Cal Poly volleyball fell three sets to one against Utah Valley on Monday, Aug. 29 at the Lockhart Arena.
The Mustangs (0-3) have yet to find a win in the early marks of the season and the Wolverine victory (1-3) notches them their first win at the start of the 2022 campaign.
Cal Poly started the first set with a lead until the Wolverines went on a 6-1 run to go up 9-5. This deficit was never recovered for the Mustangs, as the closest Cal Poly made the set was 18-15 before a 25-18 loss.
The Mustangs got a slight lead in the second set at 8-7 and continued with a 4-1 run to make it 12-8. The Wolverines bounce back with their own 5-1 run to tie it at 13-13 halfway through set two. The set was back and forth before it was all squared up at 21-21. The Mustangs scored twice more to make it 23-21 – putting them two points from a set victory and tied match.
However, Utah Valley did not go down without a fight. The Wolverines tied it at 24-24, then All-American senior right-side hitter Maia Dvoracek and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Tommi Stockham slammed consecutive kills to win the set.
Dvoracek ended the game with 10 kills, three aces and two blocks. Stockham had eight kills, one ace and a block on her stat line. Dvoracek also led the team with 12 digs.
Tied at one set apiece, the match became a best of three. Utah Valley took an early lead in set three until the Mustangs scored four straight to take a 9-6 advantage. The score was later 17-16 in favor of the Wolverines. From this point on, Utah Valley went on a 4-1 run to make it 21-17. That was followed by a Mustang push to make it a two-point game at 22-20, but Utah Valley closed it out at 25-21.
The Mustangs fought in a must-win set four until it sat tied 10-10. From this point, Cal Poly went on a 7-3 run to make it 17-13. The Wolverines answered by clawing back to within two at 23-21. From there on, Utah Valley only let up one point in a come-from-behind victory to take the match with a 25-23 set-four victory.
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Kate Slack had six kills and a team-high five blocks, while redshirt freshman Liz Markovska had six kills as well in her third game of collegiate volleyball.
The Mustangs’ season will continue on the road at the University of Washington Tournament where they will face Northwestern, Pepperdine and Washington in a two-day affair on Thursday, Sept. 8 and Friday, Sept. 9.