BOX SCORE: #1 Cal State San Bernardino 3, #23 Sonoma State 0
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif- The Sonoma State volleyball team's run at the NCAA West Regional came to an end on Saturday night as the Seawolves dropped a 3-0 decision to the host Cal State San Bernardino. The Seawolves see their season end at 23-7. The Coyotes will advance to the national finals, where they will carry a 30-0 record and the nation's number one ranking.
In the Seawolves' first two games of regional, they got out to a big lead early. On Saturday, the opposite would ring true as the Coyotes jumped out to leads of 9-3 and 13-4 before cruising to the 25-14 win.
While set two saw the teams even at 15 midway through, the Coyotes would heat up again late, outscoring 10-2 down the stretch to go up 2-0.
Especially in the first two sets, the Coyotes controlled the Seawolves attack with a bevy of blocks. In all, CSUSB would accumulate 17 blocks in the match, including 11 from Samantha Middleborn.
Set three presented the Seawolves with their best chance when a 10-2 run put the Seawolves up 15-7. However, the Coyotes would again have an answer for the Seawolves as they would go on to win, 26-24.
A hot-hitting Seawolf offense that excelled against Hawaii-Hilo and UC San Diego was almost completely silenced by the Coyotes. Sonoma hit just .041 and two of their all-conference outside hitters-
Keala Peterson and
Ally Sather- were held to negative hitting percentages.
Brooke Moore would lead the way for Sonoma with eight kills and a .438 hitting percentage.
Taylor Krenwinkel pitched in with 20 digs.
Middleborn, the likely national player of the year, finished with ten kills in addition to her 11 blocks. Priscilla Collings pitched in with nine.
At the conclusion of the match, Peterson and
Kelsey Hull were named to the All-Tournament team.
Saturday's match was the last for the Seawolves' three seniors- Peterson, Krenwinkel, and
Lindsay Lytle. While their contributions will certainly be missed, the Seawolves will return many talented student-athletes in 2012.
