SAN MARCOS, Calif. –  The sixth-seeded Cal State San Marcos volleyball team has made it back to the CCAA Tournament. The Cougars (12-14, 10-8 CCAA) will open the tournament on Thursday at 3 p.m. against third-seeded San Francisco State (17-9, 13-5 CCAA) at University Gym on the campus of Cal State LA. 

LAST WEEKEND

• The Cougars ended the regular season with back-to-back five-set losses to Cal State Monterey Bay and Cal State East Bay. 
• CSUSM fought for a come-from-behind victory against the Otters, falling in the first and third sets 20-25 and 14-25 with 25-19 and 25-21 victories in the second and fourth sets before eventually dropping the fifth set 11-15. 
• The next day, the Cougars jumped out early with a 2-0 lead in the match with 25-22 and 29-27 wins in the first two sets before falling in the next three by scores of 25-20, 25-15 and 15-13. 
• Prior to Saturday's match, CSUSM honored its four seniors: Trinity Barr, Mia Christensen, Sofia Hedqvist and Mackenzie Jennings. 

ALL-CCAA HONOREES

• Trinity Barr, Tori Goff and Isabelle Bakken earned All-CCAA honors earlier on Wednesday.
• Barr picked up her second first-team honor and third all-conference honor of her career. She is the fifth All-CCAA first-team honoree in program history.
• Goff and Bakken were named as honorable mentions.
• CSUSM now has 19 All-CCAA nods since joining the conference in 2015.

COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM will be making its fifth CCAA Tournament appearance in six seasons. 
• Trinity Barr's 993 swings this season rank second in the CCAA in total attacks. 
• Tori Goff has accumulated 888 assists this season, ranking her third in the CCAA. 
• Goff's 38 aces ranks her sixth in the conference.
• Mia Christensen is fifth in the CCAA with 371 total digs and sixth with 3.71 digs per set. 

QUARTERFINAL MATCHUP AGAINST SF STATE

• CSUSM only faced the Gators once this season, resulting in a four-set loss in San Francisco on Oct. 7. 
• SF State leads the series 8-3 with all three CSUSM wins coming in The Sports Center. 
• This will be the second time the two teams will meet in the quarterfinals of the CCAA Tournament. In 2021, the Cougars fell in four sets to the Gators by scores of 20-25, 25-21, 19-25 and 18-25 in San Bernardino. 
• SF State ranks second in the CCAA and 39th in the nation in kills per set (13.31).
• The Gators have accumulated a .243 hitting percentage, ranking third in conference and 31st in Division II.
• SF State has the second-worst blocks (1.46) and digs (14.01) per set average in the conference.
• Two-time CCAA Setter of the Year honoree Kimberly DeBoer leads the CCAA in assists per set (10.78) and ranks 15th in the nation this season. 
• Junior middle blocker Trinity Yates, a 2023 All-CCAA second teamer, ranks seventh in Division II with a .424 attack percentage. 
• Sophomore outside hitter Tamiya Wilson, a 2023 All-CCAA first team selection, has the third-highest kills per set average at 3.79 in the CCAA. 

SEMIFINALS AGAINST HOST CSULA

• Should the Cougars advance to the CCAA Tournament Semifinals, they will face second-seed Cal State LA (17-9, 15-3 CCAA) on Friday at 3 p.m. 
• CSULA got a bye after capturing its second-consecutive CCAA Regular-Season Championship Title, which the Golden Eagles shared with Cal State San Bernardino this year. The Coyotes got the top seed due to a tiebreaker that went down to points scored since both meetings finished in four sets. 
• LA holds a 13-3 lead in the all-time series against CSUSM with two of the Cougars' wins coming in LA. 
• The Golden Eagles finished the regular season as the CCAA leader in aces per set (1.97) and total aces (193).
• LA has the worst digs per set average (12.57) and total digs (193) in the conference. 
• 2023 CCAA Player of the Year Emily Elliott led the CCAA in kills per set (4.40) and total kills (431) while ranking 13th and 15th in the nation, respectively. 
• Iane Henke, a 2023 All-CCAA first teamer, was the CCAA leader in aces per set (0.55) and aces (53). 
• The 2022 LA squad won the regular season and fell to Concordia St. Paul in the NCAA National Championship Semifinals. 

 
  LOOK INSIDE THE COUGARS

• The Cougars return five starters from the 2022 season - Trinity Barr (OH), Sofia Hedqvist (OH), Jessica Thomas (OH), Mia Christensen (DS/L) and Jackie Phillips (DS/L)
• Seven will be donning Cougar Blue for the first time on Friday with four being true freshmen and three junior college transfers. 
• The Cougars finished their 2022 campaign with an 8-17 overall record and were 7-11 in CCAA play – eighth in the CCAA standings. 
• As a team in the CCAA statistics, CSUSM concluded 2022 ranked seventh in blocks per set (1.87). 
• In the 2023 CCAA Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll, the Cougars were picked to finish ninth.

THE LEONARD FILE

• Head coach Andrea Leonard enters her 13th season in charge of the Cougar volleyball team, a program she has built from the ground up since arriving on campus in 2010.
• Leonard has a 208-160 (.565) record as CSUSM's head coach.
• In 17 seasons as a collegiate head volleyball coach, Leonard holds a 300-286 (.512) career record.
• Leonard was CSUSM's first-ever CCAA Coach of the Year after guiding the Cougars to a third-place finish in the overall standings during the 2017 season.