Cal Poly Beach Volleyball failed to find the win column against No. 9 Hawaii and No. 14 Long Beach State at the Best in the West tournament from Saturday, March 4 to Sunday, March 5 in Laguna Beach.
The Mustangs (0-8) faced off against the Rainbow Wahine (7-3) and the Beach (2-4) on both days, falling 3-2 in both games on day one, and 5-0 to Long Beach and 4-1 to Hawaii on day two.
Saturday vs. Hawaii
In the opening game of the weekend, the Beach Bows got the best of the Mustangs, 3-2.
Hawaii got on the board with a sweep of the No. 4 pair, 21-18 and 21-19.
The No. 2 duo of senior Jayelin Lombard and junior Piper Naess got Cal Poly its first point of the day. After dropping the opening set, 25-23, the experienced Mustangs bounced back in sets two and three, winning 21-17 and 15-13, respectively.
The Beach Bows claimed wins on courts three (21-11, 21-13) and five (21-18, 21-17) to earn the overall win.
Cal Poly’s top flight wouldn’t back down, however. Sophomore Piper Ferch and freshman Izzy Martinez dropped the first set (21-19) before storming back in set two (21-10) and set three (15-12) to give the Mustangs another match point.
Saturday vs. Long Beach State
After dropping the first game of the day, Cal Poly would come up on the wrong end of a nailbiter to Long Beach, 3-2.
The Beach opened the scoring by taking the point at the fours (21-19, 21-14).
Once again, the second flight of Lombard and Naess picked up a point for the Mustangs. The duo fell in the opening set, 21-14, but came back to win 23-21 and 17-15 in sets two and three.
Another sweep from Long Beach at the threes gave them a 2-1 advantage with two courts left to finish.
Martinez and Ferch took care of business at the ones, sweeping the Beach 21-17 and 21-14 to force a winner-take-all game at the fives.
With the game on the line, the new pairing of graduate Brooke Golik and senior Kalee Graff won the opening set, 21-19. Long Beach would come back to take sets two and three, 21-16 and 15-13.
Sunday vs. Long Beach State
In game one of day two, Long Beach made quick work of Cal Poly, sweeping four of five matchups en route to handing the Mustangs a 5-0 loss.
The Beach jumped out to an early 1-0 lead following a 21-16 and 21-11 sweep at the fours.
The combination of Martinez and Ferch dropped to the No. 2 court, but couldn’t find the same success they had on day one. The duo fell in the first set, 23-21, before winning set two 21-14. In an all-or-nothing set three, the pair dropped a marathon set three, 22-20.
Long Beach would sweep the threes (21-16, 21-18), fives (21-17, 21-17) and ones (21-19, 21-19).
Sunday vs. Hawaii
Looking to salvage a game on the weekend, Hawaii sent the Mustangs home winless following a 4-1 result.
The No. 4 flight of junior Susie Lloyd and freshman Margo Smith found their first win of the weekend after sweeping the Rainbow Wahine, 22-20 and 21-19, to give Cal Poly a 1-0 advantage.
Hawaii would take the point at the twos in three sets, winning sets one and three 21-16 and 15-13, respectively.
The Beach Bows clinched the match after winning in straight sets at the ones (21-9, 21-13) and threes (21-16, 21-17).
At the fives, Hawaii took its fourth point following a three-set win (21-8, 15-21, 15-9).
Cal Poly will look to secure its first win in its first home matches of the season when they take on Utah and Santa Clara on Wednesday, March 8 at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.