By Christian Magdaleno, Oct. 29, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball team dominated Cal State San Marcos in two consecutive sweeps to extend its 12-game win streak and tie the highest national ranking in program history at No. 5 in the American Volleyball Association polls.
The Broncos faced the Cougars on the road for the first matchup, earning their 10th sweep of the season in three straight sets 25-12, 25-15 and 25-13.
Outside hitters Samantha Campion, Sarah Ybarra and Charlotte Koerber had dominant nights on offense, contributing double-digit kills respectively with an attack percentage above .350.
Koerber registered a career-high 14 kills at CPP and fell just short of a double-double with nine digs.
“Something different this year is that they have another year under their belt,” said Head Coach Traci Dahl. “They are a mature and veteran team.”
The last time these two teams met was in conference play last season for the second matchup of the doubleheader at CSUSM.
The Broncos won the night before 3-0 at home, but the Cougars rallied back to pull off the upset in the fifth set 15-13 to split the weekend.
CPP ensured history didn’t repeat itself by sweeping CSUSM at Kellogg Arena in the second matchup and prevailing over the Cougars in dominant fashion 25-13 and 25-12 in the first two sets.
However, the third set proved a new challenge for the Broncos, and the two teams tied late in the set at 18-18.
“San Marcos did a nice job of changing up their serving pattern, and we struggled with that during the third set,” Dahl said. “We won’t struggle with that anymore.”
The Cougars strung together two points off a hitting error by CPP and a kill by outside hitter Allison Kranz for a 21-19 advantage.
Koerber responded with three kills in the final 10 points to help the Broncos outscore the Cougars 7-3 to secure the victory at home.
CPP outscored the Cougars 151-89 in six straight sets to improve to 11-6 all-time against CSUSM.
Middle blocker Helen McMullin finished the match with an impressive stat sheet, recording six kills on six attempts with zero errors for a 1.000 attack percentage.
“Our hitters are just on point,” said Dahl. “Our quality of digs right now is really good. We are not just putting the ball up, but we’re putting them to target. We are able to set anybody right now.”
The Broncos dig-to-kill ratio rose from 22% to 23%, while most teams in the conference are around 18%, according to Dahl.
The trio of Campion, Ybarra and Koerber led the Broncos again on offense, each contributing double-digit kills at a .350 attacking percentage or above.
Mueller earned a total of 86 assists, 14 digs, six kills and four aces on the weekend and led the team to above a .420 hitting percentage in the two matches against the Cougars.
Mueller received CCAA Volleyball Setter of the Week for the second consecutive week to mark her fourth award this season and tenth of her career.
She moved to sixth all-time in CPP program history with 2,763 career assists.
“It’s really a team award because I could not get this many assists without my hitters,” said Mueller. “It’s really a testament to how well we are connecting and how good our team is.”
Mueller said she hopes to break 1,000 assists this season for the third time in her career. She currently has 630 assists, ranking second in the CCAA and 19th in the nation in assists-per-set with 10.86.
Mueller recognized her counterpart Campion for receiving CCAA Defensive Player of the Week for Oct. 7-13.
“She puts so much effort into this team and into playing this sport,” said Mueller. “Just her leadership on the team is really great and my chemistry with her in the last three years has been really awesome.”
With only three total sets dropped since the start of CCAA play, CPP has outscored opponents 30-3 in sets and currently ranks in first place in the conference standings at 10-0.
The No. 5 Broncos cruised to a 16-1 overall record to stretch their 12-game win streak, the second-longest in the West region and fourth-longest in the nation.
“Everyone wants to beat the Broncos,” said Mueller. “We have a reputation when we come into gyms now and people want to beat us, so we have to keep grinding. We have conference tournament at the end of the season in mind.”
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
