DENVER – Cal State San Bernardino won a matchup of unbeaten finalists Saturday to earn the program's first-ever national championship in NCAA Division II volleyball.
The top-ranked Coyotes completed an unbeaten season at 33-0 with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20) victory over second-ranked Nebraska-Kearney which saw its season end at 37-1.
"I don't know there's any words I can come up with words that can express what I'm feeling right now," Cal State San Bernardino coach Kim Cherniss said. "I got pretty emotional because I've been waiting a long time to see my players holding that trophy. You work so hard and you want them to get that reward so they have it for the rest of their lives."
Cherniss, who won a Division II national title as a player at UC Riverside in 1982, had guided the Coyotes to the title match in both 2008 and 2011 before coming up short. The Coyotes are the third team to ever go through a Division II season as unbeaten national champions and the first since Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.) in 2009.
"We've been in this match twice and lost, and we had former players in the stands watching this match and living it with us," Cherniss said. "This group isn't real experience in tournament years, but they sure looked like it in this tournament, and I couldn't be more proud than coaching this group."
Tournament Most Outstanding Player Alexis Cardoza had 20 kills on .370 hitting and Stephanie Doak matched her with 20 kills of her own as the Coyotes hit .266 for the night. Jalyn Hayes had seven kills and seven blocks (one solo).
Anna Squiers led Nebraska-Kearney with 13 kills on .500 hitting and added six blocks. Julianne Jackson had 12 kills for the Lopers, who were held to .169 hitting.
"Congrats to Cal State San Bernardino," Nebraska-Kearney coach Rick Squiers said. "They've got a good team. A complete team. Super physical, but they are probably underrated with their fundamentals of the game, the serve-and-pass game. They're not just a bunch of hitters, they're volleyball players.
"I felt like we played a pretty darn good match. I'm sure we could've probably done a few things better, but all in all we competed like crazy."
