By Esteban Ramirez
Assistant Sports Editor

With the third seed of the Western Athletic Conference tournament on the line, California State University, Bakersfield volleyball team concluded the regular season with a sweep of Seattle University (25-23, 25-22, 25-21) on Nov. 15 at the Icardo Center.

CSUB (13-14, 9-5 WAC) was able to outlast SU (12-15, 8-6 WAC) in three close sets thanks in part to the efficiency of its offense, which ended with a hitting percentage of .302, while the Redhawks ended up at .242.

“This match was very important because this match determined if we would take third or fourth in the conference,” redshirt-senior libero Mariah Alvidrez said. “We all knew that going in, so we just fought for it.

“We all knew we were going to be emotional (because it was senior night), so we really had to focus in and just kind of put that aside and play for each other. Instead of just thinking of it being our last game, we just let it out on the court.”

Junior setter Luiza Martins added that the team has started peaking at the right time.

“I think we are getting better everyday,” said Martins. “Since Thursday, we have been playing awesome. We lost the first set, but then we came back. I think we are finally getting together and playing as a team. This is the moment you want to start peaking because we are almost at the tournament, and I think it’s important because if we had peaked at the beginning, we wouldn’t be at this level right now.”

On its final home game of the season, CSUB honored its four seniors (Alvidrez, senior outside hitter Danika Youngblood, senior libero Eryn Riley and senior middle blocker Molly O’Hagan) to start of the game.

Despite sweeping the Redhawks, each set was close for the ’Runners and they also struggled to pull away in any of the three sets as there were 17 ties and seven lead changes.

The ’Runners had 19 errors in the match, which helped the Redhawks stay in the match. But CSUB cleaned up its play later in sets, while SU had crucial late errors in sets. With the first set tied 23-23, CSUB was able to take it because of two consecutive errors by SU.

On the second set, the Runners and the Redhawks were tied 18-18, but CSUB was able to outscore SU 7-4 to win the set. In the finale, though it was still a close set, the Runners were in control for most of the set as they were never down.

CSUB director of volleyball Giovana Melo said they are ready for the start of the WAC tournament, which CSUB will host and will begin on Nov. 20.

“We are really excited about it, we worked hard and I think we are peaking at the right time,” said Melo. “It was one of our goals and we accomplished it now we got to focus on the next game. I think we have a good chance, and all we have to do is play like we have been playing the last two games. We are going to battle for it for sure.”

Martins had a game-high 44 assists and added four digs. Junior outside hitter Kelsee Sawyer had 14 kills, Youngblood had 13 kills and O’Hagan had 12 kills. Alvidrez led the defense with 23 digs.

On Nov. 13, CSUB came from behind to beat Utah Valley University (30-32, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20) behind 19 kills from O’Hagan. Martins also had a big day with 52 assists and 10 digs.

The Runners will play against sixth seed University of Texas-Pan American in the WAC tournament on Nov. 20 at the Icardo Center.