Mustangs Take Down Santa Clara and Utah in Home Opener

Wednesday, March 8

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

5:45 P.M.

Santa Clara

Mustangs Take Down Santa Clara and Utah in Home Opener

3/8/2023 10:42:00 PM | Beach Volleyball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – After playing its first eight matches of the season on the road, the Cal Poly beach volleyball team was back to where it is most comfortable Wednesday night, Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex for the first time this season, beating Santa Clara and Utah in its home opener playing under the lights. The Mustangs (2-8) had a dramatic 3-2 win over the Broncos before handling the Utes 4-1 to sweep both matches of the first home event of the season. Cal Poly is now 26-9 at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex since it first opened for the 2020 season. In its first match of the evening against Santa Clara, Cal Poly's No. 2 pair of senior Jayelin Lombard and junior Piper Naess started things off with a dominant 21-10, 21-9 win. Santa Clara evened the dual up after a victory at the No. 5 spot. The Mustangs regained the lead 2-1 after the No. 3 pair of senior Delaney Peranich and graduate student Brooke Golik, playing together for the first time this season, won 21-14, 21-8. The Broncos tied up the dual once again at 2-2 after their No. 4 pair was victorious. That led it to all come down to the pairs at the No. 1 spot. Cal Poly's pairing of freshman Izzy Martinez and sophomore Piper Ferch won the first 21-19 before falling in the second 12-21. They then rebounded to win the third 15-9 and clinch the dual for the Mustangs. The Mustangs were then up against Utah right after beating Santa Clara. It was once again Naess and Lombard at the No. 2 spot with another impressive performance, winning 21-7, 21-11 to give Cal Poly a 1-0 lead. Lombard and Naess are now 4-2 together this season. A short time later, the No. 1 pair of Ferch and Martinez put the Mustangs ahead 2-0 after winning their match in straight sets 21-13, 21-16. They also improve their record to 4-2 on the season, including 4-0 at the No. 1 spot. The Utes got on the board after winning at the No. 4 spot in a close three-set match. That would be the only point they got as the dual was then clinched by Cal Poly's No. 5 duo of freshman Addie Bounds and senior Kalee Graff who came back to win their match after dropping the first set, 16-21, 21-18, 15-8. The Mustangs' No. 3 pair of Peranich and junior Julia Soeller finished off the 4-1 victory after winning 21-18, 17-21, 15-9. With seven of its first 10 matches this season against ranked teams, Cal Poly continues its tough schedule this weekend with four matches all against teams ranked in the top seven of latest AVCA poll. The Mustangs will head to Los Angeles to face No. 3 UCLA and No. 6 Grand Canyon Saturday on the campus of UCLA. They then take on No. 2 USC and No. 7 Stanford Sunday on the campus of USC.