Box Score Hayward, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay volleyball team dropped a midweek match Tuesday night at Cal State Monterey Bay by the score of 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-13). The Pioneers (6-8, 1-6 CCAA) have now lost their first five road matches to open conference play and have yet to win in Seaside since joining the CCAA in 2009. The Otters (9-6, 3-4 CCAA) controlled the contest from the outset and have now won three straight matches.

It was a struggle offensively for the Pioneers, as they committed 19 attack errors and six service errors and hit just .094 for the match. Junior Hannah Bell was one of the few Pioneer attackers to find success, leading the team with seven kills, hitting .286, and adding 10 digs. Senior Nicole Boyle has two aces and nine digs, but couldn't get into a groove offensively. Boyle totaled just four kills and made six attack errors on a team-high 27 attempts. East Bay's other leading scorer, junior Suzy Ni Xu, faced similar struggles, as it took her 24 attempts to record her six kills.

Senior Nikki Long added five kills for the Pioneers, and junior Brittany Dominguez hit .500 with three kills. Middle blockers Jade Sanford and Samantha Bruno had been contributing efficient offense for the Pioneers, but on this night they combined for five kills and six attack errors on 22 attempts. Sophomore libero Veronica Sanchez led the squad with 14 digs. Junior Samantha Siebert and senior Danielle Stewart shared the setting responsibilities, tallying 16 and 10 assists, respectively.

As a team, the Otters out-hit Cal State East Bay in all three sets. Julia Ashen came into the match as the CCAA's second-leading scorer and continued to impress, leading all players with 17 kills. She also added 11 digs. Jessica Malcolm had a huge game, notching 12 kills without an error for a .500 attack percentage. Middle blocker Janai Johnson added nine kills, and setter Kelsey Johnston paced the offense with 40 assists.

Cal State Monterey Bay started the match strong as they attempted to defend their home “Kelp Den.” Leading by one, the Otters used a 7-0 run to pull away in the first set. Although they played their best set of the night and kept the score close, the Pioneers never led in the opening frame.

That trend continued into the second set. Once again, Cal State East Bay never held the lead, and the Otters took advantage of Pioneer errors to cruise to the 25-14 victory. Already leading 2-0 in the match, Cal State Monterey Bay saved its best performance for last. The Pioneers grabbed an early 7-5 lead, but the Otters went on a huge run, winning 18 of the next 19 points to put the set and the match away.

The Pioneers return to Hayward and are back in action this weekend for two crucial CCAA matches. Cal State East Bay will host Cal State Stanislaus on Friday night, followed by Chico State on Saturday night, with both matches set for 7 p.m.