Sweeps and Stunners in Action-Packed CCAA Volleyball Quarterfinals
SAN FRANCISCO – The first day of the 2017 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Volleyball Championship is in the books, with a pair of upsets and a pair of sweeps donning Thursday’s slate at The Main Gym at Don Nasser Family Plaza.
In the first two games, the lower seeded team prevailed, as No. 3 Chico State and No. 4 Cal State LA advanced to face each other in the semifinals. In the final two matches of the night, the seedings rang true with No. 2 Cal State East Bay advancing to take on No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino after both squads notched three-set sweeps. The semifinal action starts on Friday at 5 p.m., with two North-South showdowns on the docket.
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No. 3 Chico State 3, No. 2 Cal State San Marcos 1
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Chico State post-game |
Cal State San Marcos post-game
In the season meeting between the two squads, San Marcos earned a 3-1 victory at The Sports Center on Sept. 22. Chico State returned the favor in the quarterfinal rematch, upending the second-seeded Cougars in their first ever CCAA volleyball postseason appearance.
“It was a fun postseason match,” noted Chico State head coach Cory Hein. “I thought it was well contested and both teams were kind of feeling each other out for a good two sets there. Then I think we got in a good rhythm with what was working for us and we when with it. [Cal State San Marcos] is a very good defensive team. They were digging a lot of balls that usually go down for us. Kudos to them, they did a good job.”
Highlighting the action was the play from Chico State senior Olivia Mediano, who delivered 23 kills, 11 digs and three blocks in the win.
“I went in today saying this was not going to be my last match of my career,” explained Mediano after her banner match. “I was just ready to play for my team, and I knew we had to give it all and give our heart out there. I was just ready to lead my team in that way and give them something more to play for.”
Bekah Boyle (15 kills) and Makaela Keeve (11 kills) added to the offensive trifecta, set up by the duo of Nicole Desroschers and McKenna Carroll who assisted on 48 scoring opportunities. Tristen Thompson added 23 digs for Chico State.
Cal State San Marcos was paced by sophomore Maddy Newcombe’s 16 kills on .343 hitting and a 10-kill, 21-assist double-double for senior Lauren Lee.
The Wildcats advance to take on the South’s No. 4 seed, Cal State LA In the lone meeting between the two teams in 2017, the Golden Eagles got the 3-1 road victory on Sept. 15 in the conference-opener for both teams.
Prior to the game, Chico's Boyle was named the Championship Scholar as the student-athlete participating in the conference tournament with the highest grade-point average.
No. 4 Cal State LA 3, No. 1 Sonoma State 1
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Cal State LA post-game |
Sonoma State post-game
Sonoma State knew they were in for a challenge when the CCAA Championship draws were announced, and Cal State LA upended the No. 1-seeded Seawolves after rallying in the fourth set with remarkable fury. Down 17-10 in the final frame of the match, it looked like we were sure to see a fifth set but the Golden Eagles had other ideas.
“In the fourth everyone did their part,” reflected interim head coach Juan Figueroa. “In the fourth we were down six or seven and we came back with good serving, good defense and a very good collective job on everyone’s part.”
Rallying to the tie at 23-all, freshman Jeshmarie Suarez stepped back to serve and delivered back-to-back aces to stun the Seawolves and start the celebration.
“I think you hit a certain point where you’re like, OK we can actually come back,” said Cynthia Giron. “There’s always that little chance of hope and all it takes is one play for us to look at each other and there’s just this sense of relief, comfort.
“I think for us to come back from that deficit you really have to believe it,” added Dasia LaBrie. “Today especially, we really believed it and we believed in each other and fought for each other and I think that really helped us.”
South San Francisco native, senior Sifa Faaiu led the Golden Eagles attack with 15 kills with CCAA Freshman of the Year Karla Santos and fellow first year player Alejandra Negron each tacking on 14 strikes in the match. Along with the two timely aces, Suarez added a team-high 19 digs while senior Nicole Efseaff directed the offense with 47 assists.
Sonoma State’s impressive night for senior Calan Seitz of 20 kills on .471 hitting wasn’t enough for the Seawolves, who will now await the committee’s decision to see if their postseason continues.
