After one day of Big West Beach Volleyball Championships action, No. 1-seeded Cal Poly will move on to the semifinals with a completely unblemished record, having won every individual match on Thursday, April 24, in Santa Monica, Calif.
The No. 6-ranked Mustangs (28-6) came into the opening round as favorites against No. 5 seed UC Davis and No. 4 seed CSUN, and swept both opponents 5-0.
The Mustangs are on the hunt for the first Big West Title since they three-peated in 2019, 2021 and 2022, with 2020 being a year off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A win this year would be their fourth conference title in program history.
Despite finishing third nationally last season, they came up short against Big West opponent Long Beach State.
The Beach handed the Mustangs a surprise loss at the Best of the West tournament on April 6, despite them coming in as the underdog as the No. 11 team in the nation.
Cal Poly could have a shot at redemption in the championship round, depending on how the Beach fare in their Pool B match on day two.
It wasn’t a surprising outcome for the Mustangs, who in the past 10 matches against either opponent have lost a combined total of once.
The Mustangs only went to the third set once in each of the matches, with the No. 3 pairing of graduate student Lindsey Sparks and sophomore Quinn Perry coming out victorious both times in the final frame.
All four of the other Mustang pairs were completely unbeaten in sets through both matches.
No. 1 pairing of sophomore Erin Inskeep and senior Piper Ferch became the program’s all-time winningest pair, reaching 56 career victories.
The No. 4 pairing of senior Madi Nichols and redshirt junior Ella Connor moved to 16-5 on the year. Both had reached the 75 career win milestone earlier in the week.
The Mustangs will open semifinal play at 11 a.m. on April 25, facing the winner of CSU Bakersfield and CSUN.
The winner will move on to the championship round starting at 2:15 p.m.