SEASIDE, Calif. – After falling in straight sets to open the season early Friday morning to Michigan Tech, the Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team responded with a convincing 3-0 sweep of Dominican several hours later earning a split on day one of the 2022 season and the Otter Classic, hosted by Cal State Monterey Bay at the Otter Sports Center in Seaside.
 
In the two games combined, Madison Novak exploded for 29 kills and a .367 hitting percentage to pace the Broncos offense while Daisy Duke contributed 18 kills and a blazing .419 clip with 54 assists coming from Caitie Mueller. Defensively, Mackenzie Sullivan registered 21 digs and Kaitlan Tucker turned back seven attacks in the season-opening split.
 
Michigan Tech 3, Cal Poly Pomona 0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-21)
 
In the season opener, the Broncos and the Huskies endured 32 ties and 15 lead changes throughout the brief three-set match, half of which came in a grueling first set. Neither team led by more than three points at any point in the opening frame. Michigan Tech pulled out to early three-point leads of 6-3 and 7-4, only to have CPP battle back with four straight tallies to take an 8-7 advantage. From that point on, it went back-and-forth until 19-17 in the favor of MTU when the Broncos rallied for five consecutive points to regain the lead at 22-19, forcing a timeout by the Huskies. That's when Michigan Tech caught fire, scoring six of the next seven points to stun CPP for the 25-23 win and a 1-0 match lead.
 
The Broncos trailed for much of the second set, but never by more than four points at any one time. A late Novak kill gave CPP some life, down 20-19, and another Novak kill to trail 22-21, but Michigan Tech held on for another 25-23 win to go up two sets to none.
 
In the third set, it was the same see-saw battle between the squads, as the Broncos would take a three-point lead at 14-11, but the Huskies responded with six straight points to force a CPP timeout, a deficit that the Broncos would never recover from, eventually falling 25-21.
 
Novak led the offense with a career-high 18 kills and a .325 hitting percentage, along with 10 kills from Samantha Campion, as Mueller dished out 34 assists. As a team, CPP hit .196 while holding MTU to a near-identical .194 clip. Defensively, Sullivan had nine digs while Erin McFarland chipped in on five blocks, including one solo rejection.
 
Lindy Oujiri led a balanced Michigan Tech offense with 11 kills.
 
Cal Poly Pomona 3, Dominican 0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-13)
 
It was all Broncos from start to finish in Friday's nightcap as they torched the Penguins defense with a .478 hitting percentage, the highest since posting a program-record .538 clip on Oct. 9, 2021 against Cal State Monterey Bay.
 
The first two sets were never in question as CPP cruised to a pair of wins to open the match. In the third set, Dominican played tough early on, taking advantage of a couple CPP errors, but the Broncos, turned on the jets midway through the frame, turning a 6-4 deficit into a 12-6 lead on eight straight points and they never looked back.
 
Novak again led the Broncos with 11 kills for a .450 hitting percentage while Duke powered 10 kills and an incredible .769 average through the Penguin back line. Mueller passed out 20 assists, Sullivan made 12 digs and Tucker had four blocks, one of the solo kind.
 
Dominican's Ella Heckman led her team with four kills.
 
Cal Poly Pomona will wrap up the Otter Classic Saturday against Academy of Art at Noon.
 
Bronco Bits: Head coach Traci Dahl moves to 34-22 in her fourth year (third season) at Cal Poly Pomona … It was the second all-time meeting between CPP and Michigan Tech; the two teams first played in a season-opening tournament in Davis in 1995 with CPP winning in five sets … The Broncos are now 23-16 all-time in season-opening matches … Surprisingly, the match between CPP and Dominican was the first matchup all-time between the two NCAA Division II West Region opponents … As a program, CPP is now 753-530 all-time, including 191-136 in neutral-site matches since the program's inception in 1980.
 
All home matches and most away contests will stream live online via the CCAA Network at www.ccaanetwork.com. You may also download the CCAA Network app on your iOS or Android smartphone, tablet, or through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku or Apple TV. For $9.95 per month, subscribers will have access to all CCAA broadcasts, both live and on-demand, for one low monthly price. Over half of each monthly subscription purchase will go directly back to the CCAA Athletic Department of your choice to support the student-athlete experience. Sign-ups are available right now at each universities' network portal. Just go to CCAAnetwork.com, select your favorite team at the top and the 'click to subscribe.'

Tickets are also on sale now for all CPP home matches. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets online prior to coming to campus at broncoathletics.com/tickets or by downloading the HomeTown Fan app on your smartphone or tablet. New this year, only debit and credit cards will be accepted at the box office for admission. Limited concession items will be on sale on-site as well, but the concession stand will only accept cash.

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