By Adeniyi Latinwo, December 9, 2025
For the second consecutive year, the Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball head coach Traci Dahl has been named 2025 CCAA Coach of the Year after leading the Broncos to an overall record of 19-6, a conference record of 17-1 and their second CCAA Regular Season title.
Dahl’s coaching is also reflected in her players’ performance, as six Broncos received CCAA season honors this season. Sarah Ybarra was named CCAA Player of the Year, Kacie Caoili was named Setter of the Year and Freshman of the Year, and Elle Walker was named Newcomer of the Year.
Charlotte Koerber also made the All-CCAA First Team, while Anastacia Garza and Kaden Young made the All-CCAA Second Team.
The Broncos led the conference with multiple stats, including assists per set (13.6), digs per set (16.69), kills per set (14.44) and hitting percentage (.240). Most of these stats were recorded during a 17-game win streak that began with a win Sep. 18 against Colorado Mesa University and lasted until Nov. 15 when the Broncos suffered a loss against California State University, Stanislaus.
Dahl’s career in volleyball dates back to 1992, when she was playing at Cerritos College and won a state championship. Dahl earned California State Player of the Year honors that same year and was a two-time First Team All-American and a two-time South Coast Conference MVP. Dahl was inducted into the Cerritos College Hall of Fame in March 2012.
After two years at Cerritos, Dahl transferred to California State University, Long Beach, where she was a two-time All-Big West selection and second-team AVCA All-American in 1994.
Dahl earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Cal State Long Beach and her master’s degree in education at National University. She later earned another master’s degree in recreation and sports Management at Indiana State University.
When reflecting on this year’s award, Dahl believes receiving it is an indicator of the amount of respect coaches have for the CPP volleyball program. The most important thing to Dahl is her staff and her team.
“We all work extremely hard to ensure that we are top contenders every year,” Dahl said. “I could not do any of this without them.”
In comparison to last year, Dahl explained the new challenge she was presented with was the team’s age, as this year’s players are a bit younger but still played at a high level. Dahl is most proud of how her team came together and won the conference outright. Even with the addition of new players from different schools, her team was able to mesh quickly and play together.
Ybarra said Dahl has set a standard since she became head coach and has kept that standard ever since. She added Dahl sees her team not only as athletes, but as humans.
“Off the court, she makes sure we’re always managing our time wisely on trips as well as giving us our own free time,” Ybarra said.
As a transfer student from Sonoma State University who had competed against CPP for three years prior to transferring, Young said she was able to witness the type of culture and standard Dahl instilled in her team, which made the decision for her to come to CPP an easy one.
“Every time we played them, I noticed the energy, the culture, and how hard they competed,” Young said. “It wasn’t just about finding a new school; it was about finding a program I respected and wanted to be a part of.”
Dahl has been coaching for more than 15 years, nine of which have been at CPP, and she said her competitive spirit is what motivates her to keep going after accomplishing so much. Dahl attributes CPP for making her job easy and believes the university speaks for itself.
“Recruiting players to come to CPP is very easy,” Dahl said. “Year after year I remain grateful to be leading this program. This is where I want to be.”
Feature image courtesy of the CPP Athletics
