Tampa Falls In Quarterfinals to CSU San Bernardino

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Despite gaining an early lead, the sixth-ranked University of Tampa Spartans fell in four sets to No. 2 Cal State University San Bernardino in the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals. Tampa lost by scores of 25-21, 20-25, 22-25, 20-25 and was held to a season-low .222 hitting percentage. The Spartans conclude their season at 31-3, as the Coyotes advance to semifinals.

CSUSB scored the match's first point raced to a 13-9 lead when Tampa found a groove and rode a 7-1 run to take the advantage, 16-4. The Coyotes battled back to tie things up at 17, when Tampa went on a 6-0 run aided by two Kaleigh Cunningham aces. From there, the Spartans would manage two more points to take the opening set 25-21. Meghan Sherman's 13 assists aided the Tampa offense to a .455 hitting percentage for the game.

The Spartans would find themselves down again to start the second game as San Bernardino led 6-4. However Tampa took the next eight of 10 points to build a 14-8 lead, and forced the Coyotes to burn both their timeouts. After a few adjustments, San Bernardino rallied with a 10-3 run to regain the lead 18-17. The Coyotes held the momentum for the rest of the set and went on to tie the match at one with a 25-20 win.

Tampa struggled in the third set as it could not find a way to get around San Bernardino's blockers, committing an uncharacteristic six attack errors to fall behind 14-8. The Spartans regrouped and managed to close the gap at 18-17, and eventually tied it at 22. From there though it would be all Coyotes, picking up a block and a kill to close out the game 25-22.

The fourth game saw the score tied at 11 when the Coyotes slowly began to pull away and built the largest lead of the match for any team at 21-13. Although Tampa put a 6-1 run together, the hole was too much to overcome for the Spartans as CSUSB closed the match out with a 25-20 win.

Although UT led the nation in hitting percentage, it was held to a season-low .222 as CSUSB blocked Tampa 10 times, the most the Spartans have allowed all year. The Coyotes extend their dominance over Tampa, extending the all-time series record to 5-0 as San Bernardino advances to the semifinals.

Two-time South Region Player of the Year Melissa Vanderhall slammed a match-best 18 kills for 21 of Tampa's points. Cunningham finished the match with 14 kills and Eva Dupay chipped in with 10 on .333 hitting. Meghan Sherman surpassed the 2,000 career assist mark in the first set, and finished with 42.

Julie Howlett anchored the Tampa defense with 20 digs, reaching that plateau for the fourth time this season. Molly Krull came off the bench to scoop up 10 balls and recorded two service aces.

San Bernardino was led by Jane Chafeh, Samantha Middleborn, and Astin Hall with 16, 15, and 14 kills, respectively. All-American Sara Hoffman tallied 54 assists as the Coyotes hit .310 for the match. Libero Camille Smith notched a match-best 21 digs, and Hall registered 13 to complete the double-double. Chafeh finished with 11.

The Spartans have plenty to look forward to next season as they will return all of their letter winners, including All-Americans Vanderhall, Cunningham, and Sherman.