HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay volleyball team swept its doubleheader on the first day of the 2013 Route 92 Showdown, picking up three-set victories over both Alaska-Fairbanks (0-8) and Azusa Pacific (4-2) for the team's first wins of the year. Playing in the friendly confines of Pioneer Gym for the first time this season, East Bay (2-4) looked like a different team than the one that went 0-4 last weekend at Western Oregon.

"We did a nice job making good things happen out of our system plays," said head coach Jim Spagle after the second match. "The entire team showed great determination and persistence. My hope is we start believing in this style of play and focus on displaying that same persistence on a regular basis, so that we can build on this performance tomorrow."

The Route 92 Showdown continues on Saturday with six more matches at Pioneer Gym, starting at 9 a.m. CSUEB will take on Saint Martin's at 1 p.m. followed by Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m.

CSUEB 3, Alaska 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-20)

The Pioneers had everything working for them on Friday afternoon with a decisive three-set victory over Alaska (Fairbanks). The team immediately got off to a hot start, winning six straight points to go ahead 6-1. After a Nanook timeout, Alaska clawed back in it, but East Bay never relinquished its lead, hitting .400 as a team en route to a 25-19 win.

Alaska came out firing in the second set, and the team traded points until the score was tied 10-10. From there, junior Katie Allen served the Pioneers to six straight points. The team didn't look back and extended its lead, riding a huge performance from senior Brittany Dominguez to a ten-point victory. They posted a .483 percentage in the set, racking up 17 kills against just three attack errors.

East Bay could smell its first victory of the year heading into the third set and didn't ease up on the Nanooks. After Alaska rattled off a 6-3 run to tie the score at 14-14, the Pioneers took over, eventually winning five of the final six points to close out the three-set sweep with a 25-20 win.

For the match, East Bay posted its best hitting percentage of the 2013 season, out-hitting Alaska .389 to .138. They also bested the Nanooks in total kills (46 to 30), assists (43 to 27), and blocks (6 to 3).

Dominguez led all players with 13 kills in the match, a career high. She hit .650, totaled three blocks, and didn't make a single attack error. Junior Amber Hall also had a dominant match, notching 11 kills and six digs. Senior Kitona Offord, not to be outdone, tallied nine kills, four total blocks, and a .471 attack percentage.

Allen added seven kills for the Pioneers and senior Suzy Ni Xu contributed four. Junior libero Veronica Sanchez had an impressive match, leading all players with 25 digs in just three sets. East Bay setter Ashia Joseph racked up 38 assists, the highest total of her young Pioneer career and good for a 12.67 set average.

CSUEB 3, Azusa Pacific 0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-22)

The team kept its momentum going from the first match into Friday's nightcap against Azusa Pacific and came out of the gate strong. They jumped out to a 10-8 lead, then allowed APU to score four straight to take a 13-11 advantage before coming back to rattle off 11 of the next 13 points to put the first set away.

The Pioneers played probably their best overall set of the season in the second frame. On defense, they held APU to just seven kills and a .143 attack percentage. Offensively, they hit a staggering .500 with 19 kills and just one attack error. The score was tight in the early part of the set, but the Pioneers closed it out on a 15-4 run, with Hall serving the final four points and notching two aces.

The Cougars refused to roll over in the third set and made East Bay work to finish off the sweep. Mattie Shelford had four kills in the early-going, and APU jumped out to a 11-8 advantage. The Pioneers then proceeded to win seven of the next eight points to wrestle away the lead. The Cougars hung around and got within two points a couple times, but East Bay held on as Xu slammed home a kill to close out the team's second straight-set victory of the day.

For the match, the Pioneers hit .357, compared to .175 for Azusa Pacific. They also topped the Cougars in total kills (51 to 31) and assists (50 to 31), while committing just three receiving errors in the three sets.

Joseph racked up a remarkable 43 assists to go along with eight digs. The junior from College of Southern Idaho totaled 91 assists on the day in just six sets. Sanchez, meanwhile, had another excellent match with 19 digs and six assists.

Hall posted the only double-double of the match with 11 kills and 10 digs to go along with a .346 attack percentage. Xu hit .393 and led all players with 13 kills. Allen also reached double figures in kills with 12 and added eight scoops. Offord had eight kills and a team-best .500 attack percentage, while Dominguez, her fellow middle blocker, tallied five kills and two total blocks.