Ryan ChartrandThe No. 20 Cal Poly volleyball team’s Friday Big West Conference victory against UC Davis was muted Saturday evening when Pacific’s Spanos Center again proved a difficult venue for the Mustangs to thrive as they dropped a 14-30, 38-36, 30-27, 30-26 decision.
Friday’s 30-18, 30-27, 30-21 sweep was the eighth consecutive sweep of a Big West team and the ninth consecutive conference roadvictory for Cal Poly, while Saturday’s decision marked a first for the Mustangs this year.
In the UC Davis match, junior opposite Kylie Atherstone posted a team-best 11 kills and middle blocker Jaclyn Houston hit a match-high .412, while junior outside hitter Ali Waller added nine kills for Cal Poly (9-6, 3-0).
The Mustangs won the first game thanks to a 10-1 run and followed up in the second game by breaking a 4-4 score with a 15-10 run, capitalizing on a UC Davis hitting error to take the game.
The Mustangs took eight of the final 10 points in the third match to complete the sweep.
Cal Poly won their only game against Pacific Saturday after posting a 14-4 lead, finishing up with a 11-4 run.
The Tigers rebounded with three straight wins, with the second game featuring a high scoring finish of 37-36 in which the score tied 20 times and changed leads six times.
Pacific wrapped up the match with three and four point matches respectively, marking the 20th time in 22 meetings that Cal Poly has lost at Pacific.
Atherstone finished at Pacific with match-best 22 kills.
Chelsea Hayes had 52 of the teams 59 assists.
Houston chipped in a .429 attack percentage on 11 kills and eight blocks, and Dominique Olowolafe had 11 kills and seven blocks.
Cal Poly will take on Fullerton at 7 p.m. Friday at Mott Gym.
Mustang women 14th at Stanford Invitational
The Cal Poly women’s cross country team placed 14th Saturday at the Stanford Invitational with Kimberly Donatelli posting a 31st place finish in the women’s 6-kilometer race in a time of 21:54.
The 6-kilometer race was won by Stanford’s Arianna Lamie, who finished in 19:48.
Birdie McCarey ran a time of 22:23, good enough for 56th, and Kristen Sanzari completed the race in 22:28 for 61st.
Katie Wolfe and Rebecca Paddack scored points with a 112th and 117th finishes, respectfully.
No. 22 Mustangs take 8th at Bill Dellinger meet
Cal Poly junior Troy Sweir was the top Mustang finisher Saturday, posting a 13th place finish in the 8-kilometer race in a time of 23:51, helping Cal Poly to record an eighth place finish at the Bill Dellinger invitational at the University of Oregon.
Other Mustang point-scorers included Evan Anderson, who finished 34th in 24:08, Phillip Reid who finished 39th in 24:13, and Matt Johnsrud and Joe Gatel, who finished in 47th and 50th.
Invitational host, No. 3 Oregon, topped No. 1 Wisconsin to take the meet.
Women’s tennis competes at All-American tourney
The Cal Poly women’s tennis team competed in the ITA All-American Tournament on Saturday and continued to play throughout the weekend in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Brittany Blalock topped Eastern Washington’s Sandra Wikstrom 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of singles play but dropped a 6-2, 6-2 match to UCLA’s Andrea Remynse.
Whitney Peterson also picked up a first-round win with 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Yale’s Janet Kim. She went on to lose 6-0, 6-2 in the second round to Elizabeth Plotkin of Duke.
Blalock and Steffi Wong defeated Iowa’s Alexis Dorr and Jacqueline Lee to advance to the second round.