by the Yotes.
The road to the regional championship has led through San Bernardino on several occasions during the 32-year tenure of Head Coach
Kim Cherniss and this Yotes team seemed to welcome the challenge provided by the Wildcats.
After being smoked 25-13 in the first set in front of a crowd of 348 fans, the Wildcats engaged the Yotes who responded by taking set two 25-22 and the third 25-18 to improve to 25-4 on the season. CWU finishes its season at 20-8.
The Yotes now face CCAA conference rival Cal Poly Pomona, a 3-0 winner over Point Loma Nazarene in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The setter matchup was entertaining. Tia Andaya of CWU and Marley Nunley of CSUSB showed their stuff but Nunley nailed 40 assists to Andaya's 31. Andaya's dad Mario has been coaching CWU since 1993. Cherniss has been at CSUSB since 1991.
Last night's win by the Yotes was their eighth straight over the Wildcats and their all-time series is now 16-2 in favor of CSUSB.
Freshman
Trinity Sheridan led a balanced Yotes attack with a match-high 15 kills on 25 swings with just two errors, a .520 hitting clip. Junior
Ashley Robinson had 12 kills with just one error in 29 swings (.379) and seven digs. Senior middle blocker
Jenna Patton was once again perfect with 10 kills in 15 swings with no errors (.667).
Junior Savannah Hoffman got in on the action with eight kills on 14 swings (.429 hitting). Robinson and
Jayden Chornomud were the top diggers with seven apiece.
Historically it's tough to beat a team that is so efficient offensively. CSUSB hit .440 for the match, .556 in the third set (16 kills on 27 swings with one error).
Central Washington hit .233 for the match, .294 in the third set but kept it close against the Yotes until late in sets two and three.
After Sheridan's kill in set two tied the set at 17-all, CWU opened up a 20-17 lead on a kill by Scottie Ellsworth, a hitting error by Sheridan and a service ace by Hannah Stiles. CSUSB responded with a kill by senior
Taryn King and back-to-back service aces by Robinson for a 20-20 tie.
At 22-22, a bad set by Emma Daoud-Hebert forced Coach Andaya to call a timeout. Down 23-22, Tia Andaya's attack error made it 24-22 Yotes. Hoffman ended the set on a kill off an assist by
Shira Lahav. CWU hit just 0.25 for the set while the Yotes hit .324.
In the third set, the match was tied at 13-all when a Robinson kill and a swing error by Ashley Kaufman of CWU made it 15-13 and the Yotes improved to 20-15 on a kill by Hoffman assisted by Robinson. Leading 22-18, CSUSB closed out the match on kills by Sheridan, Patton and Hoffman off sets by Nunley.
CSUSB will face a Broncos team it has beaten twice in conference play this season by scores of 3-2 and 3-1. The two teams have met some 76 times during their long-standing rivalry. The Yotes have won 48 times.
Cal State L.A. 3, Seattle Pacific 1
The 1-2 punch of Emily Elliott and Iane Henke and the setting of Eliza Cannon powered Cal State Los Angeles to a 3-1 victory over Seattle Pacific University Thursday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Div. II volleyball West Regional.
The fourth-seeded Golden Eagles prevailed 25-13, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20.
Elliott, the CCAA conference and West Region player of the year put down 18 kills and dug out 13 balls for a double-double along with two service aces three block assists to lead the Golden Eagles.
Henke, a first-team all-West Region pick, also posted a double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs to go with one block assist on .324 hitting. Cannon also recorded a double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs to go with five block assists.
Haley Roundtree recorded eight kills on .462 hitting with five block assists as CSULA improved to 19-10 on the season and advance to Friday's semifinals against the winner of Chaminade-San Francisco State.
Seattle Pacific, the fifth seed, was led by Sarah Brachvogel and Hannah Hair, each with eight kills. Brachvogel contributed three service aces and seven digs. Hair had four block assists. Sophia Chambers also had a double-double with 16 assists and 13 digs. Emily Tulino added 14 assists and six digs. SPU's season ends with a 22-5 record.
Chaminade 3, San Francisco State 0
Top-seeded Chaminade University of Hawaii swept past eighth-seeded San Francisco State, 3-0, Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II West Regional.
The Silverswords improved to 30-3 on the season and will now face the No. 4 seed Cal State Los Angeles at 5 p.m. Friday in the regional semifinals. CSLA defeated Seattle Pacific 3-1 in the first match of the day.
Greta Corti led Chaminade with 17 kills on .361 hitting with 10 digs and two service aces. Ajack Malual had 10 kills on .292 hitting to go with eight digs. West Region freshman of the year Leilani Ama recorded 34 assists with 10 digs and two block assists.
The Silverswords hit .337 for the match in prevailing 25-20, 25-20, 25-16. The Gators, playing without the CCAA's No. 1 setter in Kimberly DeBoer, hit just .196 as their season ended with an 18-11 record. DeBoer had 1,077 assists during the season.
Her sister, Brianna contributed 10 digs as a defensive specialist.
Izzy Isaak led the Gators with nine kills on .222 hitting. Tamiya Wilson, normally a right-side hitter, helped fill in for DeBoer's absence with seven kills on .250 hitting, 13 assists and eight digs. Drew DeGuzman contributed 14 assists.
Cal Poly Pomona 3, Point Loma Nazarene 0
No. 3 seed Cal Poly Pomona's balanced offensive attack, together with strong defense led to a 3-0 Broncos sweep of the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions in their NCAA Division II West Regional quarterfinal Thursday night.
The Broncos advance to Friday's semifinal at 7:30 p.m. to face the winner of the Cal State San Bernardino-Central Washington quarterfinal.
Kaitlan Tucker proved strong at the net for the Broncos, leading her team with 10 kills on .417 hitting with one solo block and four block assists. Senior Daisy Duke produced eight kills and nine digs. Samantha Campion chipped in nine kills on .273 hitting with 12 digs and two block assists.
Setter Catie Mueller logged 32 assists, nine digs and a service ace as the Broncos prevailed 25-22, 26-24 and 25-19 to improve to 22-7 on the season. The Sea Lions ended their season with a 21-7 record.
The second set was a barn-burner with Pomona hitting .324 and the Sea Lions .306 to force the Broncos to go extra points to take the set.
Abigail Anua and Anna Massari led PLNU with 10 kills apiece. Massari added three block assists. Setter Sophia Baugh had 20 assists and 11 digs and Becky Williams produced a match-high 22 digs in defeat.
