Sports

Cal Poly’s women’s soccer team came within one game of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004 this season, but fell short against Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference title game. The Mustangs (10-7-3, 3-1-3) finished fourth in the conference.

It was exactly what the Cal Poly volleyball team hoped for.

Despite entering the weekend ranked behind seven West Region teams in the American Volleyball Coaches Association/College Sports TV poll, the Mustangs learned Sunday they will host NCAA Tournament action for the first time since 1989.

Three players scored in double figures Sunday to lead the Cal Poly men’s basketball team to a 72-59 nonconference win over visiting St. Mary’s.

The Mustangs (3-2) held onto a 35-22 halftime lead in front of 1,421 in Mott Gym to equal their best overall start to a season since 2003-04.

After a disappointing ninth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional Meet on Nov. 11, the Cal Poly men’s cross country team finished 13th in the nation Monday at the NCAA Championships hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.

“It says a lot about the team and how badly they wanted to rebound and prove to the whole country what they wanted to do and put together this race,” Cal Poly head coach Mark Conover said in a phone interview.

The Cal Poly fencing club team finished fall quarter with multiple top rankings in the Cal Poly Turkey Tournament, a competition the Mustangs hosted Saturday.

“As a team, we took first in foil and sabre and second in epee,” team vice president Kyle Yamasaki said.

The Mustang women used a balanced attack and the men held a comfortable lead throughout against Division II Cal State Stanislaus.

Both Cal Poly basketball teams improved to 2-2 with nonconference wins Monday night in Mott Gym.

The Mustang women’s team stayed undefeated at home with a 71-59 win over San Jose State (0-3).

With 32 wins in the past four seasons, the Cal Poly football team’s senior class won more games than any other in a four-year stretch of the program’s 91-year history.

The last one came Saturday, when the Mustangs ended their season with a 55-0 rout of hapless Savannah State in front of 7,867 fans at Alex G.

The Cal Poly football team was not one of the eight at-large teams selected to the 16-team Division I-AA playoffs Sunday, although the surprise field includes two teams with four losses.

It is the first time any four-loss team – let alone two – has received an at-large bid since Idaho went with a 6-4 record in 1995.

After their last 11-on-11 practice drill of the season Thursday morning, Cal Poly football players responded to the final whistle with more emotional cheers than usual.

For many of them, it was the last practice of their careers on the “I Field” at the track.

Karl Ivory is a former Cal Poly cornerback who finished up his eligibility in 2004. He has shed his helmet and pads for a pen and notebook as a special football analyst for the Mustang Daily. Here is what “Coach K” has to say about this week’s matchup:

Out-coached? Out of gas?

Those are just some of the things people have said about the way Cal Poly played last Saturday at North Dakota State.

Cal Poly wrestlers will grapple with each other at 7 p.m. today in Mott Gym at the annual Green and Gold intrasquad scrimmage to determine spots in the Mustangs’ lineup.

“We’re trying to find out who are our top wrestlers in each weight (class),” Cal Poly head coach John Azevedo said.