POMONA, Calif.--Point Loma's record breaking season came to a close on Friday night at Kellogg Arena, falling to No. 1 seed and host Cal Poly Pomona in four sets.
The Sea Lions captured the first set but the hosts roared back to win the next three games and the match, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19. The Broncos move into the West Region title match on Saturday, to face the winner of tonight's match between Chaminade and San Francisco State.
Point Loma ends the year at 26-2, setting a program mark for best winning percentage (.929). Yesterday, they won their first NCAA postseason match in program history with a five-set comeback against Central Washington.
Abigail Nua had a numbers packed match with 22 kills, 11 digs and three service aces. Senior Anna Massari had one solo block and five block assists, and Makenna Joyce added 24 digs.
Point Loma, the No. 4 seed, won a tight first set. There were 15 ties and neither team led by more than two points when PLNU took a 22-21 lead. The Sea Lions scored three of the next four points to win the set, hitting .303 in the game and winning 25-22.
In the second set, the two teams traded points again through the first half of the set before three straight Bronco points gave them a lead that they wouldn't give up. The home team would go on to even up the match, 25-18. In the third set, Cal Poly Pomona would build a 12-8 margin, but four straight Point Loma points tied it at 13-13. The Sea Lions would take a 15-13 margin after back-to-back aces by Nua, but CPP would score six of the next seven points to take the lead and the set, 25-22.
The Broncos led for the entire fourth set, bursting out of the gates for a 9-3 lead. Point Loma would close to 22-19 late in the match on a Nua kill, but could get no closer.
Cal Poly Pomona, the CCAA regular season champion, will take their 25-3 record into Saturday's title bout. Lauden Allison-Burke led her team with 17 kills, a season high. CPP had 63 total team kills to Point Loma's 45.