Nick CamachoMarch Madness may produce “One Shining Moment,” but here are five from the past four months – the most memorable moments from recent Cal Poly sports.
5. Kristin Jackson surpasses 2,000 career digs
No matter the sport, a 5-24 record would usually mean cleaning house. Players, coaches, you name it.
Not in the case of this senior libero, though, the lone remaining holdover from that 2004 volleyball squad.
During the Mustangs’ 3-1 win over UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 8, she became one of just 25 players in Division I history to amass at least 2,000 digs in a career, and also to appear in 400 straight games. She now ranks 11th all-time in the digs category.
The 5-foot-4 school record-holder from Manhattan Beach was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team in ’04, and to the All-Big West First Team this past season.
Her consistency and longevity are testaments to an individual perseverance that shone through even on a great team.
4. Men’s basketball shows up Utah State in home opener
Fifteen of the past 16 times they had tried, the Mustangs couldn’t beat the Aggies, a conference rival from years past, on the hardwood.
When the Aggies arrived at Cal Poly’s doorstep for a Nov. 15 reunion, though, the Mustangs would be less welcoming, outscoring them 52-37 in the second half to win 83-69.
In all, Cal Poly shot 48 percent from beyond the 3-point line to come away with the statement victory.
Besides two Utah State players, no Aggies scored more than six points. Even Jaycee Carroll, the Western Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year, was unable to lead his team in scoring on the night.
While the Aggies tried in vain to whittle away at what became a 15-point, second-half Mustangs advantage, they pulled no closer than seven.
Knowing they can hold off, control and overcome more widely touted teams should be an asset the Mustangs can draw from the rest of this season, but just exercising their Utah State demon was noteworthy in its own right.
3. Another Homecoming meltdown
I know, I know. I can hear you now: ‘What?! How in the world can you have such a bad loss on a list like this?!’ But I included the football team’s 31-28 Nov. 10 loss to North Dakota State for a few reasons.
First, just because it was such a great, epic game, the kind that would be replayed on CPTV Classic, were there such a thing – or at least NDSTV Classic. But the point remains.
While devastating, a loss like that wasn’t the first of its kind. And even more agonizing ones have led to bigger and better things for certain teams.
Take the Indianapolis Colts, for a recent example. Their 2005 season came to a bitter end with a three-point loss of their own, to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The next year, they won the Super Bowl.
The Bison will no longer be in the Great West Football Conference next year, but they will be done transitioning from Division II, and Cal Poly will have 10 offensive starters returning.
Postseason rematch, anyone?
And sure, the Mustangs should’ve won. But they were taking on the No. 1 team in the country, a team that beat Minnesota, which is a program that has produced lil’ ol’ names like Nagurski and Dungy.
In fact, when discussing trips to San Luis Obispo prior to this past season’s game, North Dakota State head coach Craig Bohl said his team had more success at the Metrodome than at Cal Poly.
That statement still stands.
2. Men’s soccer upsets UC Santa Barbara
Imagine the Florida men’s basketball team coming into Mott Gym for a midseason showdown, or, for that matter, the . Florida football team visiting Alex G. Spanos Stadium for a gridiron battle. And Cal Poly winning.
That’s essentially what happened when the Cal Poly men’s soccer team edged the defending national champion Gauchos 2-1 Nov. 17 in front of 7,143 fans, an audience that shattered the school’s 11-year-old attendance record of 2,694.
Many of them rushed the field following the win in a scene of fandemonium – fan pandemonium – normally reserved for nationally televised football upsets.
Although they missed out on a playoff berth, for one magical evening they captivated the attention of the entire campus. Deservedly so.
And they can do it again next season; only three of this year’s 33 players were seniors.
1. Volleyball advances to the Sweet 16
It’s probably just a coincidence that “Back to the Future” was the No. 1 movie the previous year it happened.
But on the way to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, where it would lose to top-seeded Stanford on Dec. 7, the volleyball team rewrote some history in its own right.
In making their first regional appearance in the tournament since 1985, the Mustangs swept Xavier on Nov. 30 and Purdue on Dec. 1.
The back-to-back sweeps were the first such feat in Cal Poly’s 14 tournament-opening appearances.
They didn’t begin there, though.
The two-time defending Big West Conference champion placed a program-record six players on the all-conference team, and posted a 14-match winning streak, the school’s longest since 1981.
While dominating the conference, the Mustangs set school records for Big West wins (15) and winning percentage (.938).
Jackson and setter Chelsea Hayes are the only Mustangs whose Cal Poly careers came to an end at Stanford, and although they will be missed, their – and the rest of the team’s run – will go down as one of the best in school history.
Donovan Aird is the sports editor and a journalism junior.