No. 6 Mustangs Finish Weekend in Phoenix With Pair of Shutouts

Saturday, March 7

Phoenix, AZ

10 am

San Diego Community College

No. 6 Mustangs Finish Weekend in Phoenix With Pair of Shutouts

3/7/2020 12:00:00 AM | Beach Volleyball

PHOENIX — After blanking both No. 7 Grand Canyon and Houston Baptist on Friday, the Cal Poly beach volleyball squad returned on Saturday to do the same thing, shutting out both San Diego Community College and Abilene Christian University 5-0 to wrap up their tournament at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix undefeated.

For the No. 6 Mustangs, the match against San Diego Community College did not count toward either their pair or overall records. However, their win over Wildcats (2-8) is their fifth in a row and pushes their record to 7-2.

In the first match of the day against SDCC, Cal Poly's lineup had five pairs playing together for the first time this season, with each of them winning in straight sets.

The No. 2 pairing of junior Macy Gordon and sophomore Jayelin Lombard got things started for the Mustangs with a 21-19, 21-11 victory. That was followed by sophomore Vanessa Roscoe and redshirt sophomore Hannah Rogers getting a 21-8, 21-14 win from the No. 4 position.

The pairing of sophomores Delaney Peranich and Kalee Graff then won their match at the No. 5 spot, 21-11, 21-9. At the No. 3 slot, seniors Emily Sonny and Brayden Gruenewald teamed up to win their match 21-14, 21-12. That was followed a short time later by a 21-10, 21-14 win at the No. 1 position by senior Torrey Van Winden and junior Tia Miric, who played together during the 2017 season.

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A little bit later in the day, Cal Poly returned to the courts to take on Abilene Christian and played just as strong as it did against San Diego Community College, not dropping a single set in all five matches.

The Mustangs also mixed up their lineup against the Wildcats, with the top two pairs the same as Friday but three, four and five all different.

The No. 2 pairing of Torrey Van Winden and Macy Gordon won the first match in what was Cal Poly's most dominant win of the season. They held Abilene Christian's No. 2 pair to a combined 10 points in two sets, winning 21-16, 21-4. They are now 5-4 so far this season together, including 3-0 from the No. 2 position in the lineup.

Teaming up together for the first time this season, Peranich and Gruenewald put the Mustangs up 2-0 after a dominant 21-18, 21-7 victory. The match was clinched after Lombard and Roscoe, also playing together for the first time this season, won their match at the No. 2 spot 21-8, 21-11.

Cal Poly's No. 1 pair of Miric and junior Mariah Whalen moved to a team-best record 8-1 after a 21-12, 21-12 victory. The sweep was sealed by another pair playing together for the first time. Graff and senior Heather Pembroke each got their first wins this season after a 21-18, 21-6 win.

The No. 6 Mustangs will look to keep things rolling next Saturday when they travel to Malibu, Calif. to take on three teams who were all ranked in this past week's AVCA Top 20 poll. Cal Poly will see No. 9 Pepperdine once again after the Mustangs beat them last weekend in San Luis Obispo. They will also face the defending national champions in No. 2 UCLA and No. 18 Georgia State.