POMONA – The 19th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team capitalized on its return home to Kellogg Arena, dominating visiting Stanislaus State with a 25-22, 25-15, 25-21 sweep on Thursday night.
The Broncos, who moved up two spots in this week's national poll and one (to seventh) in the official NCAA Division II West Region poll, won their seventh straight match to move to 21-3 overall and 14-3 in the CCAA. Stanislaus State fell to 12-13 overall and 8-9 in the CCAA.
Cal Poly Pomona rode the hot hitting arms of sophomores
Daisy Duke and
Jazminn Parrish, with 13 and nine kills, respectively, and identical .333 hitting percentages in Thursday night's win. That duo combined for more than half of the Broncos' 41 kills in the match.
The first and third sets of the contest were more closely contested and of the back-and-forth variety, although the Broncos jumped out to a sizeable 6-2 early lead in the first set before Stanislaus State tied the score and eventually took the lead on multiple occasions late. Cal Poly Pomona overtook the Warriors' final advantage – a 21-20 count – with three straight points as part of a 5-1 run to close out the first set.
A six-point set-opening spurt in the second propelled the Broncos to a commanding 10-point win in the frame. Cal Poly Pomona used multiple scoring runs later in the frame to cruise to the victory, with a balanced attack of seven different players with at least one kill – but none with more than three – in the second set.
The final set resembled the first, with Cal Poly Pomona leading 7-4 initially before Stanislaus State took the lead later in the frame. A 3-0 run by the Broncos allowed them to overcome their final deficit of the match, as part of an 8-3 streak, with senior
Jane Woodward capping the contest with her second kill of the evening.
In addition to the offensive proficiency of the aforementioned duo of Duke and Parrish, sophomore
Kaitlan Tucker finished with six kills and a match-high three blocks. Senior
Brynn Sherbert led all players with 19 digs for the Broncos, who finished with a statistical edge over the Warriors in every category including kills (41-36), aces (5-1), and digs (50-43).
Kiara Erving and Yisel Perez led a balanced attack for Stanislaus State with eight kills apiece. Perez finished with 10 digs, one of three Warriors with double-digit totals in digs, as Gabby Rawson totaled a team-high 15 in that department.
Cal Poly Pomona hosts Chico State on Friday in its final regular season match of the season at 7 p.m. The Broncos will then begin postseason play at the CCAA Championship Tournament in San Bernardino on Nov. 18.
