SAN BERNARDINO – The 18th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team saw its best season in more than a decade come to a halt, as the Broncos fell in four sets to a familiar foe, Cal State LA, on Thursday night in the NCAA Division II West Region quarterfinal round at Coussoulis Arena on the campus of California State University, San Bernardino. Set scores were 25-23, 25-20, 27-29, 25-20.
 
Post-match press conference video: https://youtu.be/JXR0aslWvPw
 
The Broncos, who were seeded fourth in the eight-team regional, saw their season conclude with a 23-5 overall record and a second-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. All five of the team's losses this season came against either regional host Cal State San Bernardino (three times) or Cal State LA (twice), and four of their defeats came away from the home confines of Kellogg Arena.
 
The 2021 season marked the program's best record since 2005, when Cal Poly Pomona went 24-3 and shared the CCAA championship before also falling in the regional quarterfinal. The Broncos went 24-6 in 2018, their most recent NCAA tournament appearance, eventually losing in the regional semifinals.
 
Cal Poly Pomona, whose success this season was keyed by an offensive efficiency that entered the regional tournament ranked fourth nationally in the NCAA Division II at .285, posted their third-lowest hitting percentage of the season in Thursday's season-ending loss to the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles (19-9). Two of the Broncos' three matches below the .200 clip in 2021 came inside Coussoulis Arena, while the other (.165) came against this same Cal State LA team in Los Angeles on Oct. 1.
 
The two teams went back and forth throughout much of the first set, with 15 ties and seven lead changes. The largest lead was four – at 9-5 by Cal State LA – with Cal Poly Pomona rallying back and eventually taking a 14-12 lead. The Golden Eagles countered, and the see-saw affair remained as such until back-to-back kills for the final two points of the set enabled Cal State LA to take the opening win.
 
The second set was also relatively close, with the largest margin reaching seven on a pair of occasions, before Cal Poly Pomona closed to within three at 23-20. However, consecutive kills by Cal State LA broke the Broncos' late-game spurt and enabled the Golden Eagles to take a 2-0 match lead.
 
Ironically, the Broncos' least efficient offensive set of the night was the one frame that they won in the third. Cal Poly Pomona had 13 kills and eight errors in 49 attempts for a .102 mark. They overcame three consecutive match point deficits starting at 24-20 with four straight points, and the two rivals went back and forth before the Broncos finally emerged with the victory and extended the match. An attack error by Cal State LA, followed by a service ace from junior Mackenzie Sullivan, gave Cal Poly Pomona a 29-27 win.
 
Cal Poly Pomona led just once in the fourth set – at 4-3 – before Cal State LA took the lead for good at six points later at 7-6. The Broncos trailed by as many as six for most of the rest of the frame, cutting their deficit to two at 20-18 before seeing their last-ditch rally snapped after closing the gap to 23-20. Kills by Alejandra Negron and Eliza Cannon pushed the Golden Eagles into the regional semifinal, while putting an end to Cal Poly Pomona's campaign.
 
Sophomores Daisy Duke and Jazminn Parrish tied for the Broncos' team lead with 16 kills. Parrish, who added 13 digs for a double-double, was one of four Cal Poly Pomona players with 10 or more digs, with senior Brynn Sherbert leading the way in that department with a match-high 23. Senior setter Kira Zimmerman had 45 assists and 10 digs, and sophomore Jazmyn Wheeler finished with 15 digs.
 
Cal State LA was led by the tandem of Negron and Karla Santos, who combined for 43 kills and 33 digs. Negron had 23 kills, a .340 hitting percentage, and 15 digs, while Santos totaled 20 kills, a .294 efficiency, and a team-high 18 digs.
 
Cal Poly Pomona, which made its 17th all-time NCAA tournament appearance, graduates four seniors including Zimmerman, one of three all-region picks for the Broncos this season.