Friday, Oct. 11
7 p.m. vs. #11 UC San Diego (13-2, 5-2 CCAA)
RIMAC Arena • La Jolla, Calif.
Live Stats •
Live Video
Saturday, Oct. 12
7 p.m. vs. #16 Cal State San Bernardino (11-4, 7-0 CCAA)
Coussoulis Arena • San Bernardino, Calif.
Live Stats
HAYWARD, Calif. --- The Cal State East Bay volleyball team embarks on likely its most difficult road trip of the year this weekend as the Pioneers head south to visit two schools ranked in the nation's top-20. East Bay (6-9, 2-5 CCAA) will take on No. 11 UC San Diego on Friday night, followed by No. 16 Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday night, with both matches set for 7 p.m. The Pioneers' opponents this weekend have a combined record of 12-2 in conference play this year.
WEEKEND RECAP
This will be the second straight trip to Southern California for the Pioneers, who went 0-2 last weekend against Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills and hit under .200 as a team in both matches. On Friday, they played a Toro squad that didn't look like it was searching for its first conference win. Dominguez Hills hit .333 and had two players top 20 kills in the four-set victory.
Suzy Ni Xu had 14 kills in the loss, and
Amber Hall added 10 kills and 10 digs.
Angie Maina played her best match of the season, tallying a team-best 14 digs.
The following night, the Pioneers ran into another team that executed better than them on both sides of the net. Despite 12 kills and a .733 hitting percentage from Xu, East Bay was swept in three sets by the Golden Eagles. They have now lost four straight heading this weekend's brutally tough slate.
LEADERBOARD WATCH
As a team, the Pioners rank second in the CCAA in service aces, but they're last in dig average and second-to-last in kills per set. Individually,
Veronica Sanchez (0.38 aces/set),
Katie Allen (0.34), Hall (0.32), and Xu (0.29) all rank in the top-11 in the conference in aces. Sanchez also leads the CCAA with 5.96 digs/set in conference play.
In terms of scoring, CSUEB has three players averaging better than two kills per set in Xu (2.91), Hall (2.28), and Allen (2.04). Xu leads the team with a .246 attack percentage, while
Kitona Offord ranks second at .228. As a team, the Pioneers are hitting .213, sixth-best in the CCAA.
CCAA STANDINGS
|
Rank |
School |
CCAA Record |
Pct. |
Overall Record |
|
1. |
#16 Cal State San Bernardino |
7-0 |
1.000 |
11-4 |
|
2. |
#12 Sonoma State |
6-1 |
.857 |
13-2 |
|
3. |
#11 UC San Diego |
5-2 |
.714 |
13-2 |
|
4. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
5-2 |
.714 |
11-4 |
|
5. |
Cal State L.A. |
4-3 |
.571 |
9-6 |
|
6. |
Chico State |
4-3 |
.571 |
7-7 |
|
7. |
San Francisco State |
3-4 |
.429 |
8-7 |
|
8. |
Humboldt State |
2-5 |
.286 |
7-7 |
|
9. |
Cal State East Bay |
2-5 |
.286 |
6-9 |
|
10. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
2-5 |
.286 |
4-11 |
|
11. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
1-6 |
.143 |
8-7 |
|
12. |
Cal State Stanislaus |
1-6 |
.143 |
4-11 |
SCOUTING UC SAN DIEGO
The Tritons rank second in the CCAA in blocks and third in kills and assists. They've also made the fewest reception errors in the conference, and they've won four straight matches on the road. The top scorers for UCSD are Danielle Dahle (3.45 kills/set, 3.17 digs/set) and Sara McCutchan (2.81 kills/set), who's second in the conference with a .369 hitting percentage. Heidi Sierks and Amber Hawthorne form a formidable duo at setter.
SCOUTING SAN BERNARDINO
The Coyotes are undefeated in CCAA play. They lead the conference in blocks and rank second with a .258 hitting percentage. Alexandra Torline is CSUSB's top attacker, averaging 3.40 kills/set. They also have two of the four most efficient attackers in the CCAA in Brenna McIntosh (.345 pct.) and Tori May (.387 pct.). Arielle McCullough (4.98 digs/set) is one of the conference's top liberos. The Coyotes have only lost at home five times over the last six years, but two of those losses were to Cal State East Bay, including a Pioneer victory last year.
