Cal State volleyball team honored by city

The honors just keep coming for the 2008 Cal State San Bernardino women's volleyball team.

On Tuesday, hours after Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44^th President of the United States, the members of the 2008 Coyotes team received individual and collective honors and praise from the San Bernardino City Council.

Standing before Mayor Patrick Morris and members of the council and live television cameras, the Coyotes players and Head Coach Kim Cherniss received individual commendations from the mayor.

The Coyotes captured their third straight California Collegiate Athletic Association title and sixth in the last eight seasons. CSUSB then won the West Regional for the third time and advanced to the NCAA national championship in St. Paul, Minn., finishing as the runnerup to host Concordia-St. Paul.

"This team has brought honor to the city and the university," Mayor Morris said. "They brought us a league championship, a regional championship and ended up oh so close to making history by winning the university's first national (team) championship."

Morris called each player up, one-by-one, to receive a special commendation that recognized the team's outstanding contribution to the university and the community.

He also presented a special commendation to Cherniss who he said was a "great coach who has taken her teams to regional and national competition "time and time again."

Cherniss acknowledged the recognition, saying, "Thank you Mayor and members of the City Council for honoring our girls. What they do on and off the court represents the best of the university they represent. They competed with honor and they continue to make great strides in the classroom as well. Competing at the national tournament and reaching the championship match was a joyous time and I could not be prouder of them."

Following the presentation, senior Jessica Granados, a first-team all-American, all-West Region and the CCAA conference MVP for the second straight year, presented Morris with a CSUSB Volleyball sweatshirt.

The 2003 volleyball team coached by Cherniss made a similar appearance before the City Council after winning the CCAA, the West Regional and reaching the semifinals of the NCAA national championship, which CSUSB hosted in Coussoulis Arena.