No. 13 Mustangs Fall to Pair of Top Four Teams at First Day of Center of Effort Challenge

Friday, April 15

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

3:30 P.M.

USC

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

No. 13 Mustangs Fall to Pair of Top Four Teams at First Day of Center of Effort Challenge

4/15/2022 9:44:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — In its toughest day of competition of the season playing two of the top four teams in the country, the 13th ranked Cal Poly beach volleyball team fell in both of its two matches at day one of the third annual Center of Effort Beach Volleyball Challenge at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex. The No. 13 Mustangs opened the day against No. 1 USC, the defending national champions, falling 5-0. Cal Poly then just missed out on upsetting No. 4 Florida State, getting edged out 3-2. Tia Miric

Against the No. 1 Trojans (25-1)25-6), winners of 24 consecutive matches, USC won four of the five matches in straight sets. Cal Poly's No. 5 pair of redshirt sophomore Josie Ulrich and sophomore Piper Naess won the first set of their match 21-18. However, USC's Shannon Scully and Mollie Ebertin took the second set 21-17 before also winning the third 15-12 to complete the sweep. A few hours later against the No. 4 Seminoles (25-6), Cal Poly fell just short of completing the upset. Florida State won at the No. 3, 5, and 4 spots to seal their win. However, both of the Mustangs' top two pairs came out victorious. At the No. 2 spot, the duo of redshirt junior Jayelin Lombard and freshman Piper Ferch had a three-set comeback win over FSU's Alaina Chacon and Madison Fitzpatrick, 12-21, 21-18, 16-14. Ferch and Lombard are now 19-11 together on the season. At the No. 1 spot, it was redshirt senior Tia Miric and freshman Ella Connor also pulling out a three-set win, beating Maddie Anderson and Brook Bauer 21-15, 19-21, 15-13. With the victory, they picked up their 20th win of the season together to improve their record to a team-leading 20-9. Cal Poly will have another pair of tough matches Saturday at the final day of the Center of Effort Beach Volleyball Challenge. The Mustangs will face No. 3 UCLA at 1:45 p.m. followed by No. 6 LMU at 4:15 p.m.

Photos courtesy of Owen Main | www.fansmanship.com