Cal Poly volleyball swept Long Beach State in their Big West opener on Friday, Sept. 24 inside the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach.
The Mustangs (3-9, 1-0 Big West) cruised past the Beach (6-6, 0-1 Big West), 25-17, 25-23, 25-19. The victory snapped Cal Poly’s five-match losing streak.
After a back and forth opening set, the Mustangs had a narrow lead over the Beach, 11-10. An 8-2 run from Cal Poly surged them to a 19-12 lead and they ultimately won the set 25-17.
In set two, Long Beach jumped out to an early 4-1 lead over Cal Poly. The Mustangs then battled back to bring the match back to even at 10-10. After some more back and forth play, the Beach grabbed a 18-15 lead. However, a Long Beach service error fueled a six point swing for the Mustangs, giving them the lead at 21-18. Cal Poly then finished off Long Beach 25-23 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The Mustangs stormed out to a 4-0 lead in set three and didn’t look back. The closest Long Beach got was when they were trailing 11-9, but a 6-2 Cal Poly run kept the set out of reach. The Mustangs finished off the sweep with a 25-19 set three victory.
Redshirt senior outside hitter Jamie Stivers led the offense for Cal Poly, recording 10 kills. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Tommi Stockham and redshirt freshman middle blocker Kate Slack tallied eight and seven kills, respectively.
Junior middle blocker Meredith Phillips had eight blocks to lead the Mustang defense, which finished with 13 as a unit.
Freshman libero Peyton Dueck finished the match with 15 digs while junior defensive specialist Lea Ungar followed with 13.
Cal Poly had 37 kills as a team to go along with 11 errors as they hit .208 on the match.
The Mustangs will look to continue their early Big West success when they visit the Fullerton Titans Saturday, Sept. 25 at 5:00PM inside Titan Gym.