Cal Poly Beach Volleyball will compete in the Big West Championship from April 25 to April 26 in Long Beach.
The Mustangs have significantly improved from last season. In 2023, the team finished with an underwhelming 15-25 record. This season, the Mustangs have a 27-5 record and are the No. 1 seed in the Big West.
Coming into the year, the Mustangs were ranked No. 20 in the country, but at their highest ranking, the Mustangs were No. 4 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. They now come into the Big West Championship ranked No. 5
The team has key wins over ranked opponents, including No. 6 TCU, No. 7 Long Beach State, No. 8 Cal, No. 9 LMU, and No. 11 Hawaii.
The Mustangs also won 16 matches in a row, which was the longest win streak in the nation at the time.
Despite a rocky regular season, in the 2023 Big West Championship, the Mustangs played six matches in two days. They made their way through the Elimination Bracket Finals to the championship matchup against Long Beach State.
The Mustangs ultimately fell to the No. 11 ranked Long Beach State in a 4-1 decision.
This season, Cal Poly and Long Beach State have split the season series. The Mustangs took the first matchup 4-1, but Long Beach won the second competition 3-2.
New Mustangs make their championship debut
Cal Poly Beach Volleyball welcomed eleven new players this year: nine freshmen, two transfers and one graduate transfer.
Three noteworthy players in the Mustangs’ string of victories are three freshmen: Erin Inskeep, Quinn Perry and Logan Walter.
Since the beginning of their season, all three have been paired with one returner and have played in nearly every matchup.
Walter and Perry earned Big West Pair of the Week twice with their respective partners.
Walter earned the title with her partner, senior Piper Naess, after the Center of Effort Challenge after going a perfect 4-0 over the tournament weekend.
Perry and graduate transfer Lindsey Sparks claimed their own Big West Pair of the Week after beating pairings from No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 USC and No. 8 California during the Battle for LA on March 1.
Inskeep and her partner, junior Piper Ferch, ended their regular overall season record 26-4, which is the best record out of any pairing on the team.
While the Mustangs fell in the overall matchup Inskeep and Ferch have taken down pairings from highly-ranked teams such as UCLA and USC.
The top pairing
Redshirt sophomore Ella Connor and sophomore Izzy Martinez have dominated at the No. 1 pairing and have an overall record of 23-7.
In an interview on The Gallop podcast in April, Martinez said the team’s struggles last year helped build her confidence.
“Last year we definitely had a couple of beatdowns,” Martinez said. “I think it made me so much more confident in my game because I was basically getting served almost every single game.”
This year, Martinez says her mentality has changed to one where she “dares” opponents to serve her.
“I feel so confident that I’m going to put this ball away if you serve me right now. I think that’s been the mantra of our team this year in comparison to last year.”
Cal Poly will start the tournament against the No. 5 CSUN (16-18) at 10:45 a.m. and end the day against the No. 4 UC Davis (16-15) at 5 p.m.