California Baptist University
UC Riverside
VB Preview: CBU Volleyball Opens Up Home Schedule with CBU/UCR Challenge
9/10/2024 7:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University volleyball squad is preparing for its home opening tournament weekend as they host the CBU/UCR Challenge.
The Lancers were on the road for the first six matches of the season as they competed in the Lipscomb Invitational and Hawkeye Invite, respectively. The tournaments featured numerous challenging opponents and NCAA Tournament teams, leaving the Lancers still in search of its first win of the season.
CBU will look to get the ball rolling at home as they welcome in their crosstown rivals, the UCR Highlanders, along with two solid Mountain West teams in Nevada and San Diego State. The Lancers home opener will be against the Highlanders on Thursday evening before they battle Nevada and San Diego State on Friday and Saturday evening, respectively.
CBU has yet to lose to UCR in the DI era, winning all five matches in that stretch. The Lancers have not lost a set to their crosstown rivals since November of 2019, pulling off sweeps in the last three matchups. A season ago, the Lancers swept UCR at the SRC Arena, which was capped off by a Mia Jerue ace.
The Lancers also faced Nevada in the same tournament last season, defeating the Wolfpack in a five-set thriller. Jerue and Nicole Mauser were the stories of the victory, with Mauser setting a career-high in kills with 16 and Jerue recording six aces including the game-ender. Nevada comes into this matchup 4-2 with quality wins over San Francisco and Oregon State. Nevada will take on CSUN before facing the Lancers and will close out the tournament at UC Riverside.
The final matchup of the tournament for CBU will be against the San Diego State Aztecs in the program's first-ever meeting. The Aztecs also enter the tournament with a 4-2 record with solid showings at the Idaho State Tournament and the San Diego State Invitational.
Meanwhile, the Lancers are being led by a trio of players, including Eliana Posada, Nicole Mauser, and Kali Wolf. Posada leads the team in kills with 46, including setting a new career-high in the loss to Belmont with 15 kills. Wolf, a graduate transfer from New Mexico, leads the team with 50.0 points and has been a model of consistency in the early portion of the schedule for CBU. Mauser, the reigning Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, has been solid at opposite hitter for the Lancers with 36 kills and 11 blocks on the young season.
TOURNAMENT INFO:
Thursday, September 12 vs. UCR @5:30 PM
Friday, September 13 vs. Nevada @6 PM
Saturday, September 14 vs San Diego State @1PM
*All CBU games will be streamed on ESPN+
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