ARCATA – The 22nd-ranked Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team bounced back from its first two-match losing streak of the 2021 season with a 25-21, 25-11, 25-22 victory over host Humboldt State University on Thursday evening at Lumberjack Arena.
 
The Broncos improved to 15-3 overall and 8-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with Thursday's victory. Humboldt State fell to 3-11 overall and 2-9 in the CCAA after suffering its eighth straight loss.
 
Cal Poly Pomona, which lost both matches to conference leader Cal State San Bernardino last in a home-and-home series last week, returned to the win column and to its successful offensive ways against the Lumberjacks. The Broncos had a .318 hitting percentage – 33 percentage points higher than its season average that ranks fifth among NCAA Division II squads – in Thursday's win.
 
Sophomores Jazminn Parrish and Daisy Duke spearheaded the Broncos' offensive efficiency, posting nearly identical hitting lines. Both Parrish and Duke finished with 12 kills and two errors, with Duke totaling two fewer attempts (21) than Parrish (23). Duke had a .476 hitting percentage and Parrish was at .435.
 
The Broncos broke a 10-10 tie in the first set – the last of seven ties in the frame – with a two-point run and the capped the set with a 3-1 run sparked by a pair of kills from Duke.
 
After spotting the Lumberjacks the first point of the second set, Cal Poly Pomona scored four straight points and didn't trail the rest of the way. The Broncos used a 14-4 run, keyed by five consecutive tallies behind the service of senior Kira Zimmerman and a handful of hitting errors by Humboldt State, in cruising to a 2-0 match lead. Cal Poly Pomona hit .381 while holding the Lumberjacks to a minus-.182 efficiency.
 
The final set was almost as closely contested as the first, with six ties and five lead changes. A late six-point scoring run by the Broncos helped the visitors overcome a 22-20 deficit, with three kills by Parrish and a service ace by Zimmerman among the match-winning rally. Parrish capped the contest with consecutive kills.
 
Fifteen Broncos saw court time in Thursday's win. Following Parrish and Duke among the kill leaders was freshman Madison Novak, who had five kills in two sets played. Zimmerman had the lone double-double of the match for either team with team-highs of 30 assists and 11 digs. Cal Poly Pomona finished with a statistical edge in every team category except aces (3-2), while matching Humboldt State with four blocks per team.
 
Lindsey McLaughlin led the Lumberjacks with nine kills, and Carla Crespo led all players with 13 digs.
 
Cal Poly Pomona closes out a three-match road trip in Rohnert Park on Saturday (Oct. 23) against Sonoma State. The Broncos return home to Kellogg Arena next Friday, Oct. 29, when they face Cal State Dominguez Hills.