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HONOLULU, HAWAII — Cal State LA’s Ayjah Landers was named the Hawaii Challenge Most Valuable Player and Samarah DaCoud joined her on the All-Tournament Team, tournament organizers announced on Saturday night.
Landers and DaCoud were instrumental in leading Cal State LA to a 3-1 record in the three-day tournament with wins over No. 9 Chaminade, St. Mary’s and Hawaii Hilo. The Golden Eagles’ lone loss was a five-set setback to tournament co-host Hawaii Pacific in the Shark Tank.
Landers, making her first on-court appearances for the Golden Eagles since earning All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honorable mention in 2022, had 67 kills and 81 points in 18 sets during the tournament. She had a career-high 28 kills and 33.5 points in a five-set match against Hawaii Pacific in the second of two five-set matches the Golden Eagles were involved in on the first day of the tournament.
Landers reached double-digits in kills in all four matches with 13 kills against Chaminade, 13 against St. Mary’s and 13 against Hawaii Hilo. Landers also shared the team high in service aces with eight.
DaCoud, who earned second-team All-CCAA honors in 2024, was also outstanding during the tournament. She had 60 kills and 69.5 points and also shared the team high in aces with eight. She opened the tourney with a career-high 19 kills, 11 digs and three aces in a five-set win against Chaminade on Thursday and she also had 17 kills and 15 digs in a five-set win over St. Mary’s. DaCoud also had 12 kills and three aces in five sets against Hawaii Pacific and 12 kills and eight digs in a three-set win over Hawaii Hilo in the tournament finale on Saturday.
Landers and DaCoud were joined on the All-Tournament Team by Payton Tomkins of UCCS, Laurene Robinson of St. Mary’s, Nicole Martin of UCCS and Malu Garcia of Hawaii-Hilo. Maylen Mitrovich of UCCS was named the tournament’s Best Setter and Alyssa Koehl of St. Mary’s was the Best Libero.
Cal State LA will return to action on Thursday when the Golden Eagles open play in their three-day tournament, the Cal State LA Invitational, against Simon Fraser at 5 p.m.
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