POMONA – The first of consecutive volleyball matchups between 21st-ranked Cal Poly Pomona and 11th-ranked Cal State San Bernardino went to the visiting Coyotes in four sets on Wednesday night at Kellogg Arena. Set scores were 20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18.
Cal Poly Pomona fell to 14-2 overall and 7-2 in California Collegiate Athletic Association action, while Cal State San Bernardino upped its lead in the conference standings while improving to 14-3 overall and 9-0 in the CCAA.
Wednesday's match was the first of back-to-back contests between the two rivals, as Cal Poly Pomona will visit CSU San Bernardino on Saturday night at Coussolis Arena for a rematch.
Two of the most efficient offensive teams in the NCAA Division II – the Broncos entered play ranked third nationally at .304 while the Coyotes were listed 10th at .273 – both cooled somewhat from their season efficiencies but both teams hit better than .200 in Wednesday's battle. CSUSB finished with 59 kills while hitting 239, while Cal Poly Pomona totaled 55 kills and a .219 clip.
Cal Poly Pomona took the early lead in the match after breaking a 20-all tie with five straight tallies to claim the first set. The Broncos took advantage of some miscues by the Coyotes, which included a service error and three straight hitting errors by CSUSB to exorcise the late-game spurt.
Cal State San Bernardino, the reigning NCAA Division II national champion from the last time the postseason was held in 2019, responded with a 6-0 scoring run to open the second set. The Coyotes led all the way until an 18-18 tie, after which the two teams traded the next four points before Leilia To'omalatai served consecutive tallies for CSUSB. The Broncos broke service after a service error but were never able to find the equalizing point as the match went to a 1-1 tie.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, but Cal Poly Pomona was unable to pull out the victory late as Cal State San Bernardino closed on a 4-0 run with a pair of kills around a pair of Bronco hitting errors. The visiting Coyotes then led from start-to-finish in the fourth set, eventually scoring the final four points of the match in a 25-18 win.
Cal Poly Pomona, which fell to 14-15 since 1997 in which both teams are ranked nationally in the Division II polls, saw three players reach double figures in kills led by the 14 kills of sophomore
Daisy Duke. Fellow sophs
Jazmyn Wheeler and
Kylie Brandt added 13 kills each, and Duke (.371) and Brandt (.303) led the Broncos' primary hitters in hitting percentage. Wheeler and Brandt each finished with 10 digs, a category in which senior
Brynn Sherbert led Cal Poly Pomona with 17, while senior setter
Kira Zimmerman finished with 42 assists and 11 digs. Duke and sophomore
Kaitlan Tucker had six blocks apiece as the Broncos totaled 10 blocks to Cal State San Bernardino's five.
Alexis Cardoza led all players with 19 kills for the Coyotes, who also had 13 kills and 15 digs from Asia Clarke and 10 kills from Melissa Garciglia. Marlee Nunley set the CSUSB offense with 49 assists, and To'omalatai collected a match-best 19 digs.
The two teams square off again at 7 p.m. on Saturday in San Bernardino, in what will be the first of a three-match road trip for Cal Poly Pomona. The Broncos also visit Humboldt State (Oct. 21) and Sonoma State (Oct. 23) before returning home to Kellogg Arena on Oct. 29 to face Cal State Dominguez Hills.
