SAN MARCOS, Calif. – After losing the first set, the 23rd-ranked Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team rallied for three straight set wins to upset 15th-ranked Cal State San Bernardino, 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-23), in a thrilling CCAA Volleyball Tournament semifinal on Friday afternoon at The Sports Center in San Marcos.
The No. 3 seed Broncos (22-5) advance to the CCAA Tournament final for the second straight season and will face No. 5 seed Sonoma State, which upset top-seeded Cal State LA in five sets in the evening contest.
Listen to what head coach
Traci Dahl, juniors
Daisy Duke and
Kaitlan Tucker and sophomore
Jenna O'Shea had to say about Friday's upset victory over CSUSB by
CLICKING HERE.
The No. 2 seed Coyotes (20-6) are expected to earn an at-large bid to next weekend's NCAA Division II West Region Championship Tournament when the 64-team field is unveiled via a live selection show at NCAA.com Sunday night. It was the first CSUSB loss in the CCAA Tournament since 2015, snapping their tournament win streak of 14 matches.
The 2022 CCAA Volleyball Tournament championship match will take place Saturday afternoon at The Sports Center on the campus of Cal State San Marcos. First serve is set for 3:00 pm.
After losing the first set, the Broncos sizzled offensively, hitting .522 as a team with 12 kills in 23 attacks without an error to cruise to a convincing 25-14 win to even the match at one set apiece.
Over the next two sets, CPP and CSUSB fought through 16 ties and eight lead changes, but the Broncos emerged as 25-21 and 25-23 winners to clinch the match victory and advance to Saturday's final. It will be the Broncos' third appearance in the CCAA Tournament final, but the first against an opponent not named Cal State San Bernardino.
Daisy Duke led the way once again with 19 kills, adding 12 digs and five assisted blocks.
Madison Novak fired 14 kills as Duke and Novak combined for 33 of the Broncos' 49 kills on the afternoon.
Caitie Mueller recorded a double-double with 41 assists and 10 digs. Defensively, five CPP players had double-digit digs, led by 18 from
Avery Percival.
Mackenzie Sullivan had 11 digs and matched a career-high with four service aces. Both
Kaitlan Tucker and
Erin McFarland tallied four blocks.
The Cal Poly Pomona defense held Cal State San Bernardino to its lowest hitting percentage of the season (.161) while the CPP offense hit at a .217 clip.
For more information about the CCAA Tournament, including schedule and ticket information, visit
goccaa.org/vbtourney.
Bronco Bits
- Head coach Traci Dahl moves to 53-26 in her fourth year (third season) at Cal Poly Pomona, including 45-10 the last two seasons.
- Cal Poly Pomona snaps its eight match losing streak to Cal State San Bernardino, moving to 27-46 all-time against the Coyotes; it is the first CPP win over CSUSB since Oct. 12, 2018 at Pomona (CSUSB was ranked #1 in the nation at the time).
- The Broncos set a new season high with 13 service aces.
- Daisy Duke has a career-best 394 kills this season, setting a new single-season record in the current 25-point format, topping the previous record of 386, set by Kristen Hamlin in 2018.
- Kaitlan Tucker has recorded 119 total blocks this season, which is the third-most in program history since 2008 when the scoring format went to its current 25-point format.
- Mackenzie Sullivan matched a career-best of four service aces Friday
- This is the Broncos' fourth-ever appearance in the CCAA Volleyball Tournament (2015, 2018, 2021), and have now reached the tournament final three times (2018, 2021, 2022), but are looking for their first title.
- The Broncos are now 6-3 all-time in the CCAA Tournament, and 1-2 against Cal State San Bernardino.
- It is the sixth time in program history that the Broncos have opened their season with an 22-5 record or better through the first 27 matches.
- Ranked in the Top 25 this week at No. 23, CPP is now 283-167 as a nationally-ranked team since 1986.
- The Broncos improve to 54-107 when both CPP and its opponent is ranked in the AVCA Division II Top 25 poll.
- As a program, CPP is now 774-534 all-time, including 196-136 in neutral-site matches since the program's inception in 1980.
- CPP is now 226-163 in four-set matches all-time.
