After impressive back-to-back wins against Portland last week, the CSUN women’s volleyball opened Big West conference play on Friday night but struggled to get daylight against the Mustangs of Cal Poly, falling in straight sets.
The first set was highly competitive with both teams going head-to-head, but Cal Poly’s length and size were too challenging for the Matadors to score against over the net. Despite standout performances from Hailey Brockway and Leah Miller who each tailed nine kills, the Mustangs (8-4, 1-0 Big West) completed the sweep (25-20, 25-19, 25-19) over the Matadors (5-8, 0-2 Big West) 3-0 at the Premier America Credit Union Arena.
Junior hitter Leah Miller was one of the few bright spots for the Matadors, hitting .389 with nine kills, tying teammate Hailey Brockway for the team lead. CSUN outscored the Mustangs in attacks and sets, but struggled as a whole, as the team was held to a .160 hitting percentage, compared to Cal Poly’s .372.
Defensively, CSUN was led by Paige Sentes and Autumn Rojelio, who each recorded eight digs. However, the Matadors’ defensive efforts were overshadowed by Cal Poly’s dominance and aggressiveness at the net, where the Mustangs out-blocked CSUN 9-1 and held an 8-4 advantage in service aces.
“The biggest thing that we called them out on in the locker room is our coverage,” said head coach Aquiles Montoya. “We left a lot of points out there that we could’ve saved.”
Cal Poly’s offense was in sync from the start, and CSUN struggled to slow down their attackers. The Mustang’s middle players all had size which made it tough for CSUN to hit the ball over the net, as Cal Poly had 14 blocks compared to CSUN’s two.
The Mustangs’ balance in both hitting and blocking set the tone for the match, while the Matadors failed to capitalize on critical points in the set. Despite the close score in the first set, Cal Poly remained composed and finished the set on a 6-2 run to claim the 25-20 victory.
“They took advantage when we hit the ball on their side,” said Montoya. “Our coverage just wasn’t there when they hit the ball on our side and we have to be better at that.”
In the second set, Cal Poly continued its dominant offense, jumping out to a 15-9 lead, forcing CSUN to call a timeout and regroup. Although CSUN was able to cut the deficit 21-18, the Mustangs maintained control throughout the set.
CSUN mounted a late rally, following a kill by Tatiana Turgeon, Cal Poly’s attackers, led by hitter Maia Dvoracek, found ways to end rallies with timely kills and blocks whenever the Matadors were starting to climb back in the game.
The Mustangs held firm, taking the second set 25-19 and placing the Matadors in a two-set hole.
The third set looked like CSUN would maybe run away with the set, racing to a 5-1 lead. However, their momentum quickly ran out the door as Cal Poly quickly responded with a run of its own, taking a 9-6 lead after an 8-1 scoring run.
There were several hitting errors that the Matadors committed and failed to win when they challenged the calls. Trailing 18-12, CSUN tried to fight back, in the end, to make it interesting, but ultimately couldn’t stop the Mustangs’ offense as they allowed a 5-1 run, losing 25-18 and getting swept.
“We’re striving to be a top 3 team in the conference,” said Montoya. “We punched them in the mouth, but they weren’t really fazed by it and whenever they would go on runs, it felt like we were kind of stunned.”
Following the loss on Friday night, the Matadors ran it back in their home gym against UC Santa Barbara (5-9, 1-1 Big West) on Saturday afternoon.
Once again though, CSUN fell to a 0-2 hole against the Gauchos, losing in four sets, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23, and 31-29. All four sets were competitive, but errors for the second straight game helped the Gauchos pull out the win.
With this loss, the Matadors end their six-game homestand finishing 3-3, and have yet to win a conference game. CSUN will travel on the road to UC Irvine (8-5, 2-0 Big West) on Friday, Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. looking to bounce back after back-to-back losses.
