Published 2007-11-14T00:00:00Z”/>

Ben Burg

—-<em>Watch footage of the volleyball team’s last matches with our</em> <a href= “http://media.www.theorion.com/media/storage/paper889/news/2007/11/14/Multimedia/Video.Volleyball.Teams.Last.Matches.Of.The.Season-3098696.shtml” target=”_blank”>online-exclusive video</a>. <em>It will open in a new window</em>.—-

Despite ending the season with a four-match losing streak and losing six of its last seven matches, the volleyball team managed to get into the playoffs as the No. 7 team in the Pacific Region.

The Pacific Regional will take place Thursday through Saturday in San Bernardino. The Wildcats play No. 2 Western Washington on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The Vikings beat the ‘Cats 0-3 last time the two played in 2005.

This is the second straight year the ‘Cats have made the playoffs. Cal State San Bernardino beat the Wildcats in the second round last season.

The one win the ‘Cats managed to pick up in their final seven games was against Cal State Dominguez Hills, the last place team in the CCAA with a 1-17 record.

The Wildcats’ final two losses this season came from Cal Poly Pomona, the No. 22 team in the country on Friday and No. 4 team Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday. The losses put the Wildcats at a combined 0-4 against the Broncos and Coyotes this season.

Friday’s game against the Broncos marked the return of captain and star setter Erica Brick, who had missed the last two weeks due to a suspension.

“I was able to practice with the team while I was out,” Brick said. “I felt good going into this weekend and was glad to be back.”

Brick looked solid in the loss to the Broncos, racking up 41 assists. On the other end of those assists were Lindsay Macias with 14 kills and Gillian Heydorff with 10 kills. The ‘Cats lost in four games, 22-30, 25-30, 30-26, 26-30.

“We felt we needed to have really high hands,” Heydorff said. “They have really big blockers and are probably the best blocking team in the conference.”

The Broncos’ net prowess showed as they outblocked the Wildcats 17-4. The Broncos are No. 4 in the country in blocks per game.

The Wildcats looked out of sync in the first two games, with 20 errors and one block. The team looked better in game three with quick ball movement and rallies of five and six points.

It was comforting for the team to have Brick back, said head coach Cody Hein.

“We are a small quick team and want to play fast,” Hein said. “They are a bigger slow team and like a calm pace, so we had to try to keep them moving.”

The ‘Cats were swept by the Coyotes 3-0 Sunday as Cal State San Bernardino improved its all-time record against the ‘Cats to 25-2. The last time the Wildcats won a match against the Coyotes was in 1995.

Despite the sweep, the Wildcats played well against the Coyotes. In the first meeting between the teams this season, the ‘Cats didn’t score more than 18 points in a game. On Saturday, the ‘Cats lost a closer match, falling 28-30, 21-30, 26-30.

“Our coach pointed out to us that we had lost our competitive drive over the last month,” Brick said. “Tonight it came back, and it was awesome to have everyone on the floor really pushing and wanting to win.”

Macias doubled the kills of anyone else with 15 and Lacy Stringfellow had an impressive 13 digs in her last regular season game.

“I asked my girls about a month ago ‘Why the evil twins? Where are our girls?'” Hein said. “We are trying to backdoor it into the playoffs, and I think the finality of this game kind of inspired the team.”

Ben Burg can be reached at <a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>