Cal Poly Beach Volleyball won all five matches they played in the Big West Challenge on March 26 and 27 inside the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex. The five victories extended the Mustangs’ win streak to 10.
CSU Bakersfield
Cal Poly (13-3) opened the tournament against CSU Bakersfield (2-6). The Mustangs swept the Roadrunners en route to their first victory of the tournament.
The Big West pair of the week of redshirt junior Macy Gordon and redshirt senior Emily Sonny opened the match with a sweep at the No. 1 court, 21-8 and 21-12. The No. 4 pairing of redshirt sophomore Vanessa Roscoe and redshirt freshman Josie Ulrich followed with a sweep of their own, 21-12 and 21-12.
Redshirt senior Amy Ozee and redshirt sophomore Jayelin Lombard defeated the Roadrunners 21-18 and 21-9 at the No. 2 court. Freshman Piper Naess and redshirt sophomore Hannah Rogers secured a win as the No. 5 pair with scores of 21-17 and 21-14.
The No. 3 pair of freshman Sam Strah and redshirt sophomore Eleonore Johansen won set one 21-7, but dropped set two 12-21. The duo bounced back and secured the Mustangs’ sweep in set three, winning 15-5.
UC Davis
In their second match of the day, the Mustangs battled UC Davis (3-10). Cal Poly defeated the Aggies by a score of 5-0.
The No. 3 duo of redshirt junior Tia Miric and redshirt junior Mariah Whalen swept the Aggies 21-12 and 21-12. Gordon and Sonny continued their dominance on the No. 1 court, winning 21-14 and 21-9.
Roscoe and Ulrich grabbed another sweep as the No. 5 pair, 21-13 and 25-23. The No. 2 pairing of Ozee and Lombard won set one 21-15. After dropping set two 19-21, the duo came back to win set three 15-12.
The No. 4 pair of Strah and Johansen won set one 21-14, and fell in set two, 23-25. They locked up another sweep for the Mustangs after they won set three, 20-18.
#19 Long Beach State
Cal Poly finished day one with a ranked matchup with #19 Long Beach State (10-7). The Mustangs downed the Beach 4-1 and snagged their fourth win against a ranked opponent.
The No. 3 pair of Miric and Whalen grabbed the first win for Cal Poly, winning 21-13 and 21-13. Ozee and Lombard defeated the Beach at the No. 2 court, 22-20 and 21-18.
The No. 4 duo of Strah and Johansen won set one 21-17 but could not hold on, dropping sets two and three by scores of 14-21 and 15-17. At the No. 5 court, Roscoe and Ulrich fell in set one, 18-21, but came back in sets two and three, winning 21-11 and 17-15.
Gordon and Sonny were defeated in set one 16-21. However,the strong No. 1 pair won set two 21-13 and set three 15-13 to finish off a perfect day one for the Mustangs.
CSUN
Cal Poly started day two with a match against the CSUN Matadors (5-9). The Mustangs swept CSUN with all pairs winning in straight sets.
The No. 1 pair of Gordon and Sonny started the sweep, winning 21-10 and 21-12. Ozee and Lombard grabbed a second point at the No. 2 court, winning 21-16 and 21-7.
Strah and Johansen dominated at the No. 3 court, winning 21-6 and 21-9. Redshirt freshman Laurie McGrath and redshirt sophomore Erika Foreman saw their first action of the weekend as the No. 4 pair. The duo won 21-19 and 26-24.
Redshirt sophomore Delaney Peranich and redshirt sophomore Kalee Graff finished off the sweep, downing the Matadors 22-20 and 21-16.
#10 Hawaii
In their final match of the Big West Challenge, Cal Poly faced #10 Hawaii. The Mustangs defeated the Beachbows 3-2 to capture their second top-10 victory of the season.
The dominant No. 1 pair of Gordon and Sonny swept Hawaii by scores of 21-14 and 21-19. The duo is now 12-3 on the season and have won nine of their last ten matches. The No. 5 pairing of Roscoe and Ulrich grabbed their fourth win of the weekend, sweeping the Beachbows 21-17 and 21-19. They are 8-4 when playing together and have won six in a row.
The No. 3 pair of Miric and Whalen secured the victory for the Mustangs when they downed their opponents by scors of 21-11 and 21-18. The pair moves to 5-2 on the season and won all three of their matches on the weekend. Ozee and Lombard fell at the No. 2 court by scores of 22-24 and 16-21. They are 10-5 when playing together.
The No. 4 duo of Strah and Johansen fell 12-21 and 20-22 in their final match of the weekend. They are 7-3 on the season.
The Mustangs will travel to Palo Alto on Saturday, April 3 to battle #18 Stanford and #11 California.