With the end of the season approaching, No. 3 Cal Poly Beach Volleyball is set to host the Center of Effort Challenge, one of the nation’s premier events for collegiate beach volleyball.
The Mustangs are set to welcome some of the strongest teams in the nation as the tournament will feature eight teams, with seven ranked within the top 12 nationally. Cal Poly will enter the tournament as one of the stronger teams amongst their peers, ranking third.
The success of the Mustangs was expected; they had finished in the semifinals of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship the year prior and adopted a new mentality to fit their new season. Faith in each other, the team decided, was the crucial key to success.
What ensued was a month-long streak of dominance where Cal Poly racked up 19 wins in 20 matches. The Mustangs were aided by a nation-best 18-game win streak, breaking the program record of 16 straight victories set the season prior.
While it was active, the win streak was the longest in the country until it was ended by No. 11-ranked Long Beach State in the Best in the West tournament on April 6.
The Mustangs seemed nearly invulnerable for the duration of the streak. The team stamped in convincing victories against several ranked opponents, including rematches against No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 LMU, avenging the losses earlier in the season.
The win streak, combined with those upset wins, propelled Cal Poly ahead three spots in the polls to land at No. 3 in the most recent rankings, tying the record for the highest AVCA ranking in program history.
Name of the game
Creativity acts as the core of the Cal Poly Beach Volleyball team. The Mustangs refused to resort to a bland or predictable style of play and players, such as graduate student Lindsey Sparks, leaned into an imaginative and bold approach to the game, taking opportunities to draw up plays that disorient or send opposing teams into a confused defensive frenzy.
“We like to say ‘Anything but cookie cutter,’” Sparks said. “We’re running all sorts of plays… we’re a really creative team and we like to play daringly, which sounds cheesy but it really does make a difference.”
In addition, the Mustangs have embodied a one-game-at-a-time principle, choosing to focus solely on the opponent on the opposite side of the net and how to gain the advantage in the match rather than succumbing to distracting thoughts such as the burden of having to maintain the life of the nation-best win streak.
“We didn’t think about the streak,” Assistant Coach Angela Rock said. “For us, it’s always just ‘Hey, let’s beat these guys.’ We’re just always greedy for more wins. We always want one more.”
Same roster, new team
Unlike most collegiate teams, Cal Poly entered the new season having only lost one player to graduation and boasted the addition of several newcomers to the roster.
With nearly all of the prior season’s roster making a return to the team, the Mustangs had the opportunity to build upon the chemistry established last year, making notable improvements, both individually and as a cohesive unit.
“We’re a smarter team,” redshirt junior Ella Connor said. “A lot of us have played with each other a bunch and we learned a lot of new skills last year. We’ve brought them in this year and it has been working out really well for us.”
In addition to building upon the previously established chemistry between players, the Mustangs have sought to do the same with the positive culture surrounding the team, stressing the significance of continuing the trend of offering continuous support and uplifting one another.
“We really love everyone,” senior Madison Nichols said. “Like we’re really just very loving and caring of each other. We make it a point to support each other, whether that’s through good, bad or hard times.”
Cal Poly has also emphasized the importance of team-wide contributions this season. Rather than relying on a lone leader throughout the course of the season, the Mustangs instead stressed the significance behind cultivating a culture surrounding each player’s selflessness and willingness to give to the team.
“What started this year was that we all have this mentality of wanting to give,” Sparks said. “Any way you can give to the program, whether that’s giving all of your energy at the matches, helping organize snacks… we’re always looking for ways to fill in and make the program better. It doesn’t have to be one or two people leading. We’re all trying to lead.”
The Center of Effort Challenge
Cal Poly is confirmed to face off against No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 USC, the defending national champions in which the Mustangs fell to the season prior, and No. 7 Florida State in the upcoming Center of Effort tournament.
Despite the high-rankings of those featured within the tournament, the Mustangs continue to ride the same wave of confidence that has carried them in the previous games and have steeled themselves in the one-opponent-at-a-time mentality.
“We’re preparing for this just like any other game,” Connor said. “You prepare for every game almost the exact same. You scout, you watch film, you do your homework, you hydrate and you go into the training room. It’s all prep that we do every single game. We don’t really look at it much differently.”
The Mustangs will look to continue their string of dominance at the Center of Effort Challenge on Friday, April 11, at 12:30 p.m. against the fifth-ranked team, Stanford at the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.