Now, Cal State LA hopes to continue what they started in the conference-opener, as they rematch with Chico State, a squad the Golden Eagles defeated 3-1 to open up CCAA play as part of a six-match winning streak.
No. 2 Cal State East Bay 3, No. 3 UC San Diego 0
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Cal State East Bay post-game |
UC San Diego post-game
Cal State East Bay’s uptempo offense was too much for the UC San Diego Tritons to handle, as the Pioneers raced to their third sweep in as many games, ending the season on a tear.
For head coach Jim Spagle, the game played out just how he would have liked.
“I thought we did a great job of staying within our systems of play and focusing on doing what we do best and that’s speed and more speed,” he noted. “I thought systematically we were right on. We played defense with a sense of urgency and I’m very, very proud of this team.”
Despite the sweep, each of the three sets were close enough that they could have gone either way, but the steady offense performance of All-CCAA first team honoree Deja Thompson helped guide the Pioneers to the win. The junior swung for 12 kills, hitting .632 with no attack errors to tally 15 points in the match. Lindsey Ray added 11 kills and eight digs, and the Cal State East Bay front line recorded eight blocks compared to none for the Tritons.
Senior libero Brandi Brucato is excited to continue on in the CCAA brackets, confident with the current trajectory of her team.
“I think we’re really playing some of our best volleyball right now,” added senior Brandi Brucato. “We’re really gelling as a team, everybody is working together, doing their jobs. I’m excited – only up from here, we just keep building on it.”
Cal State East Bay’s semifinal matchup pits the Pioneers against the league’s top squad, Cal State San Bernardino. In the first meeting between the two teams the Coyotes were the ones with the sweep, one of 11 on the season for the defending tournament champions.
No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino 3, No. 4 Cal State Monterey Bay 0
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Cal State San Bernardino post-game |
Cal State Monterey Bay post-game
Cal State San Bernardino, who entered the 2017 CCAA Volleyball Championship with a title to defend and a conference-best .824 winning percentage over league opponents was the prohibitive favorite over upstarts Cal State Monterey Bay in their quarterfinal matchup.
But the Otters didn’t back down from the challenge, nearly taking the second set from the Coyotes – which would have been just the second set given up by Cal State San Bernardino in more than a month. Despite the
“[Cal State Monterey Bay is] a really physical team and someone that we knew we had to stay on top of or things could really swing the other way, as evidenced in game two,” reflected Coyotes head coach Kim Cherniss. “I’m really, really proud of our kids in keeping their composure in game two and making the right adjustments to be able to come back and win that second set.”
After easing to the 25-15 win in the first, Cal State Monterey Bay came out firing on all cylinders in the second. The Otters jumped out to the 6-2 lead and again held serve with the score at 12-5 after back-to-back aces from Maddy Underwood. The Coyotes came back to knot the frame at 16 apiece but again Cal State Monterey Bay responded to claim the advantage.
In fact, the Otters held the set point at 24-22 before Cal State San Bernardino reeled off four straight for the win. CCAA Player of the Year Lauren Nicholson capped the frame with the final three points to seal the set, and help secure the sweep and the eighth-straight win for the No. 1 seed.
Four Coyotes recorded double-digit points efforts, paced by Hailey Jackson (12 kills) and Nicholson (11 kills). Lydia Morohunfola added eight blocks to go along with seven kills on .412 hitting, and Alexis Cardoza 12 digs, eight kills and four blocks in the match. Cal State San Bernardino controlled the stat sheet, hitting .336 on the night while holding the Otters to .026 hitting and a +20 margin in kills.
In order to get to their third consecutive CCAA Championship finals appearance, Cal State San Bernardino now matches up with the No. 2 seed in the North, Cal State East Bay in Friday’s nightcap.
“They’re a different team than Monterey Bay. They’re very different in their styles of play,” analyzed Cherniss. “They go a little faster and they do some different things, but our team really prides itself on being versatile and being able to address different defensive schemes and different offensive looks, so it will be a very good match.”