Riverside, Calif. - The women's volleyball team advanced to the Cal Pac Championship match with a 3-1 win (25-15, 21-25, 25-11, 27-25) over the number one seed, Embry-Riddle University (AZ). Embry-Riddle had defeated the Golden Eagles in both regular season contests, 3-1. The team will now face Benedictine University, the number two seed in the tournament, who defeated UC Merced, in five sets, in the other semifinal match of the night.
In what was a re-match of last year's championship match, the Golden Eagles knocked out the number one seed for the second consecutive year. Embry-Riddle entered this year's tournament just as they entered last year's tournament, with the number one seed and a regular season championship under their belt. But the Golden Eagles were unfazed and confident with the advantage of playing on their home court, as La Sierra University is hosting the conference tournament.
The Golden Eagles wasted no time as they quickly jumped out to an early 5-0 lead that they would not relinquish, as they went on to take Set 1 by a final of 25-15.
The Eagles answered back in Set 2 with a 25-21 win over La Sierra, and one had to feel that the team who finished the Cal Pac season with a record of 13-1 had overcome any jitters and were back on track. But the Golden Eagles had something to say about that as they answered back in their own way with a dominating victory in Set 3, 25-11.
In what proved to be a tense Set 4, the Golden Eagles and Eagles jockeyed back and forth. Late in the set, the Eagles took a 22-20 lead over La Sierra but after consecutive kills by Kiana Krumm and Taylor Moran, the two teams were tied at 22-22. Moran added another kill to give the Golden Eagles a 23-22 lead, only to be answered by Lyndsey Weiler who again knotted the score at 23-23. The Golden Eagles had the first match point on another kill by Moran, but Embry-Riddle survived it when Jordan Jones picked up a kill of her own. It was a play that momentarily caused some confusion as the ball sailed beyond the back line, sending the crowd and the Golden Eagles streaming onto the court only to be sent back as the Golden Eagles were called for having touched the ball on a block attempt. But that only delayed the celebration as Michele Mendizabal gave the Golden Eagles another match point and Smriti Sharma did the rest by picking up an ace to seal the victory.
Michele Mendizabal had a monster match with 21 kills on 35 attempts and only five errors, for a hitting percentage of .457 for the match. Moran ended up with 17 kills on 45 attempts and just two errors for a .333 attack percentage. Krumm rounded things out for La Sierra with 14 kills on the night.
The team also defended with a total of 80 digs and 6 blocks on the night. Libero Emily Morgan had a game-high 20 digs. Krumm added 19 digs, while Sharma pitched in with 14 digs and Marissa Fregoso with 10 digs.
The two setters, Fregos (26) and Sharma (21) led the offensive attack with a total of 47 assists between the two of them.
La Sierra also finished with a total of 10 aces on the night with Krumm and Morgan picking up three aces each.
The women's volleyball team will now look to repeat against the Red Hawks from Benedictine University, on Saturday night, for the Cal Pac Tournament Championship and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament. The two teams split their regular season series with each team defending their home court. That's good news for the Golden Eagles who will have the comfort of home as they serve things up starting at 7pm.
