SAN BERNARDINO – Host Cal State San Bernardino advanced to the championship match of the NCAA Division II West Region for the 11
th time in 23 seasons with a 3-1 victory over CCAA conference rival Cal Poly Pomona on Friday night.
The victory over the Broncos was sweet given the fact that in 2022, after CSUSB had beaten the Broncos twice during conference play, the Broncos rose up and beat the Yotes 3-1 in the CCAA tournament and then knocked them off again in the regional quarterfinals, 3-2.
The Yotes take a 26-4 record into the 7:30 p.m. title match against Cal State L.A. (20-10), a team the Yotes beat 3-1 for the CCAA conference championship on Nov. 18 on the Golden Eagles court.
Cal State L.A. knocked off West Region No. 1 seed Chaminade 3-0 in the other semifinal Friday.
It was like two experienced heavyweight boxers battling toe to toe for four sets with CSUSB prevailing 26-24, 25-22, 18-25 and 25-19.
The closeness of the match shown in the final statistics. CSUSB outpointed the Broncos 94-90. Both had 165 swings at the ball. The Yotes suffered eight reception errors to just one for Pomona. The Broncos produced eight service aces to one for CSUSB. The Yotes committed 11 service errors to nine for Pomona.
In the end, the Yotes hit .230 for the match with 58 kills, 20 attack errors, 11 service errors and a match-high 81 digs with four solo blocks and six block assists (7 total blocks). Pomona hit .158 with 47 kills, 21 attack errors, 41 assists, eight aces, nine service errors, 76 digs, two solo blocks and 10 block assists (7.0 total blocks).
CSUSB freshman outside hitter
Trinity Sheridan led all players with 18 kills in 39 swings with five errors (.333 hitting). Junior outside hitter
Ashley Robinson had a strong double-double with 14 kills, 18 digs and a solo block on .179 hitting.
Senior middle blocker
Jenna Patton produced 12 kills with two errors on 24 swings (.417 hitting) and helped defensively with a solo block and a block assist.
Senior setter
Marlee Nunley, described as the force behind the team all season, produced 49 assists to go with nine digs, 1 solo block and a block assist and hit .286 with two kills.
Shira Lahav, the CCAA libero of the year, had 16 digs and just one assist, but it was a big one – setting Sheridan for a kill at match point in the fourth set.
Freshman
Jayden Chornomud contributed 16 digs off the bench for CSUSB. Senior middle blocker
Taryn King chipped in six kills and two block assists.
Samantha Campion led the Broncos with 11 kills on .156 htting with two aces and 11 digs. Emeline Hudson, who had played in just 14 sets all season, was a big help to Pomona with 10 kills on .250 hitting. Senior Daisy Duke had 11 kills on .143 hitting and six digs. Kaitlan Tucker had six kills on .176 hitting with a solo block and four block assists. Avery Percival had a match-high 24 digs and two aces. Emily Payne collected 21 digs.
Catie Mueller, the team's top setter, had 23 assists, four kills, two aces and two block assists in a well-rounded performance for Pomona. Freshman Sarah Ybarra spelled Mueller for two sets and contributed 15 assists and an ace.
The first set seemed to be going the Yotes way when they took a 15-6 lead on a Robinson kill for its largest lead at the time. However, the Broncos chipped away at that margin until they tied the set at 22-all on a kill by Campion and an attack error by Sheridan.
A Patton kill was followed by a service ace by Ybarra at 24-24. Patton finished another kill and Robinson put the set away on a kill, set by Nunley after a Kacie Pederson serve.
The second set remained close until the Yotes opened up an 18-14 advantage on a kill by Robinson only to have the Broncos tie the set at 18-all on a Chernomud service error, an attack error by Savannah Hoffman and back to back kills by Campion and Ybarra.
Moments later, Percival put Pomona up 21-20 with an ace, forcing a Yotes timeout. A Nunley service error knotted the set again at 22-all. The Yotes responded with a kills by King, Sheridan and an attack error by the Broncos' Madison Novak to make it 2-0 CSUSB at 25-22.
After the Yotes took off on a 4-1 lead early in set three, the Broncos responded and tied the set at 7-7 and never looked back and led 19-13 on a Campion service ace before taking the set 25-18.
CSUSB took command early in the fourth set, leading 13-6 on an attack error by Hudson, and again at 18-12 when Hudson was blocked by Nunley. However, Pomona crept back into it and trailed 21-18 on a Hudson kill.
Then the Yotes shut the door, pushing the lead back to six at 24-18 on a Hoffman kill. Duke nailed the Broncos final point of the night before Sheridan's swing produced the match-winning kill off an assist by Lahav to end the match.
Cal State L.A. 3, Chaminade 0
Cal State Los Angeles punched its ticket to the NCAA Division II West Region championship match on Saturday night with a 3-0 sweep of Chaminade of Hawaii, the region's No. 1-ranked team.
The Golden Eagles will take a 20-10 record into the title fray as the defending West Region champion against Cal State San Bernardino, 26-4. Chaminade's Pacific West Conference championship season ends at 30-4.
CSULA definitely has the Silverswords number. In 2022, the Golden Eagles beat Chaminade in a pre-conference tournament 3-0 and then beat the Silverswords 3-0 in the West Regional championship match, 3-0.
It was the same story in Coussoulis Arena Friday night as L.A. made fewer errors in the three sets, winning 25-23, 25-18, 25-18.
L.A. hit .204 as a team with 33 kills with 14 errors on 93 swings but served nine aces, too much for Chaminade to overcome its 24 attack errors, although the Silverswords dominated defensively with 12 block assists to only two for L.A.
CCAA and West Region player of the year Emily Elliott led L.A. with 12 kills and four digs. Iane Henke had nine kills, three service aces and 14 digs. Eliza Cannon recorded 19 assists with eight digs. Jameson Sanders had a match-high four service aces.
Chaminade hit just .078 for the match with 32 kills, 24 attack errors, on 103 swings and logged five service aces, 39 digs and the aforementioned 12 block assists.
Sophie Schilling led the Silverswords with eight kills in 15 swings, hitting .400.
