SAN BERNARDINO -- Cal State LA's magnificent women's volleyball season came to a disappointing end Thursday in the first round of the NCAA West Regional.

The Golden Eagles dropped a highly-competitive opening set and never could recover in a 25-23, 25-21, 25-15 loss to Azusa Pacific in The Den at Cal State San Bernardino. Cal State LA (20-9), seeded No. 3 in the region, was ranked 24th in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, while the No. 6 seed Azusa Pacific (27-4) was ranked 25th.

Cal State LA was making its second straight appearance in the NCAA playoffs after an eight-year gap. The Golden Eagles were the No. 3 seed for the second year in a row after recording their second consecutive 20-win season.

Daisy Crenshaw had nine kills and two blocks for the Golden Eagles, while Mickayla Sherman had eight kills and seven digs. Karla Santos had six kills and nine digs.

Katarina Radisic had 10 kills for Azusa Pacific, while Sara Wagenveld had nine kills and five blocks.

Azusa Pacific had a 33-32 edge in kills and a 12-4 advantage in blocks. Cal State LA hit at just a .093 percentage to .233 for Azusa Pacific. The Golden Eagles had four service aces and 11 service errors, while the Cougars had five service aces and four errors.

The Golden Eagles came up just short in a first set that seemed to set the tone for the match. Trailing 23-20, the Golden Eagles got a kill from Daisy Portillo and a bad set by the Cougars to pull to within 23-22 and saved one set point on an attack error before the Cougars closed it out, 25-23.

Cal State LA trailed 23-19 in the second set, but got to within 23-21 after kills by Crenshaw and Sherman. Azusa Pacific, though, rattled off the final two points to take the set.

A block by Portillo and Victoria Duarte kept the Golden Eagles within 9-8 in the third set, but Azusa Pacific went on a 10-3 run to break it open and ultimately closed out the third in finals set.