HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay volleyball team won its opening match of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play over visiting Cal State Stanislaus in straight sets on Friday night (25-19, 25-20, 25-14). It's the fifth consecutive win for the Pioneers (5-4, 1-0 CCAA), and the second loss in a row to start conference play for the Warriors (3-7, 0-2 CCAA).

"We put good pressure on the Stanislaus serve-receive with excellent serving," said head coach Jim Spagle after the match. "Both Suzy Ni Xu and Katie Allen were extremely efficient with their attacks, and Veronica Sanchez was a vacuum cleaner in the back row. Our block also did a nice job of slowing down their offense. It was a good team win."

East Bay got off to a hot start in the first set, looking to carry over the momentum from last weekend's 4-0 performance at the Route 92 Showdown. A pair of four-point runs gave the Pioneers an 11-6 lead midway through the frame. After the teams traded several points, back-to-back kills by Xu and a service ace by Allen put CSUEB up 17-9. They would hang on for the first-set victory as Allen racked up five kills and the team hit .306 collectively.

The second game was a more back-and-forth contest as both teams struggled a bit more on the attack. Trailing by three, the Pioneers won nine of the next 10 points (with Amber Hall serving seven of them) to take a 16-11 lead. Stanislaus would claw back and get within two at 22-20, but East Bay never relinquished their lead and won the final three points to close out the set.

Smelling their fourth three-set sweep in five matches, the Pioneers came out swinging in the third frame and began to pull away early. Hall served the team to a 6-0 run that put them ahead 13-5. After another four-point run and a pair of kills by Allen, East Bay opened up a commanding 20-9 lead and closed out the match from there.

It was a strong overall performance for the Pioneers, who controlled nearly the entire match and out-hit Stanislaus .215 to .095 as a team. Xu hit .370 and led all players with 12 kills. Allen added nine kills, seven digs, and a team-best .400 hitting percentage.

Hall notched six kills and 10 digs as well as three aces from the service line. Middle blockers Samantha Bruno and Kitona Offord each had four kills. The Pioneers racked up eight blocks as a team, with Bruno posting four and Offord adding three.

Sanchez had a remarkable 26 digs in just three sets to lead all players. Setter Ashia Joseph tallied a match-high 31 assists to go along with six digs and three total blocks.

CSUEB is back in action tomorrow night at in Pioneer Gym as the team welcomes in Chico State for a CCAA match. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.