Cal State women celebrate volleyball finish

Cal State San Bernardino’s women’s volleyball team, the almost-conquering heroes returned to the campus Monday and were honored as heroes by students, faculty and staff in a noontime rally in the San Manuel Student Union.

University President Dr. Albert K. Karning, Vice President William Aguilar and Athletic Director Dr. Kevin Hatcher took turns complimenting the Coyotes team on their runnerup finish in the NCAA Division II National Championship tournament.

The few hundred fans and friends in attendance on the first day of Fall Quarter finals week cheered as Head Coach Kim Cherniss led the team into the lobby of the Student Union.

“I can’t tell you what it meant to all of us to have you guys supporting us the way you did,” Cherniss told the crowd of well-wishers. “For us to know there was so much support coming from campus really helped motivate us even more. I can’t imagine another university that supports its teams the way this campus does.”

The Coyotes lost 3-2 in the title match to tournament host Concordia-St. Paul to finish the season at 30-4 as the No. 2 team in Division II with a third NCAA West Region title and a sixth California Collegiate Athletic Association championship in hand.

The team made the Final Four for the second time in the history of the program and its appearance in the title match was an historic first for the program and only the second team a CSUSB team has played in the national title contest. The 1993-94 women’s basketball team lost in the title game to North Dakota State in 1994, but later had to forfeit all its games due to an ineligible player.

Senior libero Meghan Haas, who set a new CSUSB career digs record with 1,566 by digging 57 attacks in the three matches at the tournament, spoke on behalf of her teammates and repeated Cherniss’ comments about support from the home front.

“It was an almost perfect season,” Haas told the audience. “We knew you were all watching. We got all those text messages everyone sent. We got them all. Your support was amazing. We want to say ‘thank you’ to everyone. We couldn’t have done it without you. Next year we’ll win it for you.”

Dr. Karnig congratulated those in attendance for being “such strong supporters of the team and their success.”

“I can’t say enough about Coach Kim Cherniss. She has been very successful in so many ways and this team of hers is really, really special.”

Vice President Aguilar said the team’s success is all the more amazing given the student athlete’s time commitment to competing in the sport and being able to manage time in such a way as they continue to make academic progress toward a degree.

He also thanked the fans. “Your support of the pgoram and your attendance at matches helped make the success the team enjoyed possible.”

Aguilar and Hatcher delineated the accomplishments of the volleyball program over the past nine years: