Riverside, Calif. - Playing in their second Cal Pac Tournament Championship match in three years, the Golden Eagles (17-8) defeated Embry-Riddle University (20-10) in straight sets (25-19, 25-19, 25-14). It's the sixth straight win for La Sierra who advance to an opening round of the NAIA National Tournament for the second time in the program's history. The Golden Eagles lost to Vanguard University (0-3) in their first-ever trip to the NAIA National Tournament, back in 2011.
La Sierra quickly erased the added confidence that Embry-Riddle entered the match with, by having defeated the Golden Eagles quite handily in their two regular season meetings. The Golden Eagles victory came in a rather convincing fashion as they dominated play both offensively and defensively.
Following up Caitlin Marinos' career night, in the team's semifinal win over UC Merced, Abby Latuhoi stepped into that role on this evening. The senior middle blocker had a stellar night leading the team with 12 kills against only one attack error on 21 total attempts, for an incredible hitting percentage of .524. She not only led her team offensively, but also contributed defensively with three block assists and three solo blocks, including a solo block on match point to close out the win.
As a team, the Golden Eagles finished with 44 kills, seven errors, on 110 attempts for a hitting percentage of .336. In comparison, the Eagles had 32 kills, 21 errors, on 112 attempts with a hitting percentage of .098.
La Sierra was able to overcome seven service errors with an equal number of aces, in addition to their red-hot offense. Caitlin Marinos had another solid performance with 11 kills and Taylor Moran added another nine kills (.471). Erin Miller had six kills on some nicely placed shots, while Samantha Marquez contributed five kills in the match.
Setter Marissa Fregoso led the offense with 27 assists and seven digs. Fellow setter Smriti Sharma finished with 13 assists and seven digs. Emily Morgan matched the match-high by tallying 17 digs, with Maya Hanna contributing nine digs of her own.
The Eagles were led by Cal Pac "Freshman of the Year" Jalin Yoder who had a match-high 17 kills. Outside hitter Jordan Jones pitched in with 10 kills and the Cal Pac "Libero of the Year" Monica Gomez matched Morgan with 17 digs. But it wasn't going to be enough on a night that belonged to the Golden Eagles.
La Sierra had the advantage of playing on their home court and was looking to drastically change a storyline that saw them upset by Merced in last year's semifinal. Embry-Riddle, the regular season Cal Pac champions, broke a two-year streak by the Golden Eagles who had won the regular season Cal Pac title since they joined the conference in 2013. This is the third straight year the Cal Pac regular season
