TURLOCK, Calif. — Cal State East Bay started strong and earned a four-set victory over third-seeded Cal State LA (25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19) Thursday afternoon at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena in the opening round of the 2025 CCAA Volleyball Tournament presented by Under Armour. The sixth-seeded Pioneers' balanced attack and poise carried them into Friday's semifinals.

East Bay (14-13, 10-8 CCAA) opened the match with energy, taking control early behind kills from Jada Stone and Malayah Adams. A five-point service run from Piʻilani Carvalho, including three aces, helped the Pioneers turn a 7-1 deficit into a 15-12 lead. A six point rally later in the set put the Pioneers at set point advantage up 24-15. Despite the Golden Eagles prolonging the set with the next three points, Adams closed out the set with a kill to take set one, 25-18. 

Cal State LA responded in the second set, capitalizing on a series of East Bay attack errors to edge out a 25-22 win despite a late push by the Pioneers.

Unfazed, East Bay regrouped in the third set and delivered its sharpest performance of the afternoon, hitting .370 with zero errors. Stone and Barakat Adekola combined for six kills during a dominant stretch that pushed the Pioneers ahead 17-10. Carvalho distributed the offense efficiently, and the set ended with a pair of kills from Adams and a clinching block from Stone. 

In the fourth and deciding set, the Pioneers overcame an early 3-0 hole and surged ahead midway through the frame. Adekola and Adams each tallied key kills, while Natali Herrera and Stone paired for a crucial late block to clinch the match, 25-19.

Adekola led the team with 13 kills on a .209 hitting percentage, Stone added 13 kills and six blocks, and Carvalho recorded 36 assists and three aces. Libero Kaleʻa Kuamoʻo anchored the defense with 26 digs, while Rebeca Freitas, who was honored earlier in the day with the CCAA Elite 13 Award for the tournament's top GPA, added eight digs and steady leadership in the backcourt.

"Really proud of the way we played from start to finish," said head coach Kimberly Lambert. "We demonstrated a lot of poise and challenged a very good opponent."

With the victory, Cal State East Bay (14-13) advances to face second-seeded Cal State San Bernardino in Friday's CCAA Tournament semifinal at 3 p.m. at Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena. East Bay lost in three sets to CSUSB on November 7.