Cal Poly Volleyball swept CSUN (25-10, 25-19, 25-19) on Friday, Nov. 15 to remain in second-place in the Big West Conference standings. The away win is the second sweep over CSUN this season after the Mustangs took down the Matadors in three sets on Oct. 20.
The Mustangs dominated the match in every statistical category: junior outside hitter Maia Dvoracek produced 12 kills, Nikki Jackson had three aces, sophomore middle blocker Meredith Phillips had five blocks, Avalon DeNecochea had 30 assists and Mika Dickson had 10 digs.
The Mustangs (18-7, 11-2 Big West) held the Matadors (12-14, 7-7 Big West) to just ten points in the first set and led by as many as 16 points. Cal Poly jumped to a 7-2 lead behind kills from Dvoracek and junior middle blocker Madilyn Mercer before an 11-2 run pushed the Mustangs to a 18-4 advantage. Back-to-back kills from CSUN’s Seyvion Waggoner gave the Matadors hope, but several errors and a kill from Mercer ended the set at 25-10.
Cal Poly had a .423 hitting percentage in the set and held CSUN, who committed 11 errors, to a -.097 hitting percentage.
The Mustangs started the second set with momentum and produced a 7-0 run to take the lead. However, the Matadors remained close behind as the set played out. A late 5-0 run by CSUN pulled the score to 22-19 in favor of the Mustangs, but kills from Dvoracek and Phillips led the Mustangs to a 25-19 victory.
CSUN again had a negative hitting percentage at -.036, compared to Cal Poly’s hitting percentage of .194.
Despite a 25-19 Cal Poly victory, the third set was more back and forth in comparison to the first two sets. Cal Poly and CSUN were tied 10-10 before the Mustangs went on a 12-2 scoring run to pull ahead. Jackson concluded the set with a kill to earn the final point and secure the sweep.
Cal Poly will travel to Long Beach State for its final road match of the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.