TURLOCK -- The Warriors were en route to pulling off another senior night upset of a ranked team, but No. 22 Cal Poly Pomona responded and held on to win the CCAA finale in four at Warrior Arena Saturday night.
Vanessa Williams had 12 kills to lead Cal Poly Pomona as the Broncos defeated Cal State Stanislaus, 30-22, 30-10, 20-30, 30-25. CPP improved to 21-6 overall and 13-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Associate. The Warriors completed the 2007 season 6-24, 2-16 in the CCAA.
"Finishing our season-ending weekend competing well against two nationally ranked teams and ending the year on a good note says a lot about the feature of our program," CSUS head coach Chris Difani said. "I am also very proud of our seniors, stepping up and leading the team this year. They worked hard and they have a lot to be proud of this year."
Saturday night marked the end of the volleyball career of six seniors, including Ripon's
Debbie Vander Schaaf. Vander Schaaf led the team with 12 kills in the finale to finish the year with 336. She is just the sixth different Warrior to surpass the 300-kill mark in a season. Senior
Caitlin Steffeck had three blocks to finish her career as the school's all-time leader in blocks.
"There was a lot of energy coming out tonight. When you are a senior you know you are about done and there is always that one last push to go out on a bang," Difani said.
It was also the last match for seniors Liz Cameron,
Nicole Musso,
Melanie Figueroa and
Ashley Hullen.
A year ago at this time, the Warriors upset Cal State L.A., which was ranked at the time, on senior night. They were hoping to do the same Saturday night with strong play throughout the match -- except for game two.
Cal Poly Pomona rolled in game two 30-10, dominating in all areas of the game and hit .333 as a team. After the 10-minute intermission, the Warriors went on fire and finally claimed game three 30-20 by hitting .216 on the attack.
Pomona, however, known for its blocking game, tallied 19 total blocks with 10 team blocks to hold on for the win. Antoinette Kathol had nine kills and five blocks while Anne-Marie Hofmans and Brittany Harkey each chipped in eight kills.
Freshman libero had 16 digs Saturday night to surpass the 500 digs mark.
Jen Gee added 11 digs.
Nicole Musso had six kills, four digs and four blocks to pace the Warriors.