1-1
Dayton
2-0
Cal Poly Opens Season with Back-to-Back Sweeps at NIU Invitational
8/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
DeKALB, Ill. — Opening the 2017 season with two straight matches against defending conference champions on Friday, the Cal Poly volleyball team came away with back-to-back sweeps on Day 1 of the Northern Illinois Holiday Inn Express Invitational, 3-0 over both Dayton (of the Atlantic-10) and High Point (Big South).
In the tournament's morning opener at Victor E. Court inside NIU Convocation Center, the Mustangs won 25-19, 28-26, 25-18 over the Flyers, before topping the Panthers 25-20, 27-25, 25-19 in the evening.
Dayton, which went 30-2 overall in 2016 (including 14-0 in conference play before also claiming the A-10 tournament crown), came into this week effectively No. 28 in the AVCA rankings (third in the Top 25 others-receiving-votes category).
The Flyers took a 9-6 lead in the opening set on a service ace, but the Mustangs quickly came back, using a 4-0 run to pull in front thanks to a UD attacking error, a kill by Adlee Van Winden, an ace by Katherine Brouker, and a kill by Taylor Nelson.
Although Dayton would tie it 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12, Raeann Greisen then landed a kill off a Nelson assist to provide Cal Poly the lead for good.
In Set 2, the Flyers recovered by getting out to a 10-5 advantage, but Cal Poly responded with a 9-1 surge to go up 14-11. After trailing 22-17, Dayton fought back to deadlock the score at 24-all. The Flyers found themselves with a set-point opportunity after going ahead 26-25, but Cal Poly stayed alive with a tying Nelson-to-Van Winden connection, and then following back-to-back serves by Brouker, got two more consecutive Van Winden kills off Nelson assists to clinch the game.
Dayton began the decisive third set with the initial three points, but the Mustangs suddenly reeled off a 7-0 run and never looked back.
Adlee Van Winden finished with a team-high 17 kills in the first win, while Greisen (who entered the season among the top 35 in the NCAA in career kills) had 14, and Torrey Van Winden — making her Cal Poly debut upon transferring from UCLA and joining her sister with the Mustangs — added 11.
Savannah Niemen hit a team-leading .750 (6 kills in 8 attacks) in the victory, while Brouker led the defense with 11 digs. Nelson set for 41 assists. After ranking No. 6 nationally as a junior with 11.64 assists per set, her average was 13.7 in Friday's opener.
In the nightcap vs. High Point — 23-10 a year ago before winning their conference tournament title over regular-season champion Radford — the Mustangs got out to a 9-3 lead in the initial set.
Although HPU battled back to tie Game 1 at 16, prompting a Mustang timeout, Cal Poly scored the next six points out of the break to take command, ultimately sealing it on a Nelson set that found Torrey Van Winden for the kill.
While the next game featured seven ties, Cal Poly never trailed in either of the ensuing sets.
Tied at 25 in Set 2, the Mustangs got another kill from Adlee Van Winden before clinching on a Panther attacking error. They led by as many as six points on two occasions in the final game (9-3 and 20-14) before closing with four straight points: an Adlee Van Winden kill, an attacking error, a kill by Torrey Van Winden, and an error.
Adlee Van Winden again posted 17 kills, while Torrey added 12. In addition to 34 assists, Nelson's nine digs also were a team-high.
Nelson moved from No. 6 to 5 in school history in career assists — now with 3,159 (204 back of fourth all-time).
Cal Poly, picked second in the Big West Conference's preseason coaches poll, will return Saturday to face the hosting Huskies at 5 p.m. PDT.
