In volleyball’s second-to-last home match of the year, the Mustangs failed to come back from a 2-1 deficit against UC Irvine. The result left the women with a 5-2 record at home for this season. The set scores were 27-29, 25-18, 29-27, 21-25 and 15-11 in the match played Saturday night in Mott Gym.
Junior middleblocker Jennifer Keddy recorded career highs in kills and digs with 28 and 19, respectively, despite the loss. Sophomore outside hitter Kristina Graven also recorded double-digit kills with 18, but no other Mustangs tallied more than seven kills.
UC Irvine was more balanced on offense as four players had double-digit kills, although Cal Poly’s Megan McConnell challenged the opposition at the net, recording 11 assisted blocks while the Mustangs totaled 15 rejections.
The Anteaters held Cal Poly to a .171 hitting percentage while the Mustangs committed 32 errors. Cal Poly was forced into a season-high of 104 digs, with senior libero Lauren Law leading the team with 27.
Two sets went past the 25-point mark as the Mustangs and Anteaters battled to 29-27 set scores in the first and third set, each winning one. In the first set, the teams exchanged five lead changes and eight in the third as Cal Poly fought off three set points but couldn’t convert on two of its own.
The Mustangs play their final home match Friday night against UC Riverside where seniors Sarah Cawrse, Lauren Law and Catie Smith will be recognized.
The team sits in seventh place in the nine-team Big West Conference, mainly due to a poor 0-5 record on the road. The Mustangs will have a chance to improve their record away from Mott Gym in their final three matches of the season at UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge.
Interim head coach Caroline Walters led the team to a 10-15 overall record while going 5-7 in the Big West since taking over earlier in the season for former head coach Jon Stevenson.
Athletics director Don Oberhelman maintained that he will conduct a national search for a new head coach after the season.