LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team snapped out of its recent rut and ended the regular season in style Saturday night.
The Golden Eagles put an end to a three-match losing streak with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 California Collegiate Athletic Association win over UC San Diego on Senior Night in University Gym. Cal State LA (21-4, 13-4 CCAA) will now enter play in the CCAA Championship Tournament as the No. 3 seed from the South Division and will meet No. 2 seed Cal State Monterey Bay in a first-round match.
Karla Santos had a tremendous match on Saturday, recording a match-high 19 kills to go along with 11 digs. She hit at a .412 percentage.
Daisy Crenshaw had 12 kills, while
Daisia LaBrie had 10 kills.
Sydney Tekstra had seven kills and two blocks for UC San Diego (11-12, 7-10 CCAA).
Jeshmarie Suarez had 27 digs for the Golden Eagles, while
Kelsey Molnar had 42 set assists and seven digs.
Cal State LA had a 56-26 advantage in kills in the three sets and hit at a .285 percentage to .133 for the Tritons. UC San Diego had an 8-1 edge in blocks and a 3-2 advantage in service aces.
The Golden Eagles trailed at the beginning of the match, 4-1, but got things turned around quickly. The Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 run behind the serving of
Caitlyn Bato and never looked back, eventually building a 19-13 lead and holding off a late UC San Diego rally.
The second set was tied at 15-15, but Cal State LA used a 5-0 run on an attack error, a kill by
Erianna Williams, an attack error, a kill by Sherman and two kills by LaBrie. Santos scored three straight points on kills to give the Golden Eagles a 23-17 lead and a kill by Crenshaw ultimately ended the set.
Cal State LA jumped out to a 23-18 lead in the third set after a kill by Crenshaw, but UC San Diego fought back and scored the next five points to make it 23-23. A kill by Crenshaw got the Golden Eagles to match point and a kill by LaBrie ended it.
Before the match, Cal State LA honored its four seniors -
Caitlyn Bato,
Erianna Williams,
Daisia LaBrie and
Kelsey Molnar - in a Senior Night ceremony.