Women’s volleyball fell to CSU Monterey Bay in the last regular season game in three straight sets on Friday evening.
The Broncos were looking to stretch their seven-game winning streak against the Otters.
With a total of 17 lead changes and 36 ties, the match was filled with a lot of back-and-forth action and extremely close sets.
In the first set, CPP only hit at a .093 average compared to CSMB, who hit at a .205.
“Credit to Cal State Monterey Bay,” head coach Rosie Wegrich said. “They played really, really strong defense.”
The Broncos’ only lead in the first set came early when they were up 4-3.
Unfortunately, too many errors by CPP allowed the Otters to stay in control for the remainder of the set.
“We had way too many unforced errors and our hitting percentage was lower than typical,” Wegrich said.
Cal Poly finished the game with 20 errors, nine of which were committed in the first set.
The score was all knotted up at 19 apiece, but the Otters were able to score five unanswered points and a final kill allowed them to take the first set 25-20.
In the second set, CSUMB dished out a total of 18 kills and hit at a .368 hitting percentage compared to Cal Poly, who had 11 kills and hit a .146.
The Broncos kept the set extremely close and a kill by Karah Griffiths would put them up by one with the score 16-15.
Just when CPP looked to be getting into a rhythm, the Otters went on a 10-2 run to take the second set 25-18 and go up 2-0.
“There were a lot of long rallies where I thought we could’ve put the ball away more efficiently,” Wegrich said.
The third and final set was another close battle that went down to the wire.
Cal Poly found itself up with the score 22-21; they were looking to take the set and make a comeback.
Cal State Monterey Bay called a timeout and was able to score two back-to-back points which forced CPP to take a timeout of their own.
A kill by senior middle blocker Kristen Hamlin would tie the game 23-23, but a kill from the Otters and an error by Cal Poly would give Cal State Monterey Bay the final two points and end the match 25-23. CSUMB was able to defeat the Broncos with a 3-0 sweep and bring Cal Poly’s conference play to an end.
“Maybe we were a little complacent,” Wegrich said. “We had won seven games in a row and we can’t forget those achievements.”
Cal Poly Pomona finished the season 21-4 overall and 14-3 in CCAA.
Both Hamlin and Andrea Bosnic would finish the game with double-digit kills. Jenna Goldsberry would also add seven kills of her own.
Hamlin also hit at a .273 for the night.
Alex Bollier finished with a game-high 22 digs and Kira Zimmerman finished with 29 assists.
Fortunately, Cal State L.A. suffered a loss to Cal State San Marcos Friday evening, which means the Broncos will finish second in their division.
The CCAA Championship Tournament will take place at Fitzpatrick Arena in Turlock starting on Thursday, Nov. 8th.
In preparation for the tournament, coach Wegrich said, “We’re going to watch film and see where we have to get better.
“The transition and our serve/receive attack, which we call our first ball kill, has to be better, it just has to be.”
The Broncos will take on Stanislaus State on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of CCAA tournament.
Stanislaus State will have an advantage over the Broncos as they are hosting the tournament this year. The teams have played each other twice this season with the Broncos winning both matches and defeating the Warriors six sets to one.
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