POMONA -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team will get another shot at the one tournament title that has eluded the Golden Eagles during their incredible run of championships.
The No. 4 seed Golden Eagles upended No. 1 seed and tourney host Cal Poly Pomona in four sets on Friday, 26-24, 23-25, 25-15, 25-21 in the second of two semifinals at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament in Kellogg Arena to reach their second straight conference tournament and third overall.
Cal State LA has won CCAA regular-season championships, West Region championships, a national championship, but not a conference tournament title.
The Golden Eagles (18-9) will get another opportunity thanks to another spectacular night from Elliott, who set a new tournament record with 32 kills. She also had two aces, five blocks, nine digs and 37 points. She had 11 kills in the opening set as the Golden Eagles took the frame and she added six in the second, seven in the third and eight in the fourth to close out the match.
Samarah DaCoud also stepped up with 11 kills and 18 digs and
Haley Roundtree added eight kills.
Charlotte Koerber had 11 kills to lead the Broncos (23-3), who won the CCAA regular-season title and were the No. 1-ranked team in the West Region heading into the tournament.
Jameson Sanders had another strong match with 23 digs and an ace, while
Zuhal Cetin had six kills and 13 digs.
Ashlyn Beaver and
Arielle Chandler combined for 52 set assists.
Cal State LA had a 58-44 advantage in kills and outhit the Broncos, .228 - .123. Cal State LA also had a 10-8 edge in blocks. The Golden Eagles had five aces and 10 serving errors, while the Broncos had five aces and 11 errors.
Cal State LA, coming off a spirited five-set win over Cal State San Bernardino on Thursday, faced an early 5-1 deficit in the opening set and still trailed, 22-20, before kills by Elliott and Roundtree tied it at 22-22. After the Broncos took a 23-22 lead, kills by Elliott and Roundtree again got the Golden Eagles to set point at 24-23. After the Broncos saved the first set point, a bad set and an attack error ended the set.
Cal State LA fought off two set points after trailing 24-21 on kills by Elliott and DaCoud, but a kill by Helen McMullin evened the match.
The Golden Eagles, though, came out energized in the third set to take command of the match. Cal State LA roared to a 15-5 lead and led comfortably the rest of the way to take a 2-1 lead.
A four-point run in the fourth set with three straight kills from Roundtree and one from Elliott gave the Golden Eagles a 14-11 lead and they never relinquished it. A kill by Elliott and a block by DaCoud gave the Golden Eagles a 23-20 lead and, after an attack error, the Golden Eagles got a kill by DaCoud and a block by
Havannah Vogel and Beaver to end the match.
Cal State LA will now face No. 3 seed Stanislaus State for the tournament title on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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