By David Pendleton and Sydney Fedinec, Oct. 10, 2023
Cal Poly Pomona’s volleyball team conquered Stanislaus State at home in a 3-0 sweep Friday, Sept. 29 and remain at the top of the CCAA conference standings with a nine-game winning streak.
With high expectations to go beyond last year’s performance, the Broncos gave no life to their opponents by earning three sweeps in a row.
“It doesn’t matter who we are playing against,” said head coach Traci Dahl. “We bring our own energy. We’re not waiting for something to happen; we’re making it happen.”
Three Broncos finished the match with double-digit kills: Daisy Duke with 13, Madison Novak with 10 and Samantha Campion with 10. CPP dominated with a .379 kill percentage compared to the Warrior’s percentage in the negative.
After swapping points in the beginning of the match, the Broncos pulled away 19-9 thanks to collective blocks from Kaitlan Tucker with seven and Campion with six. CPP remained consistent with the first set ending 25-15.
The second set started similarly, with the teams trading points. The Warriors refused to fall far behind, leaving the score 12-10 in favor of CPP halfway through the set. However, a run put together with consecutive kills by opposite hitters Duke and Novak opened the lead up, and CPP almost duplicated the first set, ending in 25-16.
“Our offense got better today, and that’s what we were working on in practice,” said Dahl. “It’s just a really well-oiled machine right now.”
The overwhelming Bronco attacks forced the Warriors to call multiple timeouts with miscommunication issues amongst players from Stanislaus State.
“Coming out from the two sets winning, the energy is at an all-time high,” said Duke. “All of us know what we can do and let’s just finish it.”
In the third set, the Broncos demolished the Warriors 25-11 as defensive specialist Jenna O’Shea helped compile an 11-point run right off the bat with aggressive serves. The Warriors tried to get on the scoreboard with multiple opportunities to get a kill but were met with both Tucker and Duke blocking everything at the net, concluding the 3-0 sweep for CPP.
“Part of it came from Jenna with her serves,” said setter and opposite hitter Caitie Mueller. “She came back here and she was super aggressive, and our defense behind that was just getting everything up and making sure we got that point to let her stay on the court.”
When asked about the game plan, Duke expressed how the Warrior’s defensive strategy helped CPP’s attack.
“They were in a rotation that is different than a lot of teams we play against, but I would say that it does help,” said Duke. “It does leave open court, so it was nice because I felt there was more range to work with.”
With this is mind, Mueller earned 36 of the Bronco’s 41 assists and put Duke and Novak in positions to kill.
Prior to the regular season, the Broncos fell short in the NCAA Semifinals last year against a familiar opponent, the Chaminade University Silverswords. Approaching the halfway point of the season, the Broncos are confident in a possible rematch, come the postseason.
“We weren’t all put together during Chaminade, and I think that it showed,” said Dahl. “But this is a completely different team right now, so I think we will be very well matched up against Chaminade if we have to see them again.”
Following the victory over Stanislaus State, the Broncos achieved a double-digit win streak with another sweep over Chico State Sept. 30. Their streak finally broke when they fell to San Francisco State Oct. 5. Their next match against Cal State San Marcos will take place Friday, Oct. 13.
Feature image by Alexander Novoa
