The Cal Poly women’s volleyball team’s bid for a third straight Big West Conference title was delivered a serious blow Saturday night.
The Mustangs played their first five-set match at Mott Gym since an October 2006 loss to UC Irvine. History repeated itself against Big West-leading Long Beach State in a 13-25, 25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 15-10 defeat.
With the loss, the Mustangs (13-10, 8-4) are now two matches out of first place with four Big West contests left, and dropped to third in the conference standings.
Consequently, their only avenue to the NCAA Tournament may be through an at-large berth.
“As far as we were concerned, we were playing for our season,” Cal Poly head coach Jon Stevenson said. “Whether that was the case or not is really irrelevant, because that’s the way we felt. Being that close and having a chance to beat this team and get revenge on them, we’re crushed.”
The Mustangs, who’ve now lost three in a row to Big West foes, also lost to the 49ers (21-4, 10-2) in five sets Oct. 10.
Cal Poly fought hard for the fourth set, struggling back from a steady Long Beach State lead to a 20-20 face-off. But the match went on to the fifth set after service errors and failed block attempts.
With an 8-8 tie in the final game, the tension was palpable on the faces of both coaches and players while Cal Poly called a time out to regroup.
With only seven points needed, Mustangs senior opposite Kylie Atherstone managed the Mustangs’ final two kills, but Long Beach State prevailed.
“We had a really good streak of practice and we’ve really gotten a lot better,” said Atherstone, who finished with a match-high 16 kills. “It’s just the little things that we really need to improve on.”
Cal Poly hit .218 to the 49ers’ .173, outblocked them 27-24, tallied seven aces to their three, 71 digs to their 58 and 52 assists to their 48.
“It felt like the whole (match) was: they get four points, we get four points, they get five, we get five, too,” Atherstone added. “We let those mistakes carry through and we just can’t do that.”
49ers head coach Alan Knipe cautioned anyone against prematurely handing Long Beach State the Big West title.
“There’s still time for everyone,” he said. “We have to go to Fullerton and we have to play Irvine, who’ve beaten us. We have Riverside and Northridge on the road, and they’ve beaten good teams. There’s a lot of volleyball left, so it’s not over by a long shot.”
Cal Poly visits UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. Thursday.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and SLO is well coached and they’re good kids and they’re playing hard,” Knipe said. “It’s just difficult to win all the time and it certainly doesn’t take anything away from the team or the program.”