No. 6 Mustangs Seeking Program’s Second Big West Championship This Weekend

Friday, April 30

Long Beach, Calif.

12 P.M.

CSU Bakersfield

Photo by: Kyle Calzia / Cal Poly Athletics

No. 6 Mustangs Seeking Program’s Second Big West Championship This Weekend

4/28/2021 1:56:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The No. 6-ranked Cal Poly beach volleyball team will look to repeat as Big West champions this weekend at the 2021 Big West Beach Volleyball Championship, April 30-May 1, at Rosie's Dog Beach in Long Beach.

The No. 6 Mustangs (19-8) are the defending champions after winning the title for the first time in program history in 2019. The 2020 Big West Championship did not take place because of the cancellation of the remainder of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cal Poly heads into the weekend as the No. 1 seed and has earned a first-round bye in the double-elimination tournament. The Mustangs will take on the winner of the No. 4 seed UC Davis and the No. 5 seed CSU Bakersfield at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 30. A win in that match would advance Cal Poly to the semifinals of the tournament on Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m.

The Mustangs are one of three teams in the Big West currently ranked in the AVCA Poll. Cal Poly is No. 6, Hawai'i is No. 15 and Long Beach State is No. 18.

In 2019, Cal Poly went 4-0 in the tournament on the way to winning its first Big West title. That year, the Mustangs beat Sacramento State, Long Beach State, and Hawai'i twice to prevent the Rainbow Wahine from winning their fourth conference title.

The Mustangs have played and beat every Big West team this year except Sacramento State. On March 26 and 27, Cal Poly defeated CSU Bakersfield, UC Davis, Long Beach State, CSUN, and Hawai'i at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex. The Mustangs also beat CSU Bakersfield another time earlier in the season. On April 9 and 10, Cal Poly took two of three dual matches against Hawai'i in Honolulu.

Cal Poly is coming off a pair of wins last weekend at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in the regular season finale. On Saturday, April 24 the Mustangs beat Santa Clara 5-0 and Saint Mary's 3-2.

The Mustangs' top two pairs have been rolling the last few weeks as they head into this weekend. The No. 1 pair of Emily Sonny and Macy Gordon have won their last five matches and are a team-leading 20-6 this season with all six of their losses coming at the hands of pairs from ranked teams. Meantime, the No. 2 pair of Jayelin Lombard and Amy Ozee have also won their last five matches and are 18-8 together in their first year playing with each other.