SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The No. 22 Cal State San Marcos volleyball team is looking for a four-peat as the Cougars get ready to defend their Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) tournament title this weekend in Denver, Colo., entering the tournament as the top seed in the six-team field.
 
Official Tournament Central Link
 
DAY 1
Friday, Nov. 14
Game 1 – Noon
No. 1 seed CSUSM (23-10) vs. No. 6 seed Walla Walla (7-15)
Game 2 – 4 PM
No. 1 seed CSUSM (23-10) vs. No. 3 seed Rochester (25-20)
Denver, Colo. – Wildcat Center
Live Stats | Live Video
 
CSUSM Domination
The Cougars have run the show in their three appearances in the A.I.I. conference tournament, tallying a 12-0 record (36-4 set record) in tournament play.  Head Coach Andrea Leonard is the three-time defending Coach of the Year while senior Alyssa Foster has received back-to-back Setter of the Year accolades. Twelve Cougars have been selected to the A.I.I. Conference team.
 
Tournament Set-up
The six-team tournament field is broken up into two pools with the top two teams from each pool advancing to the semifinals on Saturday.  The winner of Pool A will face the runner-up of Pool B and vice versa.  Games times for Saturday depend on whether Walla Walla University makes it out of pool play since they are a Seventh-day Adventist institution and do not play during the hours of Sabbath (sunrise to sunset on Saturday).
 
Walla Walla Preview
All-time record vs. WWU: First meeting
Walla Walla Breakdown: After starting the season with 12 consecutive losses, the Wolves turned their season around by winning their next seven of 10 matches. Freshman Lauren Barlow leads the WWU offense with 1.39 kills per set.
 
Rochester Preview
All-time record vs. RC: 1-0
Last meeting: W, 1-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-14); CSUSM collected a sweep against the Warriors in the second game of pool play last season. Seniors Taylor DeGraaf and Alyssa Hubbard led the offense, registering 13 and nine kills, respectively. Senior Alyssa Foster dished out 29 assists while sophomore Taylor Harris snagged 12 digs.
Rochester Breakdown: The Warriors are coming off a second-place finish at the USCAA National Tournament last weekend, falling to Florida College in three sets. Junior Paige TenBrink leads the Rochester offense, averaging 3.04 kills per set on top of a team-best 50 aces. As a team, the Warriors rank No. 30 in digs per game (17.5)

Slowly Crawling Upward
After making an appearance earlier this season, the Cougars re-entered the NAIA Volleyball Coaches' Top 25 Poll on Oct. 21 and each week has moved up one spot for a No. 22 ranking entering the postseason. CSUSM is the only A.I.I. conference team with a national ranking. 
 
On Another Streak
CSUSM concluded the regular season on a five-game win streak with four of the matches recorded as sweeps. Earlier this season, the Cougars put together 10 consecutive wins between Aug. 21 and Sept. 5 that included a five-set victory over then No. 18 College of Idaho.
 
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