IRVINE, Calif. -- The Cal Poly Pomona opened up the 2018 season in upset fashion, dropping PacWest preseason favorite Azusa Pacific in three straight sets Friday afternoon to open up the Concordia Invitational in Irvine.  The Broncos (1-1) later settled for a split, falling to Colorado Mesa, 3-0, later on Friday.

Cal Poly Pomona 3, Azusa Pacific 0  (25-12, 25-21, 25-16)

Led by the 15 kills and fiery .480 hitting percentage off the hands of Kristen Hamlin, the Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team trounced Azusa Pacific, the preseason favorites to win the PacWest, in three sets to open 2018 in a convincing way.

Complementing Hamlin was Jenna Goldsberry's 10 kills and a .364 clip, in addition to her seven digs, to pace an offense that exploded for a .406 hitting percentage, the highest single-match hitting percentage by a CPP team since Nov. 12, 2008.  Andrea Bosnic chipped in with nine kills in 19 attacks (.421), seven digs, four service aces and two blocks while Kira Zimmerman handed out 35 assists in her collegiate debut.  Defensively, Alex Bollier tallied a team-high nine digs as Goldsberry, Zimmerman, Bosnic and Chloe Fields-Owens all contributed seven digs.

The Broncos jumped out to a massive 10-1 lead in the opening set and never looked back, cruising to a 13-point win for the 1-0 match lead.  In the second frame, Azusa Pacific started hot, taking a 5-2 lead early, but CPP went on a 7-1 run to go up 9-6.  Both squads went back-and-forth until the Cougars found their rhythm, eventually pulling to within a point at 19-18, but the Broncos settled back in and scored six of the final nine points in the set to win 25-21 and lead the match 2-0.

The third set featured a see-saw battle early on, but after an APU point that made it 8-6 in favor of CPP, the Broncos recorded 11 of the next 13 points to pull away for the 25-16 win and the 3-0 match victory.

Colorado Mesa 3, Cal Poly Pomona 0  (26-24, 25-14, 25-14)

Riding the momentum from the earlier win, the Broncos strung together four straight points to open the match against Colorado Mesa, but the Mavericks came right back, eventually taking a 9-7 lead.  From then on, neither team led by more than three points until CMU forced set point at 24-20.  CPP mustered up a four-point rally to knot the set at 24-all, but a kill and a service ace by Colorado Mesa gave them the 1-0 match lead.

In the second set, the two teams played to a 9-9 tie before the Mavericks ran away with the 25-14 win to extend their lead to two sets to none.  In the third frame, CMU wasted no time sprinting out to leads of 9-3, 16-7 and 21-11 before putting away the feisty Broncos squad with another 25-14 set win.

Goldsberry, Desi Martin and Hamlin each recorded seven kills in the loss while Zimmerman handed out 21 assists.  Bollier led the back line with nine digs, Goldsberry added eight.

The second and final day of the Concordia Invitational gets under way Saturday when Cal Poly Pomona takes on American International at 8:45 am, followed by the weekend finale against host Concordia-Irvine at 3:30 pm.

For live video and live stats of this weekend's Concordia Invitational, click here.