SAN BERNARDINO -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team was able to extend No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday, but the Golden Eagles couldn't pull off the upset.
The Golden Eagles played an outstanding third set to send the match into a fourth frame, but the unbeaten Coyotes regrouped to post a 25-22, 25-14, 18-25, 25-21 win in a California Collegiate Athletic Association match. Cal State LA (8-5, 4-1 CCAA) had a six-match winning streak snapped and lost for the first time in conference play. Cal State San Bernardino (14-0, 7-0 CCAA) is now the lone undefeated team in conference play.
Mickayla Sherman had a match-high 15 kills and three blocks to lead the Golden Eagles and hit at a .414 percentage.
Daisy Crenshaw had 11 kills and four blocks and hit at a .563 clip.
Julia Azevedo had 10 kills and three blocks.
Cal State LA had a 52-39 edge in kills, but hit at a .223 percentage to .234 for the Coyotes. Cal State San Bernardino had a 13-9 advantage in blocks and also had a more efficient night at the service line. Both teams recorded six aces, but the Golden Eagles had 15 service errors, while the Coyotes had nine.
Alexis Cardoza had 14 kills to lead the Coyotes.
Shea McGovern and
Laisa Maeda had 21 set assists each for the Golden Eagles, while
Karla Santos had a team-high 14 digs.
The Golden Eagles started slowly, but rallied to make it close in the opening set. Cal State LA sliced an 18-13 deficit to 18-16 after a a kill by Sherman, an attack error and a kill by
Shelby Grubbs and a kill by Sherman kept the deficit at 19-17. A kill by Negron made it 20-18, but that's as close as the Golden Eagles could get.
Cal State LA fell behind early in the second set, 12-5, and never recovered.
The Golden Eagles also fell behind early in the third set, 7-3, but four straight points from Sherman tied it. The set was tied a final time at 14-14, but a service error, a kill by Azevedo and an ace by Negron gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good. Back-to-back kills from Crenshaw gave the Golden Eagles a 23-17 lead and kills by Crenshaw and Negron gave the Golden Eagles the set.
Cal State LA tried to rally from a 20-14 deficit in the fourth set, but couldn't quite get over the hump. A kill by Crenshaw, an ace by Sherman and a kill by Crenshaw made it 20-17, a kill by Crenshaw made it 21-18 and a kill by Maeda got the Golden Eagles to within 22-20. The Coyotes, though, scored the next two points to get to match point and ended the match with a block.
Cal State LA will return to action with a home match against UC San Diego on Tuesday at 7 p.m.