SAN BERNARDINO – Cal State San Bernardino left little doubt who the team to beat is in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) volleyball – the No. 4 Coyotes, who had won eight straight and hadn’t lost a set since Sept. 4 coming into Friday’s match with Chico State, made quick work of a battling but overmatched Wildcat squad, taking all three sets (19-25, 11-25 and 15-25) at Coussoulis Arena, handing the ’Cats their second loss in a row and fourth in the last five matches.

Friday’s loss dropped Chico State to 8-6 on the season and 3-5 in the CCAA. Cal State San Bernardino improved to 11-1 for the year and stayed perfect in conference play with an 8-0 record.

Crystal Trifeletti led the Wildcats with eight kills, hitting at a .538 clip on the night, with Makenzie Fahnestock adding five as the Chico State offense combined to post an anemic  .012 hitting percentage for the match. Sable Villaescusa collected 21 kills, while Jessica Simms led the ’Cats with seven digs. All-American Jane Chafeh delivered a match-high nine kills, while Samantha Middleborn added eight for the victorious Coyotes.

Cal State San Bernardino jumped out to an early lead in the match’s opening set, but two kills by Trifeletti, one by Fahnestock and a Jessica Leek service ace kept the ’Cats close at 9-7. Chico State did a good job involving most everyone in the offense – kills by Trifeletti, Fahnestock, Alex Shurtz and Jacqueline Johnson prevented the Coyotes from widening their advantage. But with the score 15-13, San Bernardino pulled away with a 9-3 run to go up 24-16. The Wildcats answered with three straight points – courtesy of a pair of Shurtz kills and one by Johnson – to creep to within five, but Chafeh delivered the set-winning kill to give the Coyotes the 25-19 victory.

On the strength of four Middleborn service aces, San Bernardino roared out to a huge 11-1 lead in the second set. Chico State tried to climb back into the contest – kills by Trifeletti, Johnson and Fahnestock sparked a brief 5-2 run to pull the Wildcats to within 13-6. But that would be as close as they could get, as the Coyotes reeled off 12 of the final 17 points to cruise to the 25-11 win.

It was all San Bernardino to start the third set, as the Coyotes once again built a quick double-digit lead. With the score 16-5, Chico State Head Coach Cody Hein juggled his lineup, as reserves Kayla Baumgardner, Jordan Bambas and Juliet Conant provided a brief spark; Trifeletti and Leek connecting for kills to cut the Wildcat deficit to 22-14. But the ’Cats just had too much ground to make up, and San Bernardino tallied three of the final four points to win the set 25-15 and sweep the match. 

BOX SCORE 

Chico State is back in action Saturday night, continuing its brief southern California road trip against Cal Poly Pomona. The match is slated to start at 7 p.m; fans can watch all the action live on the Internet with former Chico State great Gillian Heydorff providing color commentary on UStream.com.