No. 12 Cal Poly beach volleyball won two out of three conference matches on Saturday, Mar. 26 in Long Beach, Ca.
The Mustangs (14-10) shut out Cal State Bakersfield (7-9) and UC Davis (7-9) 5-0 but lost to No. 9 Hawai’i (15-6) 3-2.
Cal State Bakersfield
Cal Poly pulled out two comfortable victories from their No. 1 and No. 3 pairings to start the match. Redshirt senior Tia Miric and freshman Ella Connor won 21-12, 21-14 to give the Mustangs their first point at the No. 1 spot. Shortly after, the No. 3 duo of freshman Peyton Dueck and graduate student Addison Hermstad won 21-10, 21-15 to give Cal Poly a 2-0 advantage.
The Mustangs pulled out two more points with both their No. 4 and No. 5 pairings winning in two sets.
Cal Poly’s No. 2 duo of freshman Piper Ferch and redshirt junior Jayelin Lombard completed the shutout when they won in three close sets 22-20, 19-21, 15-13.
UC Davis
After beating Cal State Bakersfield, the Mustangs picked up back-to-back wins after not losing a single set to the Aggies and winning 5-0.
The No. 1 duo of Miric and Connor stayed hot into their next match where they convincingly won 21-6, 21-11.
The No. 3 pairing of Hermstad and Dueck won 21-10, 21-17 before the No. 4 duo of redshirt junior Vanessa Roscoe and redshirt sophomore Josie Ulrich won 21-19, 21-12.
The Mustangs picked up their last two points to give them the shutout victory when the No. 5 pairing of sophomores Sam Strah and Piper Naess won 21-13, 25-23, and Ferch and Lombard won 21-18, 21-2 at the No. 2 spot.
No. 9 Hawai’i
The Mustangs could not complete the undefeated day as they narrowly lost to Hawai’i 3-2.
Cal Poly opened the match on fire, as Hermstad and Dueck won in two sets 21-18, 21-16 at the No. 3 spot, and Lombard and Ferch won 21-19, 21-17 at the No. 2 spot to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.
However, the Mustangs could not pull out one more victory to give them the match. Hawai’i defeated Strah and Naess 21-18, 21-13 at the No. 4 spot before tying the match when Cal Poly’s No. 5 pairing of Roscoe and Ulrich lost in two sets, 21-18, 22-20.
At the No. 1 spot, Connor and Miric narrowly lost in the first set 23-21 and couldn’t force a third set as they lost 21-16 in the following set.
The Mustangs will head to Palo Alto, Ca. where they will play two matches on both Saturday, Apr. 2 and Sunday, Apr. 3. Cal Poly will face Santa Clara at 2 p.m. and Stanford at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Mustangs close out the road weekend with a 10 a.m. matchup against Saint Mary’s and a 2 p.m. rematch against UC Davis.
