Throwback Team Thursday: Cal Poly Volleyball’s Historic 2017 Season
11/19/2020 9:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Presented by CalPortland
EDITOR'S NOTE: Each Thursday from September through mid-December, Cal Poly Athletics will revisit a notable program from the department's history in the Throwback Team Thursday series presented by CalPortland.
It was an accomplishment that was a product of years of hard work, improvement, and a willingness to trust in the process. Nearly three years ago to the day, on November 18, 2017, the Cal Poly volleyball program won its first Big West Championship in a decade in what was one of the best teams in the program's history.
The 2017 team finished with an overall record of 27-3, the best by winning percentage in program history. How did they do it? Lets's take a stroll down memory lane of that season.
In 2015 and 2016, the Mustangs were knocking on the door of the top teams in the Big West, finishing third in each of those seasons. However, the 2017 team was loaded with All-Conference players who were now upperclassmen. The talent level was taken to another level when the program announced that Torrey Van Winden, who had been a First Team All-PAC 12 performer the prior season as a freshman at UCLA, would be transferring to Cal Poly.
To begin the 2017 season, Cal Poly went to the Northern Illinois Invitational, winning it by sweeping all three matches, with two of those wins coming against teams who had won their conference the year before. Their only two losses of the non-conference schedule came against two PAC-12 teams who were ranked inside the top 15 of the AVCA Top 25 Poll.
The marquee win of the non-conference schedule was a 3-2 victory over No. 23 Wichita State in Eugene, Ore. in which the Mustangs came back from down 0-2 to reverse sweep the Shockers. Cal Poly finished non-conference play with a 10-2.
Once conference play began, the Mustangs won their first five matches, dropping just one set in that span. That then set up a road matchup against the team that had won the conference the previous two seasons, Hawai'i. It was a highly-anticipated match with both teams coming into with a 5-0 Big West record.
Just like the Wichita State match, Cal Poly dropped the first two sets before coming back to win the next three and beat the Rainbow Wahine for the fifth time in program history and first since 2006. That win would catapult the Mustangs into a No. 24 ranking in the AVCA Top 25 poll, the first time the Mustangs were in it since 2008.
From that point, Cal Poly won its next four matches, once again dropping just one set during that time before facing Hawai'i again, but this time at Mott Athletics Center. A win would allow the Mustangs to control their own destiny for a conference title.
In front of the first sell out at Mott since 2006, each of the first three sets were close with the final score being 25-23 in each one. Heading into the fourth set, Hawai'i held a 2-1 sets advantage. The Mustangs won the fourth to force a deciding fifth set that would go down to the wire. Cal Poly went to win the fifth set 17-15 to sweep the season series with the Rainbow Wahine for the first time since 1985 and record its first-ever home victory over Hawai'i.
The Mustangs rolled through the rest of the conference season with sheer ease on their way to completing the program's first undefeated Big West record at 16-0 and won its first Big West title since 2007. That earned them an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament which saw them headed down to Westwood, Calif. for the first two rounds.
The Mustangs drew Denver in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the UCLA sub-regional. Despite only one member of the team, Torrey Van Winden having any NCAA Tournament experience, you wouldn't have known that watching them against the Pioneers. Cal Poly won each of the first three sets to sweep Denver and advance to the second round of the tournament.
The Mustangs would go against the school Torrey Van Winden transferred from in UCLA in a match that was built up by both fans and media. In what should have been a true road match for the Mustangs playing on UCLA's home floor, many loyal Cal Poly volleyball fans and even alumni of the band made the trip to Westwood to loudly cheer on the Mustangs. Both teams played world-class, high level volleyball. Cal Poly won a closely contested first set but lost the next three to finish the season with a 27-3 record and ended the year ranked No. 23 in the AVCA Top 25 poll.
Following the fantastic season, senior setter Taylor Nelson was named Big West Player of the Year. Nelson, along with fellow seniors in middle blocker Savannah Niemen and outside hitter Raeann Greisen, junior outside hitter Adlee Van Winden and sophomore opposite hitter Torrey Van Winden were all named First Team All-Big West. Junior libero Katherine Brouker was named Honorable Mention All-Big West and freshman middle blocker Madilyn Mercer was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.
A few weeks later, Nelson and both Van Winden sisters were all named AVCA All-Region and AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans.
Statistically that season, Cal Poly ranked amongst the country's best in multiple categories. As a team, they ranked second in the nation in kills per set, fourth in assists per set and seventh in hitting percentage, good for first in all those categories in the Big West. Individually, Taylor Nelson finished fifth in the nation in assists per set (11.84), first in the Big West. Torrey Van Winden finished sixth in the nation in kills per set (4.72), second in the Big West and Savannah Niemen finished 16th in the nation in hitting percentage (.396), first in the Big West.
Some of the other historical accomplishments the 2017 team did included: an undefeated home record for the first time since 2007, a 22-match winning streak (the longest in program history), being ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since 2008 and the first appearance and win in the NCAA Tournament since 2007.
It is a team that without a doubt will go down as one of the best that Cal Poly has ever had.
