HONOLULU - The 23rd-ranked Cal Poly Pomona volleyball squad began its 2023 season by sweeping American International College inside Chaminade University's McCabe Gym on O'ahu on Thursday. Set scores were 25-21, 25-13 and 25-18.

The Silverswords and Hawai'i Pacific University are co-hosting the 2023 Hawai'i Challenge in Honolulu.

CPP (1-0) is favored for second in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) this year. AIC (0-1), all the way from Springfield, Mass., repeated as the Northeast-10 Conference (NE10) regular-season and tournament champions last fall, ultimately advancing to the NCAA East Region semifinals and finishing with a 30-3 overall mark. The Yellowjackets are receiving votes outside of the national poll's top 25.

The Broncos edged out Thursday's competitive opening set. They tallied five consecutive points after falling behind, 13-11. Though AIC rallied to even things up again at 17-17 with four of the next five points, CPP again went on a run, this time of 4-0, and held on from there.

Cal Poly Pomona sprinted out to a 13-1 bulge in the second frame and cruised the rest of the way for a commanding 2-0 lead. An early 6-0 stretch gave the Broncos an 8-3 advantage in the third. The Yellowjackets got back to within one on three occasions, but never drew level as CPP was able to complete the sweep on a Helen McMullin kill.

Reigning CCAA Player of the Year Daisy Duke led all players with 11 kills, while libero Avery Percival collected a match-high 17 digs. Duke was one of four Broncos to serve a pair of aces. Setter Caitie Mueller, the 2022 CCAA Newcomer of the Year, wound up with 31 assists, five kills on nine attacks without an error, five digs, and two aces.

Paola Soto Burgos paced the Yellowjackets with nine kills. Setter and fellow junior Alice Di Francesco wound up with 16 assists.

CPP hit .271 (40-11-107) as a team, to just .093 (30-20-108) by AIC.

Cal Poly Pomona is now 3-1 in season openers under fifth-year head coach Traci Dahl.

The Broncos continue the Hawai'i Challenge with a pair of matches on Friday. They take on West Virginia State inside HPU's Shark Tank at 1 p.m. PT (10 a.m. HT), and then head back over to Chaminade's McCabe Gym to take on Hawai'i Hilo at 9:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. HT).

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.