SAN BERNARDINO – Despite a tremendous effort against the top team in NCAA Division II, the Cal State Dominguez Hills volleyball team dropped three sets (18-25, 19-25, 18-25) to Cal State San Bernardino at Coussoulis Arena Friday evening.
 
The stats do not quite show just how the Toros (7-4, 0-4 CCAA) played against the Coyotes (13-0, 6-0 CCAA), whom have impressively swept their seventh opponent in their last eight matches. Dominguez Hills had never trailed by more than seven points the entire night.
 
Defense really helped keep the Toros in the match, as they made 37 digs and seven total blocks. Taylor Benitez-Fanslow led the effort with 10 digs and 1.5 total blocks. The senior also tallied for seven kills while Rylee Brown had a team-most eight.
 
Kalani Patrick dished out 10 assists, Jordan Ramirez had eight.
 
The Coyotes, meanwhile, combined to hit 28.4 percent on the attack while making 42 digs. Alexis Cardoza led San Bernardino by hitting 48.5 percent with 19 kills and 10 digs.
 
The first set was Dominguez Hills' best performance. The Toros got themselves in a four-point run that gave them an 8-7 lead, their second and last in the round. Dominguez Hills did keep pace with San Bernardino until the Coyotes won 7-of-8 serves to take a 21-15 lead.
 
Dominguez Hills and San Bernardino will meet each other again in Carson in a month. In the meantime, the Toros will pay a visit to Cal Poly Pomona Saturday at 7 p.m. The Broncos are coming off a four-set loss to Cal State LA west of the freeway.