Box Score

SIOUX CITY, Iowa— The Cal State San Marcos women's volleyball team avenged two prior defeats to The Master's College this season with a clutch straight set victory in the Cougars first pool play match at the NAIA National Championships, held at the Tyson Event Center Tuesday.

The A.I.I. Conference Champions are among the final 24-teams remaining in the postseason, and reached pool play by virtue of defeating No. 22 Vanguard in the opening round. In taking down the No. 6 Mustangs Tuesday, the Cougars put themselves in good position to advance to the single elimination bracket, as the top two teams from each pool advance.

The match was tight from the get-go and remained fairly even throughout, but the Cougars came up with big points at the right times to come out as victors. The first set alone featured 14 ties, the last of which was at 22-22, but CSUSM's Brittany Esposito capped off a three-point run with a service ace to give the Cougars a 1-0 edge.

The Master's bounced back quickly and grabbed a 6-1 lead early in the second set, but the Cougars responded with a 10-4 run to take an 11-10 lead. The teams would trade the lead a few more times before The Master's earned a slight edge at 20-19. Once again, the Cougars would come through in the clutch, rallying to win the final six points of the set and taking a convincing 2-0 lead.

The third and final set featured another 12 tie scores, with The Master's holding a 21-18 edge late in the set. Unwavering, the Cougars stepped up their play once again and snatched seven of the last eight points to win the set 25-22, and the match 3-0.

A.I.I. Conference Player of the Year Taylor DeGraaf led all scorers with 12 kills— the only player on either side to reach double digits. She also added six digs and two service aces. Erin Talafus and Andi Vordermann chipped in eight kills each, with strong .353 and .444 hitting percentages, respectively.

First Team All-Conference libero Nichole May led the Cougars with 13 digs, and A.I.I. Setter of the Year Alyssa Foster had a game high 28 assists and 9 digs.

The Cougars will play Wednesday at 6:00 pm PST against No. 7 ranked Indiana Wesleyan, who lost to No. 21 Viterbo Tuesday. CSUSM will then face Viterbo on Thursday at 3:45 pm PST. The top two teams in the four team pool will advance to the single-elimination bracket on Friday and Saturday.