Cal Poly Beach Volleyball dropped three of their four matchups against ranked opponents in Los Angeles on Saturday, Mar. 5 and Sunday, Mar. 6.
The Mustangs (2-6) took down No. 14 Long Beach State (1-7), but fell to No. 8 Stanford (4-4), No. 7 Grand Canyon (5-2) and No. 2 UCLA (9-0).
Saturday vs No. 8 Stanford
Cal Poly went head to head against the Stanford Cardinal and fell by a score of 3-2 at the Merle Norman Stadium at USC to open up the weekend on Saturday.
This was the first time these two teams faced off since the 2021 NCAA Championships.
Stanford secured their first win of the matchup after the pairing of Charlie Ekstrom and Katie Reilly took down freshman Piper Ferch and redshirt junior Jayelin Lombard by scores of 21-8 and 21-15 at the No. 2 spot.
The Cardinal got their second win thanks to Emma Morris and Taylor Wilson, who beat redshirt juniors Eleanore Johansen and Delaney Peranich at the No. 4 spot 23-21 and 21-18.
The game-winning point for Stanford came after Maya Harvery and Emma Sharp won the No.3 matchup against graduate Addison Hermstad and redshirt sophomore Josie Ulrich by scores of 21-7 and 21-11.
The two Mustang points came from victories at the No. 1 and No. 5 courts.
In the No. 5 spot, freshman Peyton Dueck and redshirt junior Vanessa Roscoe secured a win over Maddie Dailey and Camdyn Doucet in three sets, 21-19, 19-21, 18-16.
At the No. 1 spot, Mustang redshirt senior Tia Miric and freshman Ella Connor defeated Xolani Hodel and Maddie Kriz 22-20, 17-20, 15-11.
Saturday vs No.14 Long Beach
After the opening match loss, the Mustangs went to Mapes Beach on UCLA’s campus to compete against Long Beach State, where they took down the Beach 3-2.
Cal Poly got their first point from the No. 2 spot thanks to a win from the pairing of Ferch and Lombard, who took down Nicci Reinking and Katie Kennedy.
Long Beach then picked up a point at the No.4 spot to even the score up at 1-1
Cal Poly responded with another point at the No.1 spot, as Miric and Connor beat Skyler Germann and Alice Pratesi to get their second win as a duo on the day.
Long Beach then tied things up after a victory at the No.3 spot, leaving the game in the hands of the No. 5 duo of Roscoe and Dueck.
After losing the first set by a score of 21-17, Roscoe and Dueck road back and won the last two 23-21 and 15-13 to secure the match victory for the Mustangs at 3-2.
Sunday vs. No. 7 GCU
On the second day of the tournament, Cal Poly fell 3-2 against Grand Canyon University.
Cal Poly struck first in the No.4 spot, with Dueck and Hermsta taking 22-20 and 21-15 victories.
However, the Lopes came out on top at the No. 2, No. 5 and No. 3 spots to secure the victory over the Mustangs.
At the No.1 spot, Connor and Miric finished their matchup with 21-19 and 21-18 victories over Anaya Evans and Jess Vastine to bring the final score to 3-2. The duo of Conor and Miric went 3-1 the whole weekend.
Sunday vs. No. 2 UCLA
In the final matchup of the weekend, the Mustangs fell by a score of 4-1 to UCLA.
The Bruins made quick work of Cal Poly, as they secured the victory early by sweeping the first three matchups of the day.
The only point for the Mustangs came at the No.5 spot, where Roscoe and Ulrich took down Marlie Monserez and Jessie Smith 24-22, 17-21, 15-11.
Cal Poly will hame their home opener on Friday, Mar. 11 when they take on San Jose State at 4 p.m. and Loyola Marymount at 7 p.m. at the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex on Cal Poly’s campus.