Cal Poly Beach Volleyball Splits at Season Opener

Thursday, March 2

9 am

CSU Bakersfield

Cal Poly Beach Volleyball Splits at Season Opener

3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Beach Volleyball

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly beach volleyball team went 1-1 in its season opener, as they beat CSU Bakersfield 4-1, and fell to No. 4 UCLA 4-1 Thursday afternoon at Pismo Beach.

The Mustangs started their 2017 season off on a strong note, as they beat the Roadrunners 4-1, which puts them at 1-0 in conference play.

The No. 1 team of Emily Sonny and Hannah Hubbard put up a fight against Bakersfield's Carol Grasso and Sara Little, pushing them to three sets but falling 21-17, 17-21, 15-9.

Taylor Nelson and Adlee Van Winden, the Mustangs' No. 2 pair beat Jocelyn Rodrigues and Ashley Prater 21-11, 21-12, while the No. 3 pair of Raeann Greisen and Heather Pembroke easily defeated Sarah Garrow and Mattison DeGarmo 21-8, 21-11.

Savannah Niemen and Anna Gorman picked up another easy win, as the No. 4 team defeated Madison Busler and Hannah Manzanares 21-8, 21-10.

The sibling duo and the Mustangs' No. 5 pair of Brayden and Taylor Gruenewald picked up another point for the Mustangs after they beat Ally Barber and Kayla Tinker 21-14, 22-20.

After picking up their first win of the season, the Mustangs continued their season opener against No. 4 UCLA.

Cal Poly fought hard against the UCLA, but could not keep up the pace with the ranked team.

The Mustangs' match against the Bruins was unique because it had three sets of sisters, including the Gruenewalds from Cal Poly, the McNamara's from UCLA and a split with the Van Windens.

Sonny and Hubbard took on Megan and Nicole McNamara at the No. 1 spot but fell 21-15, 21-11 while Nelson and Van Winden fell to Madi Yeomans and Kamila Tan 21-16, 21-15.

Greisen and Pembroke took on Torrey Van Winden and Savvy Simo but fell 21-15, 21-16. After a hard fought match, Niemen and Gorman fell to Izzy Carey and Elise Zappia 21-19, 21-13.

After two close sets, The Gruenewalds, and the Mustangs' No. 5 pair, took down Chanti Holroyd and Lilly Justine after, 21-19, 21-19.

The Mustangs are now 1-1 on the season and will be back on the sand on Saturday March 4 to take on Pacific and Stanford, and then on Sunday to take on St. Mary's and Cal at Stanford.