College Roundup: Cal Poly volleyball team bounces back

A day after falling to Long Beach State in five sets, the Cal Poly volleyball team answered with a 25-20, 25-22, 26-24 sweep over Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

The win puts the Mustangs in a three-way tie with UC Santa Barbara and Pacific for second place in the Big West Conference. And with the Mustangs, winners of five of their past seven matches, heading to Pacific on Friday at 7 p.m., they’ll have a chance to improve their standing in the Big West. The Mustangs have seven matches remaining this year.

Against the Titans, Kristina Graven had a team-high 14 kills, and Jennifer Keddy had 10 kills for Cal Poly (9-12, 4-4 Big West).

Lauren Law led the Mustangs with 17 digs, Catie Smith had 12 and Kate Walters had 10. Walters also had 40 assists.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

Palomar 7, Cuesta 5; Cuesta 8, Grossmont 6

Cuesta split its games in the Long Beach Tournament, losing to Palomar and then upending Grossmont.

The Cougars gave up four goals in the fourth period to Palomar after taking a 4-3 lead through three. Ally Bernard scored three goals, and Erin Hasenkamp scored two in the loss. Loren Kasenberg also had 12 saves.

In the Cuesta’s win over Grossmont, Hasenkamp had four goals, and Alex O’Connor had two. Kasenberg had 11 saves for the Cougars (16-11).

MEN’S SOCCER

UC Davis 2, Cal Poly 1

Despite grabbing the lead in the 66th minute, Cal Poly (6-7-2, 3-4-0 Big West) could not hold on to defeat UC Davis, suffering its second consecutive conference loss.

After a scoreless first half, Cal Poly took the lead with an assist from Keegan Smith to Kyle Montgomery, who sent a long ball into the top shelf of the net.

But Aggies forward Matt Weisenfarth scored his fifth goal of the season to tie the score with seven minutes remaining. Then, just three minutes later, sophomore midfielder Alex Aguiar scored the game-winner for the Aggies on a penalty kick.

It was the second road loss of the week for the Mustangs, who began the trip in a three-way tie for second in Big West standings with UC Davis and Cal State Northridge. But after their loss to the Aggies and a 1-0 loss to Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, the Mustangs dropped into a tie for fourth with Cal State Northridge.

MEN’S TENNIS

ITA Southwest Regional

Cal Poly’s remaining two singles players, and lone doubles team, were eliminated from contention in the consolation draw at the ITA Southwest Regional Championship.

Hunter Nicholas of San Diego State defeated freshman Naveen Beasely 6-3, 7-6 in the third round of the consolation draw. Beasely advanced with a bye in the first round and a victory over UC Santa Barbara’s Alex Johnson 7-5, 6-0.

Cal Poly’s Sebastian Bell also fell in the third round of the consolation draw, losing 6-4, 6-2 to Pacific’s Eric Cederwall.

Bell received a bye in the first round and defeated Nicholas Bjerke of Loyola Marymount in the second round.

In doubles, the duo of Brian McPhee and Jurgen De Jager lost to Fresno State’s No. 6 seeded duo of Franchis Alcantara and Remi Boutillier, 8-1.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

ITA Northwest Regional Championships

The Cal Poly doubles team of junior Alexa Lee and sophomore Jennifer Cornea continued their success as they advanced to the round of 16 with an 8-0 sweep of San Jose State’s Sandra Florea and Erica Medlin.

Lee and Cornea’s next match will be against the second-seeded duo Jana Juricova and Zsofia Susanyi from Cal today.

Cal Poly’s other remaining doubles team of Jocelyn Davis and Ane McPike was defeated by Cal’s Tayler Davis and Cecilia Estlander 8-2.

In singles, five Cal Poly players were victorious in the consolation draw. Lee defeated Nicole Eades of UC Davis 6-0, 6-0, and Davis swept Stanford’s Elizabeth Ecker 6-1, 6-2. Sophomore Gabrielle Gatewood had a comeback victory over Washington State’s Andjela Kankaras 2-6, 6-3, 10-6.

McPike defeated Washington State’s Anastasia Romantsova, 2-6, 6-3, 1-0, and Cornea was victorious over Fresno State’s Olga Kirpicheva 6-1, 6-4.