Cal Poly Volleyball falls to UC San Diego at home – Mustang News

Cal Poly Volleyball could not muster any Mott Magic as they dropped their third Big West Conference game of the season to the visiting UC San Diego Tritons 3-1 in Mott Athletics Center on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Despite nine attacking errors, resulting in a .171 attack percentage, and three service errors in the first set from UC San Diego, the Mustangs (14-7, 7-3 Big West) could not hold the Tritons (12-9, 6-4 Big West) back.

UC San Diego overcame the mistakes because of their 11-3 scoring run to end the set. Before the run, Cal Poly was up 20-14 and lost the set 25-23.

New Players, Big Impacts

With redshirt junior Lizzy Markovska out for today’s game, the Mustangs’ newer players had to step up, and they did just that.

Freshman Kendall Beshear, redshirt sophomore transfer Breklyn Pulling and freshman Chloe Leluge all played key roles in the Mustangs’ success against the Tritons.

Pulling and Leluge have been key contributors to the Mustangs this season, as both of them are top 5 in the Big West in terms of attack percentage, but had a heightened role tonight with Markovska on the court. 

Pulling finished the game with 19 swings and Leluge with 13, resulting in 10 kills.

Beshear has been used sparingly this season for the Mustangs, but when on the court, she has been dominant. Against the Tritons, she finished with six kills, eight digs, three block assists and one solo block.

Aggressive Serving and Exceptional Blocking

All day long, the Mustangs took their chances and served very aggressively to back UC San Diego off the net and force the Tritons into worse attacking opportunities. It resulted in four service aces for the Mustangs.

On the other side of the ball, when defending attacks from UC San Diego, the Mustangs recorded 14 team blocks.

Cal Poly is not known for their blocking ability. In this match, the Mustangs were eighth in the Big West in total blocks, with 141 and a single-game high of 11 total blocks.

Redshirt senior Tommi Stockham led the way for the Mustangs with 15 kills, followed by redshirt senior Amy Hiatt, who had a season-high of 13 kills.

Next, Cal Poly will travel south to take on UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. at the Thunderdome before traveling to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday, Nov. 2,  at 10 p.m. at Simpifi Arena.