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Sonoma State pulled off the biggest upset in the 2022 CCAA Volleyball Tournament as the No. 5 seed came back in five sets to defeat the No. 1 seed Cal State LA 14-25, 25-16, 26-28, 25-20, and 15-12 in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 11.
The Seawolves' aggressive serving and willingness to continually stay on the attack was the difference in the match.
SSU recorded 13 aces and outpointed Cal State LA 86-68. Dylan Copeland posted seven of the 13 aces for Sonoma State, including three straight in the third set. The seven aces equaled the single-match best in the CCAA this season. Brynna Stewart added four service aces and now leads the conference by eight (65).
Jaden Krist paced the offense for Sonoma State with 18 kills and a .350 hitting percentage. She received help from Kiana Richardson, who registered 15 kills and five blocks. Leilani Hallman just missed a double-double with 10 kills and a match-best nine blocks. Jen Trephan posted 26 assists as she and Slayton combined to assist on 51 of the Seawolves' 59 kills. Trephan also added eight kills, four blocks, and 18 digs.
Cal State LA was led by 18 kills and seven blocks from Emily Elliott. Iane Henke had 11 kills and only one error to post a .435 hitting percentage. She added 16 digs for the 10th double-double of her freshman campaign.
While the match ended with Sonoma State as the aggressor, it was not that way early as Cal State LA rolled to a 25-14 win in set 1. The Golden Eagles hit .462 and held SSU to a .172 hitting percentage.
Whatever coach Bear Grassl said to his team between sets was precisely what they needed to hear as they flipped the script and dominated the second set. The Seawolves gave up the first three points and then rattled off six straight and 10 of the next 11 to take a lead they would never give back. The Golden Eagles cut it to four (20-16), but SSU closed out on a 5-0 run to end any hope of a comeback.
Both teams had a chance to win the third set, but it went to LA. The Golden Eagles led most of the way and reached game point at 24-21. The Seawolves then got a block, LA had an attack error, Richardson posted a kill, Slayton recorded an ace, and suddenly SSU was up 25-24. A service error gave the ball back to the Golden Eagles. They capitalized on two SSU attacking errors and a kill by Elliott to close out the set 28-26.
The fourth set featured 12 ties and seven lead changes as neither team led by more than three points until late in the match. SSU was down 14-13 before scoring eight of the next 10 points to go up 22-16. Three consecutive points for the Golden Eagles closed the deficit to three (22-19). They would get no closer as Sonoma State tied the match at 2-2.
Cal State LA went up early in the fifth set, taking a 6-4 lead on back-to-back kills by Elliott and Ashley Dittman. A service error gave the ball to SSU, and it went on a 7-1 run to seize control of the match at 12-7. The Golden Eagles knew they were battling for the CCAA Tournament survival and brought it back to 13-11 and 14-12, but Sonoma had the answer each time. Richardson closed out the match with her 15th kill of the evening.
Sonoma State will advance to the CCAA Tournament Championship match for the first time since they won the first CCAA tournament in 2015. The Seawolves will face the No. 3 seed Cal Poly Pomona in the title match on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m. The winner will be crowned the CCAA Tournament Champions and receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional.