Friday, Oct. 7 - Dig for a Cure
vs. No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino
(14-0, 9-0 CCAA)
Pioneer Gym
7 p.m.
Live Stats

Saturday, Oct. 8
vs. No. 16 UC San Diego
(10-3, 6-3 CCAA)
Pioneer Gym
7 p.m.
Live Stats

HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay volleyball team will welcome two nationally ranked opponents to finish its second straight three-match week and to close out the first half of the CCAA season this weekend at Pioneer Gym. The Pioneers (10-4, 5-4 CCAA) are looking to finish out the first half of the league campaign strong after splitting each weekend series so far. East Bay will meet No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino on Friday for its Dig for the Cure match to support breast cancer awareness, before taking on 16th-ranked UC San Diego on Saturday. Both matches are slated for a 7 p.m. first serve at Pioneer Gym.

Cal State East Bay will meet its first ranked opponents of the season this weekend and is looking to repeat last year's success in the first half of the season against the Tritons and Coyotes. The Pioneers were the only CCAA team to beat Cal State San Bernardino last year, posting a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Pioneer Gym. The Coyotes went on to capture the conference and NCAA West Region titles in 2010. The first meeting with UCSD was kind to East Bay as well, with the Pioneers grabbing a five-set win over the Tritons in La Jolla in just the second week of the league campaign last year.

The Pioneers will look to sophomore Katie Allen, junior Kitona Offord, freshman Samantha Bruno and senior Leslie Ray to lead the way this weekend. Allen has posted double-digit kills in three of the last four matches, including a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs in a win over Cal State Stanislaus and 13 kills and four aces in the win over Notre Dame de Namur on Tuesday. Offord is leading the team with 2.48 kills per set and is pacing the attack by swinging at a .363 clip so far. Offord has committed just six errors in 54 attempts in the last four matches to hit .426 during that span, including an errorless night against Cal State Monterey Bay last week that saw the middle blocker post eight kills and hit .615 in the win.

In the back row, Leslie Ray has been a force to be reckoned with so far this season, posting a team-leading 290 digs to average more than five scoops per set. Ray has had just one match without double-digit digs and has posted 10 or more digs in10 straight contests, including her season-high 32 in a 3-1 win over Humboldt State. Equally as impressive in the front row, Samantha Bruno leads the Pioneers with 1.11 blocks per set, posting 16 solo efforts and ranking third in the CCAA in the category.

As a team, East Bay ranks among the top five in the CCAA in aces, blocks, digs and hitting percentage. The Pioneers rank second in blocking with 2.33 stuffs per set, which also puts them in the top 20 in Division II.

RANK AND FILE
The Pioneers are making the most of the first half of the season, posting numbers that rank them among some of the best in both the CCAA and all of Division II. Kitona Offord's team-leading .363 hitting percentage ranks second in the CCAA behind San Bernardino's Samantha Middleborn – the 2010 AVCA National Player of the Year – and falls in the top 30 in Division II. Meanwhile, Katie Allen has already surpassed her team-leading aces total from her rookie campaign, dropping in a team leading 30 aces to pace the CCAA with .53 aces per set. Samantha Bruno's 1.16 blocks per set are currently third in the conference and rank 15th in the nation, putting four CCAA blockers among the top 30 in Division II. Joining Bruno among the best defensive players in the CCAA is Leslie Ray, whose 5.65 digs per set lead the conference by nearly an entire dig per set and give her the 11th-best average in Division II. Ray's impressive senior campaign is coming after a year off due to injury in 2010.

DIG FOR A CURE
Friday's match with Cal State San Bernardino will mark the Pioneers' third annual Dig for a Cure Night, promoting breast cancer awareness. The two teams will wear pink shirts during warm ups and the match will be contested with pink balls. The event is presented by the CCAA and Molten USA, which provided the pink match balls. Each team in the CCAA will host a Dig for a Cure match this October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month – in support and recognition of all who have been affected by the disease.

CATCHING UP ON THE COYOTES
Cal State San Bernardino enters the weekend undefeated, having knocked off UCSD on Wednesday night to improve to 14-0 overall and 9-0 in CCAA play, marking its fourth-best start in program history. The Coyotes are the No. 3-ranked team in Division II and sit atop the conference standings. CSUSB leads the CCAA in assists and kills per set and hitting percentage, ranking among the top 15 in Division II in each of those categories, as well. The Coyotes are hitting at a .315 clip and averaging 14.2 kills per set, which fall fifth and 10th, respectively, in all of Division II. Reigning AVCA DII National Player of the Year Samantha Middleborn leads the Coyotes with 3.79 kills per set and a .509 hitting percentage, which ranks second in Division II. Middleborn is also a force in the middle, leading the CCAA with 1.38 blocks per set. Last year, the two teams split the season series, with the Pioneers handing CSUSB – the eventual CCAA and West Region champ – its only conference loss at Pioneer Gym. 

TRACKING THE TRITONS
UC San Diego is coming off a 3-1 loss to No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino on Wednesday and has split each of its last two weekends during CCAA play. The Tritons (10-3, 6-3) opened the season 9-0 but have gone 1-3 since Sept. 23, falling to Sonoma State and Chico State, in addition to the Coyotes. UCSD is leading the conference in digs per set, averaging 18.8 to rank fifth in Division II. The Tritons are also 12th in Division II in kills per set, just behind CSUSB, laying down 14.05 kills per game. Hillary Williamson leads UC San Diego, averaging 4.2 kills per set to set the tone for the CCAA as well. Libero Janessa Werhane is leading the Triton defense with 4.78 digs per game to rank second in the league behind Leslie Ray. In 2010, the Pioneers and Tritons split the series, with Cal State East Bay picking up a 3-2 victory over UCSD in La Jolla before falling 3-1 at home.