Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Cal State East Bay volleyball team went 1-1 on the final day of the Nanook Classic to claim second place in the tournament. The Pioneers fell to Findlay, 3-0 (25-23, 25-26, 25-19), before bouncing back to top Alaska Fairbanks, 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-16) in the tournament finale. Seniors Nicole Boyle and Suzy Ni Xu led the way for East Bay, with Boyle posting 24 kills and 32 digs and Xu posting 34 putaways and hitting at a .309 clip on the weekend, earning All-Tournament honors for their efforts. 

In the nightcap, Xu paced the Pioneers with 20 kills, while adding a solo block and swinging at a .412 clip. Hannah Bell posted her first double-double of the season, laying down 15 kills and adding 11 digs, while dropping in four aces for the second time in the tournament. Boyle led the team with 15 digs and Siebert had her best setting match of the weekend, dishing out 48 assists.

After dropping the first set, East Bay opened the second set with an early 10-7 lead thanks to a pair of kills from Xu and three errors by the Nanooks. Though Fairbanks pulled back within two, the Pioneers grabbed a 12-9 lead on another Xu kill and would lead by at least three for the remainder of the set, sealing the win with three Xu putaways in the final four Pioneer points.

With the match tied at one set apiece at the break, East Bay carried the momentum into the third set, where they rolled, building an 11-5 lead, thanks to two kills each from Samantha Bruno and Xu. Though the Nanooks scored four of the next six points to cut the lead to four, 13-9. The Pioneers answered with a 7-2 run of their own, including four straight behind Xu's serve, to take a 20-11 advantage before an Alaska service error gave East Bay the 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was more of the same for East Bay, who scored six-straight points thanks to three aces from Bell to take a 6-1 lead early on. The Pioneers extended their lead to eight with another four-point run Though the two teams split the next 20 points of the match, East Bay's lead was enough and a pair of Xu kills and Bell's fourth ace of the match gave the Pioneers the match and second place in the tournament.

In the first match of the day, Findlay held East Bay to an .076 hitting percentage and no Pioneer player reached double figures in kills. Though Xu posted eight kills and hit at a .333 clip, Boyle and Bell were the only other players to post more than five kills in the match for East Bay.

The first set saw the Oilers take an early lead before the Pioneers battled back to tie the set at 14. A 7-3 run from Findlay put it within four points of the victory. East Bay scored five straight points, getting kills from Nikki Long, Morgan Hirzel and Xu before Danielle Stewart dropped in an ace to give the Pioneers a 22-21 advantage. The two teams traded points to 23 before Findlay scored two straight to take a 1-0 lead.

The second and third sets were all Oilers, who took advantage of a pair of early leads and held on to pick up the three-set victory.

Findlay also finished with a 2-1 record in the tournament, but held the tiebreaker over the Pioneers to claim the Nanook Classic title. The Oilers' Danielle Taflinger took home Tournament MVP honors, while Findlay's Mackenzie Vorst, NDNU's  Brooke DeMiguel and Alaska's Sam Harthun and Katlyn Mataya joined Boyle and Xu on the All-Tournament Team.