2024 Cal State LA Women's Volleyball – Season Summary

LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's women's volleyball team continued some impressive postseason streaks in an admirable follow-up to its national-championship run in 2023.

The Golden Eagles qualified for the NCAA playoffs for a sixth straight season, marking the first time they have done that since a seven-year run from 2004-10. Cal State LA also qualified for the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament for the ninth straight time, joining Cal State San Bernardino as the only two programs to reach the conference tournament in each season of its existence.

Cal State LA (18-11) also recorded a winning season for the 27th straight year, which is tied for seventh among all NCAA Division II programs.

The Golden Eagles are now 129-53 over the past six seasons and head coach Juan Figueroa has compiled a 144-65 in seven seasons as Cal State LA's head coach, including a 92-31 mark in conference play.

Cal State LA played well in the postseason once again and reached the conference championship match for a second straight season. The Golden Eagles opened the tourney with a five-set win over Cal State San Bernardino in a quarterfinal battle between the two most storied programs in the conference. Next, Cal State LA upended top-seed and tournament host Cal Poly Pomona in a four-set battle to reach its third championship match. After winning the first set, the Golden Eagles dropped the next three to Stanislaus State.

The Golden Eagles slipped from No. 5 in the region to the No. 7 seed in the West Regional following the conference tournament. The two-time defending West Region champions forced a fifth and deciding frame and had an 11-6 lead in the fifth set before falling to eventual national runner-up San Francisco State by scores of 25-16, 22-25, 16-14, 20-25, 16-14 to end their regional and national title reigns.

Emily Elliott ended her remarkable Cal State LA career with more records, setting new conference single-season and career standards for kills. She broke her own single-season record for kills with 623, which eclipsed the 606 she had in 2023 while leading the Golden Eagles to their first national championship. Her career total was an unthinkable 2,011 as she became the first player in conference history to surpass 2,000 kills while breaking the previous record of 1,843 held by Cal State San Bernardino's Kim Ford since 2003.

Elliott also set a new single-match record under the current scoring format with 35 kills in a five-set match against Seattle Pacific early in the season.

Elliott was named the West Region Player of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association for the second straight season and she earned first-team honors for a second straight season, becoming the first player in program history to earn first-team honors twice. Elliott also earned second-team honors in 2022 and became the program's third three-time All-American, joining Karla Santos (2018-21) and Iona Lofrano (2013-15).

Elliott led the nation for a second straight season in points per set and she was second in the country in kills per set, solidifying her as one of the nation's bests.

Elliott and fellow senior Haley Roundtree provided the leadership on a team that lost several key players from the 2023 national championship squad. Cal State LA started the season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the AVCA and went 5-2 in non-conference matches in tournaments at Cal State San Bernardino and Central Washington. Elliott and Roundtree both earned All-Tournament honors at the Central Washington Tournament, where the Golden Eagles earned five-set wins over NCAA Tournament participants Simon Fraser and Central Washington and a three-set sweep over Western Washington. Elliott also earned All-Tournament in the season-opening Yotes Classic Showcase.

The Golden Eagles then went 11-7 during a challenging conference schedule that earned them a No. 4 seed for the conference tournament and helped them to a No. 7 seed for the NCAA playoffs.

Cal State L.A. Volleyball
2024 Overall Record: 18-11. CCAA Record: 11-7 (T-4)
Final AVCA National Ranking: RV
Final Regional Ranking: 7
AVCA All-America: Emily Elliott (1st team)
D2CCA All-America: Emily Elliott (2nd team)
AVCA All-West Region: Emily Elliott (1st team)
D2CCA All-West Region: Emily Elliott (1st team)
AVCA West Region Player of the Year: Emily Elliott
NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team: Emily Elliott
All-CCAA: Emily Elliott (1st team), Haley Roundtree (2nd team), Samarah DaCoud (2nd team), Zuhal Cetin (HM)
CCAA All-Tournament Team: Emily Elliott, Havannah Vogel, Zuhal Cetin, Jameson Sanders
AVCA National Player of the Week: Emily Elliott (week of Oct. 14-20)
CCAA Player of the Week: Emily Elliott (week of Sept. 9-15), (week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6), (week of Oct. 14-20)
2024 CCAA Fall Academic Honor Roll: Zuhal Cetin, Tehya Chadwick, Neely Craig, Emily Elliott, Haley Roundtree, Rebecca Topete
2024-25 CCAA All-Academic Award: Zuhal Cetin, Tehya Chadwick, Madison Clark, Neely Craig, Matalasi Danielson, Emily Elliott, Katerina Korre, Brooke Paige, Juliana Speiski, Rebecca Topete, Havannah Vogel
2024-25 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award: Tehya Chadwick, Samarah DaCoud, Haley Roundtree, Rebecca Topete