Mustangs Face No. 2 USC On ESPNU To Open NCAA Championship Friday

Friday, May 7

Gulf Shores, Ala.

9 A.M.

USC

Photo by: Photo by John Fajardo

Mustangs Face No. 2 USC On ESPNU To Open NCAA Championship Friday

5/4/2021 2:36:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

GULF SHORES, Ala. — After being selected to its second straight NCAA Championship, the Cal Poly beach volleyball team will play its first match of the double-elimination tournament Friday at 9 a.m. PT (11 a.m. CT) against No. 2 seed USC in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The No. 7 seed Mustangs' (23-9) match against the Trojans (26-4) will be televised on ESPNU as well as on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN App. On the ESPN3.com broadcast, fans will be able to pick and watch each match on courts 1-5.

The tournament runs May 7-9 with all matches Friday airing of ESPNU. All of Saturday's and Sunday's matches will be on ESPN2. Each of the matches can be streamed on ESPN3.com.

This will be Cal Poly's second appearance in the NCAA Championship in program history since the tournament began in 2016. The Mustangs made their first appearance in 2019, going 0-2 with losses to Florida State and Hawai'i.

Cal Poly comes into the tournament after having won the Big West Championship for the second straight time last weekend. The Mustangs went 4-1 in the double-elimination tournament, defeating No. 15 Hawai'i twice in the finals to win the title.

This will be Cal Poly's third match against USC this season. The Trojans won both matches, the first on March 4 in Los Angeles and the other on April 16 in San Luis Obispo. USC lead the all-time series 5-0.

If the Mustangs win, they will face the winner of No. 3 seed Florida State and No. 6 seed Stanford at 2 p.m. PT (4 p.m. CT). If they lose, they will face the loser of that match on Friday at 12 p.m. PT (2 p.m. CT).

Cal Poly faced both the Seminoles (32-4) and Cardinal (23-11) this season. The Mustangs fell to FSU in the opening weekend of the season and are 0-5 all-time against them. They also fell to Stanford 2-3 April 3 in Palo Alto and are 2-2 all-time against them.

Leading the Mustangs this season has been the No. 1 flight of redshirt senior Emily Sonny and redshirt junior Macy Gordon who are a team-best 23-8 on the year and won a record four Big West Pair of the Week awards this season. In their careers together, they have won 39 matches as a duo, the second most among a single pair in program history. Individually, Sonny holds the program record for career wins with 101, the only Mustang to ever win 100 career matches. Gordon meanwhile is right behind her in second for most career wins with 79.

The No. 2 pairing of redshirt sophomore Jayelin Lombard and grad transfer Amy Ozee are 22-9 so far this season and are 9-1 over their last 10 matches. They have been named Big West Pair of the Week once this year.

At the No. 3 spot, redshirt juniors Tia Miric and Mariah Whalen are 15-8 together this season and are on a seven-match winning streak. They were recently named the AVCA/collegebeachvb.com Pair of the Week after going 5-0 at the Big West Tournament last weekend to help Cal Poly win the title. In their two seasons as a pair they have won 23 total matches, which ranks fourth in program history for career wins by a pair.

The No. 4 pairing of redshirt sophomore Eleonore Johansen and freshman Sam Strah are 11-8 together this year while the No. 5 duo of redshirt sophomore Vanessa Roscoe and redshirt freshman Josie Ulrich are 13-11.