SAN BERNARDINO -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team nearly pulled off an impressive comeback in its 2023 season opener at the Yotes Classic Showcase at Cal State San Bernardino.

The No. 9 Golden Eagles, the defending NCAA West Region and California Collegiate Athletic Association champions, dropped the first two sets before roaring back to force a fifth set against No. 18 Regis. The Rangers, though, regrouped to pull out a 25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 19-25, 15-9 win in the Den.The win was the second of the day for Regis.

Emily Elliott had 14 kills and five aces for the Golden Eagles (0-1). Iane Henke and Zuhal Cetin had eight kills each and Ashley Dittmann had seven kills.

Klaudia Sowizral had 13 kills to lead Regis.

Haley Roundtree had six kills and four blocks for the Golden Eagles, Jameson Sanders had a match-high 16 digs and Jaden Grova had 20 set assists, two aces and seven digs.

Cal State LA and Regis both had 50 kills, while Regis had a slim 7-6 edge in blocks. Cal State LA had 11 service aces, but also 21 service errors, while Regis had six aces and 11 errors.

After dropping the first two sets, the Golden Eagles got untracked in the next two frames. The Golden Eagles trailed early in the third set, but scored four straight points on a kill by Cetin, two service aces from Elliott and an attack error to take a 13-9 lead and never looked back. Regis closed to within 21-19, but kills by Elliott, Eliza Cannon and an ace by Cetin extended the lead to 24-19 and a bad set eventually ended the set.

Cal State LA trailed 14-11 in the fourth set, but a service error, an attack error, an ace by Grova and a kill by Dittmann erased the deficit. After Regis tied it at 15-15, kills by Roundtree and Cetin, an attack error and kills by Elliott and Cetin gave the Golden Eagles a 20-15 edge. Cal State LA ultimately got to set point after an attack error and closed out the set on an ace by Sanders.

The Golden Eagles, though, fell behind quickly in the fifth set, 6-2, and couldn't battled their way back. A kill by Elliott  brought the Golden Eagles to within 9-6, but Regis responded by scoring the next three points and maintained their edge to the end.

Cal State LA will return to action with a pair of matches on Friday - the first against No. 3 MSU Denver at noon and the other against No. 15 Western Washington at 5 p.m.