Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CLINTON, Iowa— The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team won both of their games Friday in pool play of the A.I.I. Conference Championships, defeating sixth-seed Indiana Northwest and third-seed Rochester (Mich.) to advance to the tournament semi-finals Saturday.

The Cougars came out firing in their first match, never letting the Redhawks get settled en route to a quick 25-6, 25-15, 25-8 victory. CSUSM recorded numerous quick points, tallying 44 kills in just 84 attempts, and hit .417 overall on the match. The Cougars also notched 10 service aces, and forced more attacking errors than kills allowed.

Middle hitter Kara Barkdoll led the way offensively with 10 kills, two blocks, and a .667 hitting percentage, while recently awarded A.I.I. Player of the Year Taylor DeGraaf added nine kills and a game-high 11 digs. Kelli McLin chipped in eight kills and four blocks, while Setter of the Year Alyssa Foster contributed three kills, 31 assists, and five digs.

CSUSM kept up the pace in the afternoon match against Rochester, taking the match's first six points on their way to another relatively drama-free sweep 25-17, 25-18, 25-14. The Cougars outplayed their opponent once again defensively, allowing just one more kill (21) than attack errors by Rochester (20).

CSUSM hit .247 on the match and added eight more service aces, while not conceding a service ace for the second straight game. "Our serving continues to be a huge strength for us, especially today with the number of aces we had," said head coach Andrea Leonard. 

DeGraaf led all scorers with 13 kills and Alyssa Hubbard added nine more for Cal State San Marcos. Foster had a game-best 29 assists to go along with seven digs and three kills, and freshman libero Taylor Harris had a match-high 12 digs.

"I'm really happy with our focus and competitive spirit," added Leonard. "We will re-group and set our sights on the semi-final in the morning, but it's great to see the players have so much fun. The work has been put in, and we'll be ready."

The Cougars improved to 24-11 with the pair of victories, while Indiana Northwest dropped to 2-33 and Rochester fell to 25-25. CSUSM is now a combined 10-0 in A.I.I. tournament play all-time, and has not dropped a set in its last six tournament matches. 

As the winner of Pool A, CSUSM will face fifth-seed Johnson & Wales, the second place finisher in Pool B at 10am CST (8:00am PST) Saturday. Should the Cougars win, the championship match against the winner of Rochester and second-seed Ashford will be played at 7:00pm local time, or 5:00pm PST.