LA JOLLA, Calif. – With the senior class leading the way, the Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team earned a 3-1 win over SF State on Thursday in the opening round of the first-ever CCAA Tournament.
Seniors
Nicoletta Stork,
Christen Williams and
Alexa Hasen all put together stellar performances offensively while fellow fourth-year
Zoe Herrera provided a boost to the defense with hard-fought digs.
Kristen Hamlin, the CCAA Freshman of the Year, delivered key kills down the stretch to also lift the CPP attack.
Alina Smith collected 33 assists, the second-highest total for her this season.
Thursday's victory marked the first postseason win for CPP since 2008. After topping the Gators, the Broncos now advance to Friday's semifinal match at 5 p.m. They'll take on top-seeded Sonoma State, the conference's regular season champion.
Stork finished with 12 kills, adding 16 assists and 12 digs along the way. Hamlin matched her with the 12 kills and also added a team-high four blocks. Williams demonstrated efficiency on the attack, hitting .391 with 11 kills. Herrer collected 29 digs through the four sets.
CPP started off strong in the opening set Thursday, getting a kill by Stork on the first point of the match. The Broncos jumped out to a 6-2 advantage as Hamlin capped off that spurt with an ace while Stork collected three kills in that span.
The margin widened toward the middle portion of the set. CPP raised the lead to 14-6 after an SFSU dig went to Hamlin at the center of the net and she sent it back to the floor on the Gators' side for a kill. Finishing with an attack error from SFSU, the Broncos held off the opponent's late rally to wrap up the 25-21 result in the first set.
The second set started with the two squads trading points and a Gators' ace tied the score at 6-6. SFSU pushed away to take a 20-15 edge after a kill alongside the right line of the court.
CPP responded with a pair of points, including a Gators' service error followed by an impressive rally for the Broncos. Herrera dove to her side for a dig, Williams jumped in for a set and
Samantha Figueroa lined a kill to the deep part of the SFSU side to trim the lead to 20-17. The Gators ended up pulling away for the 25-21 result, evening the set score at 1-1.
The Broncos recovered their momentum to start the third set, taking a 6-3 lead to force an SFSU timeout. As the Gators pulled to within 9-8, a Smith assist set up Stork on the next point to put CPP in double digits at 10. The two teams continued to battle but the Broncos managed to pull ahead 22-18 after an ace by
Alexandria Bollier and then a kill by Smith.
In the late stages of the third frame, the two squads became tied at 25-25. Figueroa sent a kill off the Gators' block attempt and then CPP was helped by an SFSU attack error to take the set 27-25.
The Gators started off the fourth frame strong but the Broncos rallied right back to take a 5-4 edge after back-to-back aces from Bollier. After the teams moved into an 8-8 tie, CPP rallied for a 6-0 run that featured powerful kills from Hamlin. The momentum continued as the Broncos wrapped up the fourth and final set with a 25-18 result.
