SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – No volleyball lead is ever big enough against Cal State San Bernardino.
 
That certainly was the case for the Seattle Pacific Falcons in Thursday night's 2024 season opener.
 
SPU, ranked No. 19 nationally, took the opening set, then had a five-point lead in Set 3 and a four-point edge in Set 4. But the No. 8 Coyotes came back in both of those sets and snagged a 3-1 victory at the Yotes Classic Showcase.
 
Scores in San Bernardino's Coussoulis Arena were 22-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-19.
 
Seattle Pacific (0-1) and Cal State San Bernardino (1-0) won their respective conference titles last fall, SPU in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and CSSB in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Of the seven teams gathered here for the three-day event, six went to their respective NCAA Regionals in 2023.
 
Fifth-year opposite Erin Smith led the Falcons with nine kills on Thursday and also had four digs. Fifth-year middle blocker Hannah Hair had four kills on .429 hitting plus five blocks.
 
 

"It was a good battle. I thought we started off a little shaky, like other teams do in the first set of their first match," head coach Jason Rhine said. "I thought we did a good job of tightening up and getting some big blocks and put a lot of pressure on their team."
 
The Falcons trailed for most of Set 1, at one time by as many as five points at 13-8. But they went on a 7-1 run, the last four of those points with senior setter Emily Tulino on the serve, to take a 15-14 lead. From there, the set had six more ties and four more lead changes.
 
Tied at 21-21, a kill by Smith put SPU up 22-21, then a service ace from junior outside hitter Anna Pelluer made it 23-21. San Bernardino got a point back on a block, then the Falcons closed it out on a quick kill by Hair and a tip by Allison Wilks that the Coyotes blocked into the net.
 
CSSB scored six straight points for a 6-1 lead in Set 2 and never allowed Seattle Pacific to get closer than three.
 
"San Bernardino did a good job of adjusting, hitting a lot of off-speed stuff to avoid the block and they applied a lot of serving pressure," Rhine added. "They were serving really well (the Coyotes had 11 aces for the match), and we had a hard time staying in system."
 
The Falcons built an 11-6 lead in the third set. It was still 13-11 in their favor when the San Bernardino went on a 10-point tear, with three of those points on service aces. That made it 21-13, and the Coyotes finished it off by taking four of the final eight points.
 
SPU raced to a 5-1 lead in Set 4. San Bernardino caught up at 13-13. Then with the Falcons up 14-13, the hosts ran off four straight, part of a 7-1 surge that produced a 20-13 lead.
 
"We had a new group, a new lineup, got to try out some different people and figure out how to use some new weapons and new things," Rhine said. "Sydney Perry did a good job; Abi (Cunningham) did a great job at libero with some solid digs and some solid service receive. Our middles did a really good job of being available, and our setters did a good job of finding them."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- SPU is now 22-17 in all-time season openers.
-- Although it didn't work out on Thursday, an opening-set victory usually bodes well for the Falcons, Last year, the took the first set 16 times and went on to win 15 of those matches.
-- Hannah Hair led the Falcons in hitting at .429 with four kills and just one error on seven attacks.
-- Hair also picked up five blocks, giving her 476 for her career.
-- Along with her seven kills, Allison Wilks had three blocks, giving her 294.
 

-- Senior setter Emily Tulino had 10 assists, moving her past 1,600 for her career. She now has 1,601.
-- She wasn't the only SPU setter to reach a milestone. Sophomore Sophia Chambers had 19, moving her past 400 for her career. She now has 413.
--The Falcons were not able to put the brakes on San Bernardino senior outside hitter Ashley Robinson. She had 23 kills on 58 swings for a .259 hitting percentage.
 


UP NEXT
The Falcons play twice on Friday. Up first is defending national champion and preseason No. 1-ranked Cal State Los Angeles, with the first serve at noon. The Golden Eagles opened with a 3-1 victory against Biola on Thursday. These two teams met in the first round of last year's NCAA West Regionals, with the Golden Eagles winning, 3-1.
 
Then at 5:00 p.m., No. 21 Cal Poly Pomona will be on the other side of the net. The Broncos won twice on Thursday, sweeping No. 10 St. Cloud State, 3-0, and downing No. 12 Chaminade, 3-1.
 
"We got to watch a bit of Cal State L.A. and Cal Poly Pomona, and they both served tough and played good defense," Rhine said. "We have to be the aggressor for more of the match. (Today) we were caught reacting and responding a little bit, and that happens. But we're excited to have another chance tomorrow."

 
NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Yotes Classic Showcase
Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024
Coussoulis Arena / San Bernardino, Calif.
 
(No. 8) Cal State San Bernardino 3, (No. 19) Seattle Pacific 1
 
Game scores – 22-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-19.
 
Service aces – SPU 8 (Wilks 3), CSSB 11 (Cherniss 4).
Kills – SPU 39 (Smith 9), CSSB 55 (Robinson 23).
Assists – SPU 33 (Chambers 19, Tulino 10), CSSB 50 (Van Horn 25).
Digs – SPU 65 (Cunningham 20), CSSB 63 (Cherniss 15).
Block assists / solo – SPU 16 / 0 solo (Hair 5 / 0 solo), CSSB 14 / 0 solo (Cherniss and Drake 4 / 0 solo).
Hitting (kills-errors-attacks) – SPU 39-21-138—130 (Hair 4-1-7—429), CSSB 55-20-163—215 (Hoffman 9-2-17—412).
Attendance – 225.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 0-1.   Cal State San Bernardino 1-0.
 
 
Next matches
Seattle Pacific vs. Cal State Los Angeles, Friday, Noon, Coussoulis Arena
Seattle Pacific vs Cal Poly Pomona, Friday, 5:00 p.m., The Den
 
 
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