POMONA - The Cal Poly Pomona volleyball program, which earned its first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament banner last November, has been favored by league head coaches for second in the 2023 conference race.

The Broncos garnered 130 points, with two of 12 first-place votes, to rank only behind defending CCAA regular-season and West Region champion Cal State LA at 141 points and nine first-place nods. Perennial league powerhouse Cal State San Bernardino, the first-time and undefeated (33-0) NCAA Division II national champion in 2019, sits third with 121 points and the remaining first-place vote.

In 2022, eventual national semifinalist Cal State LA ended the Yotes' five-year reign atop the CCAA regular-season table, before third-seeded CPP snapped a string of five consecutive CCAA tourney titles by CSUSB. Cal Poly Pomona in fact knocked off the Yotes in both the CCAA Tournament semifinals in San Marcos on Nov. 11 (3-1), and the NCAA Championship West Regional quarterfinals in Bellingham, Wash., in a five-set thriller six days later. That was after CSUSB swept the rivals' two regular-season meetings in early October.

Sonoma State (104 points), Cal State East Bay (93) and San Francisco State (86) are in the fourth through sixth spots of the preseason poll, which is then rounded out by Stanislaus State (65), Cal State Monterey Bay (58), Cal State San Marcos (46), Cal Poly Humboldt (42), Cal State Dominguez Hills (33) and Chico State (17).

Cal Poly Pomona went 24-6 overall last fall and 14-4 in CCAA play to share the second position with Cal State San Bernardino. Cal State LA wound up with a 16-2 league ledger in first. The performance in fact marked a second straight runner-up placement for the Broncos under now-fifth-year head coach Traci Dahl. CPP paced the CCAA in hitting percentage (.259) for the second year in a row, as well as in blocks (2.51) and digs (16.17) per set, total blocks (274) and total digs (1,762).

The Broncos boast a league-high four student-athletes on the 18-member CCAA Volleyball Preseason Watch List, led by 2022 CCAA Player of the Year Daisy Duke and 2022 CCAA Newcomer of the Year Caitie Mueller. They are joined by junior outside hitter Madison Novak and senior middle blocker Kaitlan Tucker. All four were All-CCAA selections a season ago, with Mueller serving as CPP's starting setter as a first-year transfer from Division I Liberty and leading the league with 1,036 assists. Now a fifth-year senior opposite, Duke was the program's first CCAA Player of the Year in three decades, since Mitsue Tomoyasu in 1992. She topped the CCAA in kills (439) and points per set (4.64). Tucker was No. 1 in total blocks (134) and blocks per set (1.23), ranking tied for eighth and 10th, respectively, in all of Division II.

All four were also on the 2022 CCAA All-Tournament Team, alongside junior libero Avery Percival, with Duke the Most Outstanding Player as the Broncos outlasted Sonoma State in five sets in their third appearance (second straight) in the final. CPP ultimately was swept by Chaminade in the NCAA West Regional semifinals on Nov. 18.

Duke is a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II All-American, following a third-team selection in 2021 with a first-team spot in 2022. Mueller picked up All-America honorable mention from the organization in a first go-around in the green and gold.

The 2023 CPP roster is made up of 13 returners and four newcomers, three of whom are freshmen, while junior libero Emily Payne comes over from Orange Coast College. The Broncos have advanced to the CCAA final and qualified for the NCAA West Regional in each of the past two seasons under Dahl after the 2020 campaign was canceled.

Cal Poly Pomona was ranked No. 23 in the final 2022 AVCA Division II poll, and is rated No. 23 still in the 2023 preseason listing, which was unveiled earlier Tuesday.

Cal Poly Pomona will fly to Honolulu, Hawai'i, next week, to begin the new campaign at the Hawai'i Challenge co-hosted by Chaminade and Hawai'i Pacific. The Broncos are set to play four matches on O'ahu, opening with American International College of Springfield, Mass., on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 5 p.m. PT (2 p.m. HT) inside Chaminade's McCabe Gym. They take on West Virginia State (at HPU) and Hawai'i Hilo on Friday, Sept. 1, and round out the event at Chaminade on Saturday, Sept. 2, again at 5 p.m. PT (2 p.m. HT).

CPP then plays host to its Fall Classic the following week, Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 7-9, with the home opener against Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. inside Kellogg Arena.

An unbalanced 18-match conference schedule for the third straight season of the 12-team version of the CCAA, launches on Friday, Sept. 15, with the Broncos up in Seaside to face Cal State Monterey Bay. The six-team 2023 CCAA Tournament will be held at Cal State LA's University Gym, Nov. 16-18, with the winner again earning the league's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Division II Championship.

2023 CCAA VOLLEYBALL PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
1. Cal State LA, 141 (9)
2. Cal Poly Pomona, 130 (2)
3. Cal State San Bernardino, 121 (1)
4. Sonoma State, 104
5. Cal State East Bay, 93
6. San Francisco State, 86
7. Stanislaus State, 65
8. Cal State Monterey Bay, 58
9. Cal State San Marcos, 46
10. Cal Poly Humboldt, 42
11. Cal State Dominguez Hills, 33
12. Chico State, 17
(first-place votes)

Home matches and CCAA away contests stream live online via the CCAA Network at www.ccaanetwork.com. Fans can also download the CCAA Network app on an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, and through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV. Subscribers have access to all CCAA broadcasts, both live and on-demand, for the low monthly price of $9.95. Over half of each monthly subscription purchase goes directly back to the CCAA athletics department of your choice to support the student-athlete experience. Sign-ups are available right now at each university's network portal. Just go to CCAAnetwork.com, select your favorite team at the top and click the 'Subscribe' button.

CPP Athletics has gone cashless! Tickets are on sale now for all CPP volleyball 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. Again 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, and the concession stand will also only accept debit and credit cards.

Follow the Broncos all season long by going to broncoathletics.com/followus and sign up to receive breaking news and final score updates throughout the year.