Friday, April 16
San Luis Obispo, Calif.
3:30 P.M.
vs
USC
Photo by: Photo By: Photography805/ Nathan
No. 6 Mustangs Hosting Four Top 10 Teams This Weekend For Center of Effort Challenge
4/13/2021 3:52:00 PM | Beach Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Coming off winning two of three road matches over No. 14 Hawai'i last weekend, the Cal Poly beach volleyball team returns home this weekend to host four other top 10 teams for the second annual Center of Effort Beach Volleyball Challenge at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
The No. 6 Mustangs (16-5), will welcome in No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 USC, No. 5 Loyola Marymount University, and No. 8 Grand Canyon for the Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17 event.
On Friday, Cal Poly will take on the No. 2 Trojans (18-2) at 3:30 p.m. followed by No. 9 Grand Canyon (16-5) at 6:30 p.m. Then on Saturday, the Mustangs will face the No. 1 Bruins (19-1) at 2 p.m. followed by No. 5 LMU (20-2) at 5 p.m.
There will be five total matches played each day. A full schedule of each day's matches can be found below. For fans who are not able to attend in person, they will be able to watch the matches taking place on court 1 HERE. For the Cal Poly matches, fans can also follow the Cal Poly beach volleyball twitter account (@calpolybeach) for live updates throughout each match.
The Center of Effort Beach Volleyball Challenge will be an annual event, attracting top collegiate volleyball programs to San Luis Obispo and becoming a premier in-season tournament in collegiate beach volleyball. Center of Effort's vintners, Bill and Cheryl Swanson, are supporters of the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex and have been instrumental in the vision for this weekend's event.
At last year's inaugural Center of Effort Challenge, the Mustangs beat both No. 6 Pepperdine and No. 9 LMU.
Since the Mustangs began playing at the state-of-the-art Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in 2020, they are 9-0 in dual matches. That includes winning both of their matches there last season and 7-0 this season. This will be the fourth event ever hosted at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
Winners of 13 of their last 15 matches, Cal Poly heads into the weekend coming off taking two of three dual matches last weekend over No. 14 Hawai'i in Honolulu. The Mustangs won the first two matches of the tri-dual 3-2 and 4-1 before falling in the weekend finale 0-5. In the four matches Cal Poly faced Hawai'i this season, the Mustangs won three of those and have beat them in six of the last eight matches dating back to 2019. Cal Poly is 8-5 this season against other ranked opponents.
Sixth-year head coach Todd Rogers will head into this weekend's matches seeking to reach the 100 career wins milestone. Rogers currently sits at 98 wins and has a career record of 98-61, including a 75-26 record since 2018.
No. 2 USC is coming off a 4-0 weekend that saw them collect wins over No. 11 Cal, Washington, No. 7 Stanford, and Arizona State. This will be the second time the Mustangs will face the Trojans. USC beat Cal Poly 5-0 when the two teams faced each other on March 4 in Los Angeles. The Mustangs will be seeking the program's first win over the Trojans, who own a 4-0 career series record.
No. 8 Grand Canyon is also coming off a 4-0 weekend in Northridge in which they beat No. 16 Long Beach State twice and CSUN twice. While this will be the first time the two teams will play each other this season, the Mustangs own a 4-1 series record over the Lopes and have won the last four matches will the last season when Cal Poly won 5-0.
No. 1 UCLA, still the defending national champions after winning it in 2019, is currently riding a 16-match winning streak. The Bruins are coming off a 4-0 weekend of their own in which they beat Arizona State, No. 7 Stanford, Washington, and No. 12 Arizona. Cal Poly fell to the Bruins 0-5 when the two teams faced each other earlier this season on March 4 in Los Angeles. Cal Poly will be seeking the program's first win over UCLA, which holds a 5-0 series record.
No. 5 LMU is coming off a 4-0 week last week in which they beat Pacific, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Saint Mary's and are currently on a 12-match win streak. The Mustangs own a 4-3 advantage in the career series with the Lions. Cal Poly has won the last two meetings, with the last coming by way of a 3-2 win on Feb. 29 in San Luis Obispo at the inaugural Center of Effort Challenge.
Leading the way for the Mustangs this season has been the No. 1 pairing of redshirt senior Emily Sonny and redshirt junior Macy Gordon. The duo is a team-best 15-5 together this year. They currently rank second in program history for career pair wins with 31 together. They also each hold the top two spots in the program record book for career individual wins with Sonny holding the top spot at 93 and Gordon in second 71.
Also having very good seasons so far have been the No. 2 pairing of redshirt sophomore Jayelin Lombard and graduate transfer Amy Ozee, the No. 3 duo of redshirt juniors Tia Miric and Mariah Whalen and the No. 4 pair of redshirt sophomore Vanessa Roscoe and redshirt freshman Josie Ulrich. Lombard and Ozee are 13-7 together so far this year, the second most wins on the team. Miric and Whalen are 8-4 together this season and have a career pair record of 16-5 after going 8-1 last season. Miric ranks fourth in program history for career individual wins with 63. Roscoe and Ulrich are 10-5 together this season, which includes a 6-0 record at the No. 5 spot and a 4-5 record at the No. 4 spot in the lineup.
Following this weekend's event, Cal Poly will play its final two matches of the regular season on April 24 when hosting Santa Clara and Saint Mary's for a pair of matches at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
Friday, April 16:
12:30 p.m.: No. 2 USC vs. No. 5 LMU
2:00 p.m.: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
3:30 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 2 USC
5:00 p.m.: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 5 LMU
6:30 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
Saturday, April 17:
12:30 p.m.: No. 5 LMU vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
2:00 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 1 UCLA
3:30 p.m.: No. 2 USC vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
5:00 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 5 LMU
6:30 p.m.: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 2 USC
The No. 6 Mustangs (16-5), will welcome in No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 USC, No. 5 Loyola Marymount University, and No. 8 Grand Canyon for the Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17 event.
