SAN BERNARDINO -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team successfully defended its NCAA Division II West Region championship Saturday night with an absolute masterpiece against Cal State San Bernardino in the regional championship match.

The Golden Eagles were nearly flawless in every aspect of the game in a stunningly efficient 25-15, 25-16, 25-18 victory over the Coyotes inside Coussoulis Arena. Cal State LA (21-8) was led by West Region and California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year Emily Elliott, who was sensational in her best performance of an already amazing season. She had 22 kills in the three sets with only two errors in 34 swings for a sizzling hitting percentage of .588 in a dominating performance.

Cal State LA won a second straight regional championship for the first time in program history and will head back to the Elite Eight, which will be held in Pennsylvania beginning next Thursday. The Golden Eagles' impressive run through the 2023 regional was very similar to their run in 2022. After splitting the first two sets in a four-set first-round match, the Golden Eagles won the next eight sets to win the title. This time, after dispatching of No. 5 Seattle Pacific in the first round, the Golden Eagles swept past No. 1 seed Chaminade and No. 2 seed Cal State San Bernardino to retain the title.

Elliott led the way with a performance you almost had to see to believe. Her best stretch came early in the second set when she had three aces and three kills during a 9-0 run that gave the Golden Eagles a 10-2 lead and in firm control of the match. Then, to open the third set, she had four kills and two aces to stake the Golden Eagles to a quick 7-2 lead and put to rest any notions of a Cal State San Bernardino comeback.

She was hardly alone in her brilliance Saturday, though, as the Golden Eagles were simply spectacular in every phase of the game. Cal State LA recorded 50 kills with just seven errors in 98 swings for an incredible .439 hitting percentage. The defense was superb as well as the Golden Eagles limited Cal State San Bernardino to just 31 kills and a hitting percentage of .216. 

The Golden Eagles had 13 serving aces, including six by Elliott, while the Coyotes were only able to record one ace.

In all, the Golden Eagles had a commanding 66-34 advantage in points in the three sets and a 54-33 edge in digs. Henke had 17 digs, while Dittmann had nine and Elliott and Jameson Sanders had seven each.

Iane Henke had 16 kills and just one error in 34 swings for a .441 hitting percentage and Ashley Dittmann had seven kills and nine digs.

Trinity Sheridan had eight kills to lead Cal State San Bernardino (26-5), while Jenna Patton and Taryn King had seven kills each.

Eliza Cannon had a tremendous match for the Golden Eagles, running the high-octane offense masterfully. She had 42 set assists and also contributed one kill, one ace and six digs.

Cal State LA was admittedly determined not to repeat what happened in a four-set loss to Cal State San Bernardino in the CCAA Tournament championship match. In that contest, the Golden Eagles had a whopping 34 hitting errors and 14 service errors and the Coyotes held them to a .135 hitting percentage.

The seven hitting errors on Saturday were a season-low and the .439 hitting percentage was a season's best.

Cal State LA jumped out to big early leads in all three sets and successfully prevented Cal State San Bernardino from hitting its stride. Henke started the first set with three kills and an ace to help the Golden Eagles to a 6-1 lead. Cal State San Bernardino never got closer than two points after that. A San Bernardino serving error, an ace by Brooke Paige and a kill by Henke pushed the lead to 20-13 and, after the Coyotes made it 20-15, kills by Henke and Elliott, an attack error and kills by Henke and Haley Roundtree ended the set.

Elliott's heroics helped the Golden Eagles to a 10-2 lead in the second set and the Coyotes never recovered. A block by Shelby Grubbs and a kill by Cannon gave the Golden Eagles a 20-12 lead and they closed the set out on a Henke kill, 25-16.

Two kills by Elliott and one by Dittmann gave the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead in the third set and two kills and two aces by Elliott made it 7-2 and they never looked back. Two kills by Henke and one by Elliott extended the lead to 13-5 and Cal State LA led by at least three points the rest of the way. Cal State San Bernardino cut the deficit to 17-14, but the Golden Eagles got a kill by Dittmann and another ace by Paige to make it 19-14. The Coyotes then got to within 22-18, but the Golden Eagles got kills from Elliott and Dittmann and an attack error to end it and were soon able to celebrate with a large group of Cal State LA fans and family.