Box Score HAYWARD, Calif. --- The Cal State East Bay volleyball team was defeated in four sets (18-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-18) on Saturday night by No. 12 UC San Diego in the final home match of the season for the Pioneers (11-17, 7-13 CCAA). It was the eighth straight victory for the Tritons (24-3, 16-3 CCAA). 

The match was preceded by an emotional ceremony to honor the six seniors who competed for the final time at Pioneer Gym tonight: Katie Allen, Hannah Bell, Brittany Dominguez, Morgan Hirzel, Kitona Offord, and Suzy Ni Xu. 

"We came out and played really good volleyball in the first three sets," said head coach Jim Spagle. "I thought Sam Bruno played well, and Suzy was dominant at times on the right side. We came to play tonight. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, but I'm proud of the team's effort."

The Pioneers posted a solid team attack percentage of .247, but they fell short of the Tritons' mark of .275. UCSD also bested East Bay in digs, 71 to 62. Both teams had four players reach double digits in kills.

Samantha Bruno led the Pioneers with 12 kills and a .310 hitting percentage. Xu hit .300 with 11 kills. Offord notched 11 kills, and the school's all-time leader in blocks added to her total with four solo blocks and two block assists tonight. 

Amber Hall had 10 kills and made just two attack errors. Allien posted nine kills and five digs. Bell added two kills in five scoops, and Hirzel got on the scoresheet with two total blocks. 

Veronica Sanchez had a strong night on the back line. The Pioneer libero led all players with 29 digs and added six assists. Ashia Joseph tallied 43 assists, 12 digs, and three kills. She's averaging 11.60 assists per set over her last five matches. 

The Pioneers came out strong in the first set, and it looked like an upset might have been brewing. East Bay jumped out to a 9-7 lead and then won four straight points to extend their advanatge to six. The Pioneers never reliquished the lead after that as they held UCSD to .061 hitting and forced eight attack errors.

The 12th-ranked Tritons picked it up in the second frame, taking a 19-14 lead. However, East Bay was able to make a run, winning six out of seven points to tie the score at 20-20. The Pioneers had a chance to finish off their rally and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match, but they came up short as UCSD took care of business and squeaked out the two-point win.

The script was similar in the third set, except this time it was even more tightly contested. Tied at 15-15, the teams traded points back-and-forth virtually the entire rest of the set. The Tritons won four out of five at one point to turn a 19-18 deficit into a 22-20 lead, and that ended up being enough. Once again, the Pioneers couldn't get crucial points to close out a set. East Bay had an impressive .304 attack percentage in the frame, but the Tritons hit .429.

With 2-1 a lead in the match, UCSD put the Pioneers away in the fourth. They scored five straight points at the beginning of the set and closed it out on a 7-2 run en route to a 25-18 win.

Cal State East Bay wraps up the 2013 season next weekend with a pair of road matches. They visit San Francisco State on Friday night and No. 16 Sonoma State on Saturday, with both matches set for 7 p.m.