Cal Poly Beach Volleyball earned its first wins of the season against Santa Clara and Utah on Wednesday, March 8 at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
The Mustangs (2-8) took down the Broncos (2-4) by a score of 3-2, before putting away the Utes (4-8), 4-1, under the lights.
Game One vs. Santa Clara
In the first game of the doubleheader, Cal Poly edged out Santa Clara, 3-2, for its first win of the season.
Junior Piper Naess and senior Jayelin Lombard picked up the opening point for Cal Poly at the twos, sweeping straight sets (21-10, 21-9).
Santa Clara bounced back by taking the point on court five.
At the threes, senior Delaney Peranich and graduate Brooke Golik completed the two-set sweep (21-14, 21-8).
The Mustangs fell on court four (24-22, 21-18) to force a winner-take-all battle on court one.
Sophomore Piper Ferch and freshman Izzy Martinez exchanged the opening sets with Santa Clara, winning set one 21-19 and dropping set two 21-12. In the deciding third set, the established top Mustang pairing took care of business, 15-9.
Game Two vs. Utah
Under the Swanson lights, Cal Poly made quick work of Utah, winning 4-1 to close out the three-team round-robin.
Naess and Lombard opened the scoring once again with their second sweep of the night (21-7, 21-11). Ferch and Martinez then swept the Broncos on court one (21-13, 21-16) to give Cal Poly an early 2-0 advantage.
The Utes needed three sets to pick up a point on court four (18-21, 21-13, 16-14).
Freshman Addie Bounds and senior Kalee Graff earned the match point for the Mustangs on court five. The duo dropped the first set 21-16 before winning the second (21-18) and the third (15-8) sets, clinching the victory for Cal Poly.
On court three, Peranich and new partner, junior Julia Soeller, exchanged set victories with Utah to earn Cal Poly’s fourth point. The flight won set one (21-18), lost set two (21-13) and bounced back with a win in set three (15-9).
Cal Poly will look to keep this momentum rolling when they take on No. 3 UCLA, No. 6 Grand Canyon, No. 2 USC and No. 7 Stanford in the Battle of LA tournament from Saturday, March 11 to Sunday, March 12.
