Alexis Cardoza Named CCAA Female Athlete of the Year
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After earning unanimous NCAA Division II Player of the Year distinction and leading Cal State San Bernardino to an undefeated season and national championship, Alexis Cardoza has been named CCAA Female Athlete of the Year. She is in a long line of decorated Coyote volleyball players as the fifth conference honoree, which is voted on by the 13 conference sports information staffs across the league.
The junior outside hitter from Chino Hills compiled an impressive season filled with accolades. She earned back-to-back distinction as CCAA Player of the Year before being tabbed the Division II Player of the Year by both the AVCA and D2CCA. Her All-American campaign closed in style, taking home home Coyotes’ first-ever national title as just the third undefeated national champion in Division II volleyball (2009: Concordia St. Paul, 2000: Hawaii Pacific), and she was tapped as NCAA Championship Most Valuable Player.
Cardoza capped the season leading the conference and ranking third in the nation in both kills (4.54) and points (5.17) per set, both third in the country. She did it while hitting .346 and adding 326 digs, 59 total blocks and 37 service aces. Playing in all 112 sets of the season, Cardoza notched 15 double-double efforts and struck for 20 or more kills on six occasions, three of which came in the NCAA Championship run.
She swung for over .400 hitting on 13 occasions, including an eye-popping .630 (17-0-27) in the quarterfinal sweep of Molloy. All told, Cal State San Bernardino played three-set matches 22 times and remarkably the team was only stretched to the maximum five sets on two nights all year, both coming in the postseason.
Cardoza is the fifth Cal State San Bernardino student-athlete to earn the CCAA’s year-ending award, and all five hail from the volleyball program. She joins back-to-back conference honorees Kim Morohunfola (2003-04) and Brianna Harris (2004-05), Jessica Granados (2008-09) and Class of 2019 CCAA Hall of Famer Samantha Middleborn (2011-12) as the league’s top female athlete. Akin to Cardoza, Morohunfola, Harris and Middleborn were also national Player of the Year, with Middleborn twice earning the distinction.
CCAA Athletes of of the Year >>>