HAYWARD, Calif. -- After dropping road games to three of the top teams in the conference, the Cal State East Bay volleyball team returns home this Friday for the final match of the season in Pioneer Gymnasium. CSUEB will celebrate "Senior Night" with a brief ceremony prior to the team's contest against Cal State Monterey Bay, which will start about 7:15 p.m.

The Pioneers enter this crucial showdown in second place in the CCAA North Division with their 8-7 conference record. The Otters are 2.5 games up at 10-4 on the strength of a nine-match winning streak that included an extremely tight victory over East Bay two weeks ago in Seaside. 

CSUEB does still have a chance to claim the North Division crown if they can beat the Otters, then finish the regular season with victories against Sonoma State and Humboldt State next week. There are also "Battle of the Bays" points on the line, as the Pioneers look to even the season series with their rivals.

East Bay needs just one more victory (or losses by Stanislaus and SF State) to secure a berth in the CCAA Tournament for the third straight year. The team has been outstanding in the friendly confines of Pioneer Gym this season, carrying a 6-1 home record into Friday's match.

SUPER SENIORS
On Friday the Pioneers will celebrate their six seniors, who collectively form perhaps the most accomplished senior class the program has ever seen. In addition to lifting Cal State East Bay to its first two CCAA postseason appearances ever (and having the team on the brink of a third straight), each student-athlete has had significant individual impact as well.

Three of the seniors came in as freshmen in 2015. All three immediately became starters, and all three have left their mark on the Pioneer records books. Kiki Leuteneker is coming off a huge performance last week in SoCal, averaging 3.67 kills per set with a hitting percentage over .300 against two of the toughest teams in the nation. She ranks just outside the top 10 in the CCAA this year in both kills and points per set. Leuteneker enters the weekend with 1,160 career kills, which means she needs 74 more to become the all-time leader in Pioneer history. Achieving that will require an outstanding effort down the stretch, and it would certainly help her chances if the Pioneers went on a deep postseason run. 

Deja Thompson made history last season as the first CSUEB player of the Division II era to be named an All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She's having another excellent season, ranking in the top-10 in the conference in blocks. Earlier this season, Thompson became the program's all-time leader in career blocks. On the other side of the net, she enters this weekend needing just 22 kills to become the third Pioneer ever to reach 1,000.

Kathy McKiernan has been on Thompson's heels in the blocks race for the last two seasons. She soared past the previous record this season as well, and she's currently 12 behind her teammate with 285 for her career, the second-most all-time. McKiernan also has a hitting percentage over .300 for the second straight year, and her current career mark of .283 would be the fourth-highest in program history.

Setter Katie Ireland has been with the Pioneers just three years after transferring from Montana State, but her impact during those seasons has been every bit as huge as Leuteneker, Thompson, and McKiernan's. In San Bernardino, Ireland broke a 19-year-old school record with her 2,646th career assist. She also has the highest dig total of any setter in program history with 1,024. She has a chance to become the first Pioneer of the CCAA era to average more than 10 assists per set, and she remains the only player in the CCAA this year to record a triple-double.

Another huge addition to the program in 2017 was Lindsey Ray, a junior college transfer from Long Beach. Her athleticism and excellent play on both offense and defense resulted in an All-CCAA nod as a junior. This year, Ray has been East Bay's leading scorer, ranking in the top 10 in the conference in kills and points per set. She also earned the team's first CCAA Player of the Week award this season on Oct. 9. 

Finally, Cassidy Caton has been with the Pioneers since 2016 as part of two straight squads to qualify for the postseason. She appeared in 23 matches as a junior, then used a redshirt in 2017 after sustaining an injury. This year, she has played in all 23 contests so far and ranks fourth on the team in digs. The defensive specialist has also been among the most dangerous servers in the conference, racking up 30 aces to lead the Pioneers.

Perhaps most impressively, this group has also been exemplary in the classroom. Three of the seniors have grade point averages over 3.80, and they helped the squad post a 3.64 team GPA in the Spring quarter of 2018, which is the highest figure by any CSUEB team on record. 

OTTER OUTLOOK
CSUMB has been red hot, winning nine straight since falling in a tight contest to No. 9 ranked Cal State LA. They do have a tough road remaining to finish the regular season slate, with a trip to No. 16 Cal Poly Pomona and No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino looming next weekend. The Otters are out-hitting their opponents .199 to .184 this season and have been excellent in service, averaging more than two aces per set. Outside hitters Anela Vicesio and Jenna Tobin are the team's top two attackers, both averaging better than 3.0 points per set.