In their first official season in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Division II, the CSU East Bay volleyball team was out to prove they could compete with the rest of the conference.

The Pioneers finished the season over the weekend with a 16-11 overall record and an 11-11-conference record, finishing in fifth place this year in the CCAA.

CSUEB traveled to Southern California for their final games of the season against two of the elite teams of the conference.

On Friday, the Pioneers faced off against third place UC San Diego and, despite winning the first match of the game, were defeated by the Tritons as UCSD came back to win the next three sets.

Solid performances by Nicole Boyle, Morgan Hirzel and Katy Allen, who led the Pioneer scoring attack with 10 kills each, were not enough to knock off the nationally ranked UCSD team, who came into the game ranked 15th in the nation.

Things wouldn’t get any better for the Pioneers the following day as they traveled to CSU San Bernardino to face the top ranked team in the conference.

CSUSB went into Saturday’s match up undefeated having won 26 consecutive games and would remain undefeated, as the Pioneers would fall to the Coyotes three sets to none, officially ending the 2011 campaign.

“We did not match up with either UCSD or CSUSB favorably at all,” said Head Volleyball Coach, Jim Spagle.

Spagle mentioned the quote “Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment” as a good way to summarize some of the matches the team played.

“I believe our team has earned some quality experience that will facilitate better decision making skills in the future, which in turn will result in consistent success both on and off the court.”

The 2011 Pioneer squad entered the year coming off a successful 2010 season that saw them tie for second place in the conference.

After losing eight seniors and the majority of their team to graduation in the spring, reigning CCAA Coach of the Year Spagle and the rest of his coaching staff had to put together a new team for the 2011 campaign that could compete at the Division II level and pick up where last year’s team left off.

Although the Pioneers entered the season with 14 new players to their roster, they had already gained the respect of the rest of the CCAA as the Pioneers were tabbed to finish in fifth place by the CCAA coaches in the annual preseason poll.

CSUEB would meet that expectation, but for Coach Spagle and the rest of the squad, their expectations were set even higher.

“The team came a long way this season and battled through some challenging adversity,” said Coach Spagle. “Finishing .500 in the CCAA is disappointing for all of us, but there is a great deal of hope and enthusiasm for next season.”

Next year, the Pioneers will bring back the majority of the team, including a couple of key redshirts in Suzy Xu and Veronica Sanchez who Spagle describes as being “difference makers.”

However, CSUEB will not return senior Leslie Ray with this season being her last.

“Leslie Ray would be my MVP,” said Spagle. “She was such a pleasure to coach. Her commitment and work ethic was absolutely thrilling for me to observe and her maturity, poise and determination will enable Leslie to accomplish great things in her life.  I am as proud of Leslie as any athlete I have ever coached.”

Ray was named to the 2011 All-CCAA second team on Wednesday along with Kitona Offord.

Among other standouts that Spagle views played key roles throughout the season were Nicole Boyle, who in his opinion, was the top defensive hitter in the CCAA; Katy Allen, who despite dealing with an achilles injury all season long still put together solid offensive performances; and Kitona Offord, who was ranked second in kill efficiency in the division.

The Pioneers will now enter their offseason, where they plan to rest for a bit before getting back to work in preparation for next year.

Coach Spagle will take advantage of the offseason to mentally and physically prepare the Pioneers and work on key elements that should carry them to bigger and better things next year.

“We will work on setters speed, front row players vertical jump, and defensive toughness that will carry us through close matches next season,” said Spagle . 

“Also a commitment with determined trust in both our offensive and defensive systems, and a communication on the court must improve significantly.  Improvement in these five areas will carry this group into the NCAA Playoffs next year.”