6-7
Alabama St.
5-11
Mustangs Pick up Two Wins Saturday at ASU Tournament
9/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
TEMPE, AZ – The Cal Poly volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on Saturday at the Arizona State Marriott Invitational. Cal Poly defeated Alabama State, 3-1 in the afternoon session and defeated Louisiana Monroe, 3-2 in the morning session. Cal Poly defeated Alabama State by set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 25-13 and 25-7.
With the wins Cal Poly improves to 6-7 on the year and will return to play with the opening of the Big West Conference season on Friday, Sept. 27 when the team will host UC Irvine at the Mott Athletics Center at 7 pm.
True freshman middle blocker Taylor Gruenewald led the team with a season-high 17 kills on 33 swings while sophomore Hannah Schleis added 12 kills. Senior Chelsea Hardin had 11 kills on 23 swings to aid in the win.
Senior Steffi Sooter paced the Mustangs with 16 digs as sophomore Nicole Kessler added 11.
Cal Poly as a team hit .268 while limiting Alabama State to just a .052 hitting percentage and held a 55-37 edge in digs.
The first set saw the team trading points until Alabama State gained a two point advantage, 9-7. The Mustangs pulled within one (12-11), but Alabama State built up a 14-11 advantage. Cal Poly battled back on a kill by Schleis and a setting error by Alabama State to tie the set at 16-16 and force a timeout. The Mustangs took their first lead of the set, 18-17, on a kill by Megan McConnell. With the Mustangs holding a 21-19 lead on a solo block by Marianne Gera, Alabama State called timeout. With set point on the line, Alabama State scored three straight points to cut the lead to one (24-23) before the Mustangs put away the set, 25-23 on a kill by Gruenewald.
Alabama State opened up a 5-0 lead before Cal Poly would get on the board in the second set. Midway through the set, Alabama State maintained a five point lead (12-7). Cal Poly cut the lead to two (13-11) with Alabama State calling a timeout. Cal Poly would tie it up (14-14) on a kill by McConnell and take a three point lead (17-14) on a kill by Gera and two errors by Alabama State, but they would rebound to score four straight points and hold an 18-17 lead and would go on to a 25-21 win in the second set.
Cal Poly moved out to a dominating 12-5 lead in the third set and expanded it to 10 points (17-7) on a Sooter ace. Out of an Alabama State timeout, Cal Poly scored the next point for a 12 point lead, 20-8, on a kill by Hardin. The Mustangs would close out the set, 25-13, on an ace by Gruenewald.
The fourth set opened with the Mustangs holding a 7-1 lead and forcing an Alabama State timeout. A kill by Gruenewald gave Cal Poly an eight point lead (10-2) as the Mustangs kept the pressure up and tacked on a few more points for a 13 point lead (14-3) behind a pair of aces by Gruenewald. Cal Poly would cruise to a 25-7 fourth set win and a 3-1 match win.
In the five set win over Louisiana Monroe in the morning session, Hardin tallied a career-high 19 kills on 35 swings while Schleis added 16 kills. Gruenewald continued her impressive play with 15 kills. Sooter led the team with 24 digs with Kessler adding 18. McConnell had 13 digs. Gruenewald had five total blocks and Schleis added three solo blocks.
Cal Poly hit .224 for the match while limiting ULM to a .132 hitting percentage. The Mustangs held a 62-47 advantage in digs and 7-5 edge in aces, but it was at the net the Mustangs dominated, outblocking ULM, 13-4.
Cal Poly broke open the first set on a kill by Gruenewald to give the Mustangs a 6-3 advantage, and maintained the margin (9-6) on a kill by Hardin. Cal Poly made it a 10 point lead (18-8) on an assisted block by McConnell and Gruenewald. The Mustangs finished out a dominating first set win, 25-14. Gruenewald had five kills to pace the Mustangs.
The second set opened where the first ended, with Gruenewlad recording a kill for a 4-1 Cal Poly lead. A kill by Hardin gave the Mustangs an 11-7 lead forcing a ULM timeout. The Mustangs built a 15-8 advantage on a service ace by Sooter. Cal Poly would go on to close out the second set, 25-15.
In the third set, ULM gained a two point advantage, 6-4, early in the set with the Mustangs calling a timeout. The Mustangs eventually tied up the set, 12-12, on a kill by McConnell and an attack error by ULM. The teams traded points until ULM gained a two point advantage, 19-17. Cal Poly would battle back and tie the set, 20-20, and after going down two again, the Mustangs would fight back to tie it up again at 22-22. But ULM to finish off the set, 25-23 to force a fourth set.
In the fourth set ULM gained an early three point lead, 5-2. The Mustangs would tie it up, 6-6, on a kill by Schleis and an attack error by ULM. After a brief Cal Poly lead on a Hardin kill, ULM would retake the lead, 9-8. Cal Poly would score three straight points to hold a 13-12 lead on kills by Hardin, Gruenewald and McConnell and Mustangs gained a two point advantage, 16-14, on a kill by Schleis. Out of a timeout, ULM tied the set at 16-16, and took an 18-16 lead on a 4-0 run. ULM would go on to finish the set, 25-19, and force a deciding fifth set.
The Mustangs opened the fifth set on a kill by Hardin, but the teams traded points until Cal Poly edged out to a 4-2 lead on a Gruenewald kill and expanded the lead to 7-3 on a Schleis kill and attack error by ULM, forcing a timeout. ULM called its second timeout when the Mustangs upped the led to six (9-3) on a solo block by Schleis. A kill by Hardin put Cal Poly up 13-6 and the Mustangs closed out the set and the match on another kill by Hardin.
