CCAA Postgame Press Conference

TURLOCK, Calif. -- For the second year in a row, the Cal State East Bay volleyball team was victorious in the first round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament. The Pioneers opened the 2018 postseason by defeating Cal State San Marcos in four sets Thursday afternoon at Fitzpatrick Arena to advance to the semifinal round.

East Bay, which entered the tournament as the top seed from the North Division, improves its overall record to 16-11. It also evens the season series with the Cougars, who handed the Pioneers a four-set loss when the teams met in San Marcos back in September.

All four sets this afternoon were extremely tightly contested, as momentum shifted back and forth many times. The Cougars seemed to take control midway through the opening frame, making a 6-0 run to take a 17-12 lead. But the Pioneers called a timeout and rallied back immediately, winning five straight to even the score. Then with the score tied 23-23, East Bay got a kill by Kathy McKiernan followed by a block by Kiki Leuteneker and Deja Thompson to snag a two-point win. 

McKiernan and Thompson both had a great deal of success attacking from the outset, and it continued into game two. After the squads traded the lead a couple times, once again San Marcos pulled head near the midway point with an 18-14 advantage. And once again, the Pioneers fought back. East Bay went on a 6-2 run to tie the score, then won four of the last five points to again seal a narrow victory.

Their good fortune subsided a bit in the third set, as the Cougars used some impressive serving and raced out a 20-10 lead. That deficit was too much for the Pioneers to erase, but they didn't roll over. They battled back in the final points, getting within four before ultimately losing by five.

That late rally seemed to give East Bay some momentum heading into game four, in which they returned the favor by quickly grabbing a big lead. The Pioneers led 18-9 when CSUSM called a timeout, and with their backs against the wall, the Cougars staged a furious comeback. They got within one point of the Pioneers, but couldn't quite extend the match, as Lindsey Ray slammed home the winning kill in a clinching two-point victory.

Before the match, McKiernan was announced as the recipient of the 2018 CCAA Volleyball Championship Scholar Award, which honors the student-athlete with the highest grade point average out of all the teams at the conference tournament. The Duarte native boasts a 3.95 GPA as a kinesiology major. She is also a three-time CCAA All-Academic honoree and a 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District selection. 

After receiving an award that recognized her excellence in the classroom, McKiernan proceeded to have one of the best performances of her career on the court. The All-CCAA honoree hit .324 and led the Pioneers with a season-high 17 kills and a team-best five total blocks.

All-CCAA setter Katie Ireland also set a season high, racking up 52 assists as the Pioneers hit .211 as a team in the victory. She also had 10 digs, one of four players to reach double figures.

Thompson was dominant in the middle, tallying 14 kills without an attack error to post a .452 hitting percentage. On the outside, Leuteneker finished with 11 kills and 14 digs, while Ray posted nine kills and 16 digs. Libero Natahlee Wilson dug out 16 balls as well. 

Prior to the match, the latest NCAA Division II regional rankings were released. The Pioneers moved up one spot to No. 9, which is the program's highest regional ranking since joining Division II a decade ago. It also means that East Bay's chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament's eight-team regional field are still alive as the Pioneers advance to the CCAA semifinals.

Friday's match is set for 5 p.m. and will pit CSUEB against the No. 17 ranked team in the nation, Cal Poly Pomona, the No. 2 seed from the South Division. The Broncos swept the Pioneers in Pomona in the only meeting this season between the two teams, and they defeated Stanislaus in straight sets Thursday in their first-round match.