SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The California State University San Bernardino women's volleyball team saw its 2025 season come to a close in the quarterfinal of the NCAA West Regional in an epic five-set defeat at the hands of Point Loma Nazarene University Thursday evening at Golden Gymnasium. Set scores were 20-25, 25-15, 25-15, 19-25, and 21-19.
With the defeat, CSUSB's season ends with an overall record of 22-6.
The Coyotes scored 11 of the match's first 14 points to take command of the first set, but the Sea Lions clawed back to make it tight. Point Loma briefly took a 15-14 lead, their only advantage of the set besides 1-0, but the Coyotes responded with five straight points to go ahead 19-15 and never looked back to take a 1-0 lead.Â
Junior Kacie Pedersen (Riverside, Calif.) had six kills without an error in the set, while sophomore Kisa Sagiao (San Diego, Calif.) had three kills and two blocks. The Yotes had five blocks in the set, led by three from junior M'Kera Drake (San Bernardino, Calif.), all coming during CSUSB's 11-3 match-opening run.
The Sea Lions leveled the match with a one-sided set two. CSUSB managed only eight kills in the set to Point Loma's 20, and no Coyote had more than a pair of kills.
Set three ended with the exact same score line as set number two, as the Sea Lions took their first lead of the match. Pedersen finished the set with a team-high four kills in the set.
CSUSB rebounded in set four, outpacing Point Loma 25-19 to force a decisive fifth set. The Yotes swung a match-high .364 with 14 kills to level the match, led by redshirt freshman Sarai Ross (Beaumont, Calif.), who came off the bench to contribute six kills with only one error.
Point Loma took early control of the fifth set by jumping out to an 8-3 lead, but CSUSB climbed all the way back to turn the match into an epic. Cal State San Bernardino would tie the match at 10-10, and the score would be tied at every score until the match went final. The Coyotes fended off six Point Loma match points, and had one of their own, before the final ball hit the floor to end the contest. CSUSB hit .316 in the set, with Ross pacing CSUSB with five kills.
For the match, Pedersen and Ross each finished in double figures with 19 and 12 kills respectively, while Jayden Chornomud (Canyon Lake, Calif.) had 31 digs to lead all players.
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