On Friday, Cal Poly will take on the No. 2 Trojans (18-2) at 3:30 p.m. followed by No. 9 Grand Canyon (16-5) at 6:30 p.m. Then on Saturday, the Mustangs will face the No. 1 Bruins (19-1) at 2 p.m. followed by No. 5 LMU (20-2) at 5 p.m.
There will be five total matches played each day. A full schedule of each day's matches can be found below. For fans who are not able to attend in person, they will be able to watch the matches taking place on court 1 HERE. For the Cal Poly matches, fans can also follow the Cal Poly beach volleyball twitter account (@calpolybeach) for live updates throughout each match.
The Center of Effort Beach Volleyball Challenge will be an annual event, attracting top collegiate volleyball programs to San Luis Obispo and becoming a premier in-season tournament in collegiate beach volleyball. Center of Effort's vintners, Bill and Cheryl Swanson, are supporters of the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex and have been instrumental in the vision for this weekend's event.
At last year's inaugural Center of Effort Challenge, the Mustangs beat both No. 6 Pepperdine and No. 9 LMU.
Since the Mustangs began playing at the state-of-the-art Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in 2020, they are 9-0 in dual matches. That includes winning both of their matches there last season and 7-0 this season. This will be the fourth event ever hosted at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
Winners of 13 of their last 15 matches, Cal Poly heads into the weekend coming off taking two of three dual matches last weekend over No. 14 Hawai'i in Honolulu. The Mustangs won the first two matches of the tri-dual 3-2 and 4-1 before falling in the weekend finale 0-5. In the four matches Cal Poly faced Hawai'i this season, the Mustangs won three of those and have beat them in six of the last eight matches dating back to 2019. Cal Poly is 8-5 this season against other ranked opponents.
Sixth-year head coach Todd Rogers will head into this weekend's matches seeking to reach the 100 career wins milestone. Rogers currently sits at 98 wins and has a career record of 98-61, including a 75-26 record since 2018.
No. 2 USC is coming off a 4-0 weekend that saw them collect wins over No. 11 Cal, Washington, No. 7 Stanford, and Arizona State. This will be the second time the Mustangs will face the Trojans. USC beat Cal Poly 5-0 when the two teams faced each other on March 4 in Los Angeles. The Mustangs will be seeking the program's first win over the Trojans, who own a 4-0 career series record.
No. 8 Grand Canyon is also coming off a 4-0 weekend in Northridge in which they beat No. 16 Long Beach State twice and CSUN twice. While this will be the first time the two teams will play each other this season, the Mustangs own a 4-1 series record over the Lopes and have won the last four matches will the last season when Cal Poly won 5-0.
No. 1 UCLA, still the defending national champions after winning it in 2019, is currently riding a 16-match winning streak. The Bruins are coming off a 4-0 weekend of their own in which they beat Arizona State, No. 7 Stanford, Washington, and No. 12 Arizona. Cal Poly fell to the Bruins 0-5 when the two teams faced each other earlier this season on March 4 in Los Angeles. Cal Poly will be seeking the program's first win over UCLA, which holds a 5-0 series record.
No. 5 LMU is coming off a 4-0 week last week in which they beat Pacific, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Saint Mary's and are currently on a 12-match win streak. The Mustangs own a 4-3 advantage in the career series with the Lions. Cal Poly has won the last two meetings, with the last coming by way of a 3-2 win on Feb. 29 in San Luis Obispo at the inaugural Center of Effort Challenge.
Leading the way for the Mustangs this season has been the No. 1 pairing of redshirt senior Emily Sonny and redshirt junior Macy Gordon. The duo is a team-best 15-5 together this year. They currently rank second in program history for career pair wins with 31 together. They also each hold the top two spots in the program record book for career individual wins with Sonny holding the top spot at 93 and Gordon in second 71.
Also having very good seasons so far have been the No. 2 pairing of redshirt sophomore Jayelin Lombard and graduate transfer Amy Ozee, the No. 3 duo of redshirt juniors Tia Miric and Mariah Whalen and the No. 4 pair of redshirt sophomore Vanessa Roscoe and redshirt freshman Josie Ulrich. Lombard and Ozee are 13-7 together so far this year, the second most wins on the team. Miric and Whalen are 8-4 together this season and have a career pair record of 16-5 after going 8-1 last season. Miric ranks fourth in program history for career individual wins with 63. Roscoe and Ulrich are 10-5 together this season, which includes a 6-0 record at the No. 5 spot and a 4-5 record at the No. 4 spot in the lineup.
Following this weekend's event, Cal Poly will play its final two matches of the regular season on April 24 when hosting Santa Clara and Saint Mary's for a pair of matches at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex.
Friday, April 16:
12:30 p.m.: No. 2 USC vs. No. 5 LMU
2:00 p.m.: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
3:30 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 2 USC
5:00 p.m.: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 5 LMU
6:30 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
Saturday, April 17:
12:30 p.m.: No. 5 LMU vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
2:00 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 1 UCLA
3:30 p.m.: No. 2 USC vs. No. 8 Grand Canyon
5:00 p.m.: No. 6 Cal Poly vs. No. 5 LMU
6:30 p.m.: No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 2 USC
Players Mentioned
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