Pioneers conclude season with sweep of Cal Poly Pomona

  • November 13, 2010

POMONA, Calif. – The ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ volleyball team ended a successful season with a three-set win over Cal Poly Pomona (25-18, 25-18, 25-23) on Nov. 13. The Pioneers (20-7, 15-7 CCAA) avenged an earlier loss to the Broncos (10-17, 8-14) to finish the season tied with UC San Diego for second place in the conference. The victory gives Pioneer Head Coach Jim Spagle his 14th 20-win season in 15 years at East Bay, while sophomore middle blocker Kitona Offord set a record of her own, swinging at an .882 clip to smash the Pioneers' single-match high.

Offord enjoyed a sensational night, adding a career-high 15 kills and two blocks to her record-breaking accuracy. The Houston, Texas native had no errors in 17 attempts, breaking the 16-year-old program record of .823 set by Shawn Gibson against UC Santa Cruz in 1994. The impressive feat also broke the three-year-old CCAA mark of .812, set by Cal State San Bernardino's Sara Rice against UCSD in October of 2007.

As a team, the Pioneers put down 42 kills and hit for a .307 percentage. Jit Athwal and Roxanne Neely had seven and six kills, respectively, for the victorious Pioneers. K.C. Walsh recorded 23 assists while Neely had 16 to anchor the Pioneers' offensive attack.

Kristin McNeese led Cal Poly Pomona with seven offensive attacks. Ashley Marshman and Taylr Kreutziger followed with six and five kills, respectively.    

In the first set, the Pioneers went ahead 4-3 and maintained a 21-15 lead on a kill by Offord.  Neely put down a kill to give East Bay a 24-18 advantage. The Pioneers won the set on a Bronco attack error. Offord led the way in the first set with five kills.

The Pioneers built a 10-2 lead in the second set. Offord's ninth kill of the match gave the Pioneers a 13-5 lead. Trailing 17-5, Cal Poly Pomona went on a 12-4 run to cut the Pioneers lead to 21-17. East Bay outscored Cal Poly Pomona 4-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

East Bay trailed 6-0 in the third set. Behind 12-6, the Pioneers went on an 11-3 run highlighted by consecutive Lauren Massa service aces to lead 17-15. The Pioneers increased their lead to 24-18. Cal Poly Pomona scored five unanswered points to only trail 24-23. Offord's 15th kill enabled the Pioneers to secure the victory.   

Sending off eight seniors, the Pioneers will look to regroup with some new faces in 2011, the first season ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ will be eligible to compete in postseason competition in Division II. East Bay will return its top hitter in Katie Allen and its top blockers in Offord and Bryant to help guide the Pioneers next season.