Box Score CLINTON, Iowa— The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team came one step closer to booking their return tickets to Iowa Saturday night, claiming their third straight A.I.I. Conference Championship with a four set victory over tournament host Ashford. The Cougars defeated the Saints 25-27, 25-23, 28-26, 25-21 and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the third year in the program's short three-year history.

The Cougars goals at the start of the year were to repeat as conference champions and return to Sioux City, Iowa for the NAIA National Tournament, where the team advanced deep into pool play last season. They took care of the first one Saturday, thanks to the automatic berth into the national tournament as conference champions, and are now just an opening round game to-be-determined away from reaching the second.

CSUSM did so with an all-around complete team performance, as well as timely plays at key moments. However, the Cougars found themselves down early on, and had to rally back on the road to keep their season alive.

In the first set trailing 24-21, the Cougars held off set point twice en route to taking a 25-24 lead and having a set point of their own. However, a kill and two blocks from Ashford ended the set and gave the Saints a 1-0 lead.

Undeterred, CSUSM bounced back to claim a tight second second set 25-23 behind two clutch Kara Barkdoll kills to end the  frame.

In the third set, Ashford threatened to take a 2-1 advantage with set point at 24-23, but Taylor DeGraaf recorded back-to-back kills to give CSUSM a chance to take the lead. They could not in either of their first two set points, but the third time proved to be the charm as DeGraaf put away another kill to seal the deal and put the Cougars just one set away from the conference title.

There was no letting up on the CSUSM end in the fourth, taking an early 8-3 lead and never relinquishing it. At 24-21 in the final set, DeGraaf closed out the match with her tournament-high 25th kill of the match and send the Cougars rushing to the court in a frenzy.

DeGraaf— the A.I.I. Player of the Year each of the last two seasons— tallied her 19th double-double of the season with 21 digs, while freshman Rachel Hadley added one of her own with 11 kills and 15 digs. As a team, CSUSM tallied 102 digs, crushing the previous team record of 95 for a four-set match, which was a result of many long rallies and outstanding digs to keep rallies alive.

Freshman libero Taylor Harris became just the third CSUSM athlete to ever record 30 digs in a match, while fellow freshman Markisha Henderson-Diaz added nine kills and a team-high four blocks.

A.I.I. Setter of the Year Alyssa Foster was also excellent as usual in setting up the Cougar attack, finishing the match with 56 assists— tying her own school-record for most in a four set match and the third most all-time. The junior from Portland, Oregon also contributed 13 digs, three blocks, two service aces, and a kill in the final, and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for her efforts this weekend. Foster finished the tournament with 159 assists, nearly double the amount of her closest competitor Verenice Chaparro (85) from Ashford.

Joining Foster on the A.I.I. All-Tournament Team were DeGraaf, Henderson-Diaz, and Harris.

Cal State San Marcos improved to 26-11 with the victory, and is now 12-0 all-time in A.I.I. Tournament play. Ashford completes their 2013 campaign with a 24-16 record.

The Cougars will now return home to California and wait to hear their opponent and location for their NAIA National Tournament opening round matchup. The time and place will be announced on csusmcougars.com as soon as the official matchups are released.