Cal Poly Beach Volleyball faced off against four powerhouses and came out winless on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12 in Los Angeles.
The Mustangs (2-12) were swept by UCLA (13-1, 3-0 Pac-12), Grand Canyon (8-4) and USC (10-0), and fell to Stanford (10-5, 2-0 Pac-12) 3-2.
Saturday vs. No. 3 UCLA
Cal Poly’s early season woes continued with a pair of matchups against highly-ranked opponents on Saturday, beginning with a 5-0 loss to the Bruins.
The young duo of sophomore Piper Ferch and freshman Izzy Martinez on the top court pushed set one into extra points in a 24-22 loss.
Their opponents on court one included freshman Maggie Boyd of UCLA, showing the youth of both squads that are consistent competitors in the NCAA Tournament.
On court three, senior Kalee Graff and freshman Emma Zuffelato pushed the second set to 23-21 in their loss.
However, the Mustangs failed to win a set on the Bruins’ home court in the 5-0 sweep.
Saturday vs. No. 6 Grand Canyon
Right after the game versus UCLA, the Mustangs took the court again to face off against GCU, and it ended in another sweep of Cal Poly.
The matchup against the Lopes was not much closer than the one earlier in the day. In the No. 3 spot, senior Delaney Peranich and graduate Brooke Golik won the first set 21-14 but dropped set two 21-12.
Peranich played with junior Julia Soeller in the first game before switching to Golik for the GCU matchup.
Krista Rowan and Anaya Evan of GCU barely edged out the set three victory versus Peranich and Golik, 17-15, which helped them complete the 5-0 sweep.
Sunday vs. No. 2 USC
After Saturday at Mapes Beach on UCLA’s campus, the Mustangs headed to Merle Norman Stadium at USC, where against the home-team Trojans, Cal Poly could not get in a groove and fell 5-0 yet again.
Head coach Todd Rogers had Soeller back in the lineup on Sunday and has had 18 different pairings through two weeks of play.
One of those pairings is Peranich and Golik. Golik has only played four of the 13 games due to injuries and lineup mixings.
The duo of Pernaich and Golik battled yet again on court three. After dropping set one, the duo went back and forth with the Trojans in a 29-27 set two. However, this Mustang pairing along with the rest came up winless.
Sunday vs. No. 7 Stanford
Cal Poly had the best outing in its last action of the weekend, losing the matchup with the Cardinal 3-2.
The winningest duo of the season, No. 2 senior Jayelin Lombard and junior Piper Naess, flip-flopped for a 21-19 win then a 21-19 loss in the first two sets. The third set went down to the wire again, with the Mustangs coming out on top 17-15.
No. 3 Peranich and Golik also picked up a win against Stanford after a couple of narrow losses in tiebreakers throughout the weekend.
The pairing won 21-17, 21-10 for Cal Poly’s second point in the 3-2 loss to the Cardinals.
The Mustangs’ schedule should ease up slightly as they will face just one ranked opponent, No. 18 Arizona, in a four-game weekend on Saturday, March 17 and Sunday, March 18 in Tucson, Ariz.
