POMONA, Calf. – The Cal Poly Pomona Broncos volleyball team, after clinching a playoff spot on Nov. 7, will head to La Jolla this week for the first ever California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) tournament.
 
CPP earned the fourth seed in the tournament as they finished the 2015 regular season with a conference record of 12-8. Sonoma State, who finished the CCAA season with a 19-1 record, secured the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
 
Behind the Seawolves in second and third are Cal State San Bernardino and UC San Diego, respectively. After the Tritons comes CPP, then to round out the eight CCAA Tournament teams are San Francisco State, Cal State L.A., Stanislaus State and Chico State.
 
The first-round opponent for the Broncos will be the San Francisco State Gators. At 12 p.m. on Thursday, the two squads will meet for the first-ever CCAA Tournament match.
 
CPP and the Gators have met twice already this season and the Green and Gold have twice walked away victorious. On Oct. 24, the Broncos defeated the SFSU team in four sets as they won the first, second, and fourth sets.
 
Just a couple weeks after that first meeting, the Broncos headed north to take on the Gators on their home court and again bested them 3-1, winning the first, second, and fourth sets.
 
Of the eight sets played between the two teams this season, only one of them ended with more than a three-point difference. Five sets were won by just the minimum two-point spread, two by three points, and the Broncos with a six-point advantage earned the final set.
 
After the first matchup on Thursday, the winner will advance to play the 5 p.m. semifinal contest on Friday against the winner of the Chico State and Sonoma State contest.
 
The winner of the early Friday game will advance to play in the CCAA Tournament championship on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The winner of this week's playoff event will secure the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA postseason. In the CPP program's history, the Broncos have advanced to the NCAA Tournament 15 times.