HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay volleyball team continues its season-long nine-match homestand with two matches this weekend against California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) foes. The Pioneers welcome in Cal Poly Pomona on Friday night and Humboldt State on Saturday night, with both matches set to begin at 7 p.m.

WEEKEND RECAP
The Pioneers opened conference play last week by splitting a pair of home matches. On Friday night, the team won its fifth straight contest with a three-set sweep of Cal State Stanislaus. Suzy Ni Xu led East Bay with 12 kills and posted a .370 attack percentage, and Veronica Sanchez racked up 26 digs. Katie Allen hit .400 and added nine kills, and the Pioneers recorded eight team blocks as they cruised to the 25-19, 25-20, 25-14 victory.

The following night didn't go as well for the red and black. Chico State came into Hayward swinging, out-hit the Pioneers .275 to .184, and left with a four-set victory. The East Bay defense wasn't as dominant as the previous night, as the Wildcats bested them in total blocks, 9-2. Amber Hall had an excellent game for CSUEB, notching a double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs to go with a .317 hitting percentage. Allen and Kitona Offord had 11 kills apiece, while setter Ashia Joseph totaled 45 assists, and Sanchez dug out an impressive 31 balls.

COMING UP ACES
With one-third of the regular season in the books, the Pioneers currently lead the conference in service aces, averaging 1.71 per set. Sanchez (0.41), Allen (0.35), and Xu (0.34) are all in the top-6 of that category.

Sanchez is also second in the CCAA in dig average with a mark of 5.56 for the season. The Pioneers don't have any of the conference's top-10 scorers, but they do have four players averaging better than two kills per set in Xu (2.83), Hall (2.53), Allen (2.23), and Offord (2.06).

SCOUTING CAL POLY POMONA
The Broncos opened CCAA play at home last weekend, beating Dominguez Hills in four sets on Thursday and losing to Cal State L.A. in three sets on Saturday. They lead the CCAA in reception errors and rank second in attack errors so far, but they have been strong at the net, posting a conference-leading 2.52 blocks per set. Jessica Doerner (3.18 kills/set), Lauren Jones (2.63), and Brianna Thierjung (2.20) are the Broncos' leading attackers. Alexa Hasen ranks second in the CCAA with 47 total blocks.

SCOUTING HUMBOLDT STATE
The Jacks are much improved from 2012's last-place squad. They went 3-1 at the Route 92 Showdown, and they opened CCAA play by splitting home matches with Cal State L.A. (L, 3-2) and Dominguez Hills (W, 3-1). However, HSU is hitting just .183 as a team, tenth in the conference (East Bay is at .226). Kaitlyn Dunaway (3.50 kills/set) and Ashley Own (3.29) are the team's leading scorers. Former Pioneer Sam Siebert is the Jack's starting setter, averaging 9.68 assists per set.