No. 6 ranked Cal Poly Beach Volleyball swept yet another tournament and have extended their winning streak to 14 straight after their dominant showing at the Big West Challenge from Friday, March 21 through Sunday, March 23 at the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
The Mustangs now sport a 16-2 overall record and an undefeated 7-0 record in Big West Conference play this season.
They took down Sacramento State and No. 17 Hawai’i on Friday, Cal State Bakersfield and No. 8 Long Beach State on Saturday and UC Davis and CSU Northridge to close out on Sunday.
After beginning the season ranked No. 4 in the AVCA Preseason Poll, the Mustangs may be able to jump back into that after their recent success and some losses from No. 4 USC and No. 3 TCU.
The duo of junior Izzy Martinez and sophomore Logan Walter went undefeated on the weekend. The pair also extended their win streak to 14 straight and are 17-1 together on the season.
The No. 1 pairing of Erin Inskeep and Piper Ferch had their 13-match win streak snapped after losing to No. 8 Long Beach State. However, they still went 4-1 on the weekend and sport a 14-3 record together this season.
The Mustangs started off the tournament with three more sweeps over their opponents. On Friday, they swept the Hornets (5-13, 0-6 Big West) and Rainbow Wahine (9-12, 4-2 Big West) and continued that in their first game on Saturday against the Roadrunners (8-13, 1-6 Big West).
The duos of Ferch and Inskeep and Martinez and Walter won all of their matches in straight sets during the sweeps.
The team won every single game in straight sets against Sacramento State while all but two won in straight sets against Hawai’i.
It was more of the same against CSU Bakersfield, winning every game in straight sets.
In their next match against Long Beach State, the Mustangs took care of business as every pairing won their matches except the No. 1 pairing of Inskeep and Ferch in that one.
The No. 3 pairing of redshirt junior Ella Connor and senior Madi Nichols and the No. 4 pairing of sophomore Quinn Perry and freshman Maddy Byrne both won in straight sets against the No. 8-ranked Beach.
Cal Poly kept that momentum going on Sunday, sweeping UC Davis for the second time this season and taking down CSUN 4-1.
The No. 1 through No. 4 lines all dominated the Aggies, taking their matches in straight sets.
Against the Matadors, every winner showed handled their matches. Connor and Nichols played in the No. 2 spot and won their final match of the weekend in a close final, 23-25, 21-14, 15-12.
The Mustangs will have a week break before returning to action at the third annual Best in the West Tournament at Laguna Beach from Friday, April 4 through Sunday April 6.
Cal Poly will take on more top-ranked opponents in No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Loyola Marymount University, No. 8 Long Beach State, No. 16 Stetson and No. 18 Hawai’i.
