September 15, 2006

Courtesy Cal Poly Pomona Sports Information Office

Box Score

POMONA -- Cal Poly Pomona's women's volleyball team found itself on the wrong end of a five-game struggle Friday night in Kellogg Gym.

The Broncos won the first two games, only to see Cal State Dominguez Hills storm back to stun Cal Poly Pomona, 25-30, 26-30, 30-27, 30-24, 16-14. Cal State Dominguez Hills beat Cal Poly Pomona for only the fourth time in 53 meetings, although the Toros also picked up a win over the Broncos in Carson in the 2004 season.

Cal Poly Pomona (5-5, 2-3) came up short in a five-game match for the first time in three tries this season. Cal State Dominguez Hills (4-7, 1-4) won its first conference match of the season.

Antoinette Kathol had 13 kills and 13 blocks, which was one off her career high. Jenna Young had 12 kills and six blocks, Natalia Gonzalez had a season-high nine kills and three blocks, while Brittany Harkey had nine kills and six blocks.

Sophia Lopes had 14 kills to lead three Toros in double figures. Nicole Hoffman had 12 kills and Courtney Spainhour had 10 kills and three aces. One of those aces came with the Toros leading, 15-14, in the fifth game and won Cal State Dominguez Hills the match.

The Broncos had a huge edge in blocks, 20-6, but ball-handling woes and poor passing plagued them throughout the match.

The Broncos won the first two games, 30-25 and 30-26 and jumped out to a 19-13 lead in the third game only to see Cal State Dominguez Hills mount a tremendous comeback.

The Toros battled back and took the lead for good at 25-24 after an ace by Spainhour. The score was still tight at 28-27, but the Toros got kills from Randi Johnson and Lopes to send the game into a fourth frame.

Cal State Dominguez Hills jumped out to a quick 10-4 advantage and never led by less than two points in the fourth frame. Cal Poly Pomona cut the deficit to 26-24, but the Toros won the final four points to send the match to a fifth game.

The Toros scored the first four points of the final game, but the Broncos went on a 9-3 run to take a 9-7 advantage after a block by Harkey and Young. After the Toros took a 10-9 lead, the Broncos scored the next three points to take a 12-10 advantage. Cal Poly Pomona had a match point at 14-13 after a kill by Williams, but a ball-handling error tied it at 14-14, a kill by Hoffman gave the Toros the lead and the ace by Spainhour gave the Toros the match.

Saturday night the Toros stay on the road -- but in the region -- with a 7:00 p.m. match at Cal State San Bernardino.