BELLINGHAM, WASH. -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team, after a well-played four-set win over Sonoma State in a first-round NCAA West Regional match on Thursday, put in final preparations Friday morning for a big semifinal contest tonight against Central Washington.

The No. 3 seed Golden Eagles (22-6) will face the No. 7 seed Wildcats (17-10) this evening in the second of two semifinals and scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start. No. 4 seed Cal Poly Pomona will face No. 8 seed Chaminade in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. on the WECU Court in Carver Gym.

The first day of the regional included four hard-fought and evenly-contested matches that didn't conclude until 11:30 p.m. The Broncos outlasted Cal State San Bernardino in five sets, Chaminade upset top-seed Alaska Anchorage in five sets, Cal State LA upended Sonoma State in four sets and, in the final match of the evening, Central Washington beat tournament host and No. 2 seed Western Washington in four sets.

Cal State LA has advanced to the regional semifinal for a second straight year after reaching the regional championship match last season for the first time since 2009. 

The Golden Eagles will be facing Central Washington for the second time this season and looking to avenge a four-set loss early in the season in Los Angeles. That loss represented the start of a major turning point for Cal State LA. The Golden Eagles dropped to 2-3 after the contest and turned into an entirely different team after it, going 20-3 in the matches that have followed it, including a 16-2 run through the California Collegiate Athletic Association and the first conference regular-season title since 2005.

Cal State LA and Central Washington will be meeting for the second time in the NCAA playoffs. The Wildcats prevailed in a five-set battle in 2018 in a first-round matchup, also at Western Washington, by scores of 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 12-25, 15-11. The Wildcats also prevailed in early-season tournament matches in 2019 in five sets and earlier this season in four sets.

Cal State LA is 3-4 all-time against Central Washington in a series that began in 1990.

The Golden Eagles are coming off an exciting four-set win over Sonoma State in the first round on Thursday. Cal State LA split the first two sets and then took control of the contest midway through the third set of a 25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 25-13 victory. Emily Elliott, who was named to the D2CCA All-West Region second team earlier in the day, had a tremendous match with 19 kills, 11 digs, two aces and two blocks, while Iane Henke had 13 kills and hit at a .367 percentage. 

For complete tournament coverage, click HERE for the tournament page.created by Western Washington that includes information about the tournament, box scores, interviews and photographs.