POMONA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona volleyball team picked up their fifth sweep of the season on Saturday night, defeating San Francsico State 3-0 to improve to 8-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. The Broncos are just one of two teams to be undefeated in conference play through CCAA opening weekend – the other being Stanislaus State (9-1).
 
Despite winning all three sets, those wins did not come easy. The Broncos and Gators traded points for most of the first set, seeing SFSU ahead by one late at 22-21. Three consecutive kills by Madison Novak and Sarah Ybarra helped the Broncos regain the lead at 24-22, before another Novak kill would end the set at 25-23. The senior out of Lancaster led the team with a season-high 18 kills, while also registering her third double-double of the season.
 
Both teams had their most efficient attacks in the second set, seeing CPP swing at a .300 clip while SFSU swung at .243 with just a combined six attack errors in 67 attempts between the two squads. The Broncos got out to an early lead, which they would maintain for the rest of the set. With the score at 17-12 in favor of the Green & Gold, the two teams traded off the next 11 consecutive points to make the score 23-17. An ace by Ybarra and an attack error by the Gators would then put CPP up 2-0 in the match.
 
The third set was the story of the hot hand, as multiple lengthy streaks defined the outcome. With the score tied at 9-9, the Broncos rattled off four points to take a 13-9 lead. The Gators immediately responded with six consecutive points of their own, regaining a 15-13 lead. A few points later, CPP went on their own six-point run, thanks to a kill by Alexia Athans and three kills by Novak. CPP would take four of the final five points, claiming their eighth win of the season and finishing off a perfect 2-0 start to conference play.
 
Helen McMullin and Ybarra had a few big blocks at the net, including the final play of the game that put the exclamation point on the 3-0 sweep.
 

Broncos with the SWEEP 🧹

No. 13 @CPPVB wins 3-0 against San Francisco State to improve to 8-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play🔥#WeAreCPP pic.twitter.com/bgu0g79avs

— Cal Poly Pomona Broncos (@cppbroncos) September 22, 2024

 
Up Next
The Broncos will be on the road for the next two weeks, starting with SoCal matches at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State LA next weekend. They will then travel to Northern California for matches at Cal Poly Humboldt and Sonoma State on October 3^rd and 5^th. Their next home match will be October 11^th, and will be their annual Dig Pink match in recognition of breast cancer awareness.  
 
 
Bronco Bits

• The Broncos are now 45-10 all-time against San Francisco State, including 9-1 in their past 10 matches. CPP has two 12-game winning streaks against the Gators, the first coming from 1999-2008 and the most recent from 2014-2022.
• Traci Dahl is now 85-36 (.702) as head coach of the Broncos. Saturday was her 50^th conference win, making her 50-23 (.685) in CCAA contests.
• For the past three consecutive seasons, CPP has owned an 8-1 record through their first nine matches. The team has only been 9-0 twice, coming in 2005 and 2021.
• The best start in program history came in 2005, when CPP went 19-0 before losing and were ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation.
• Samantha Campion recorded her 700^th career kill on Saturday night. She is also just 18 digs away from 800 in her career.
• Avery Percival is just three digs away from entering the Top 10 list in CPP history, and is also 48 digs away from 1,000 in her career. Current assistant coach, Zoe Herrera, currently holds the program record at 1,678.
• Madison Novak's 79 digs this season has already passed her career-high of 76 set last season.