Cal Poly roundup: Men’s soccer falls to Riverside, volleyball tops CSUN

A clean-up goal off a saved penalty kick by Cal Poly goalkeeper Eric Kam was enough to give UC Riverside a 1-0 Big West Conference win over the Mustangs on Saturday night at the RSide Soccer Stadium in Riverside.

Kam inititally stopped UC Riverside forward Dylan Smith’s spot attempt in the 51st minute after Cal Poly was hit with the penalty for bringing down a player in the box. The rebound came right back to Smith, who fired into the top-left corner for the goal. Kam’s save was the only one he was called upon to make as Cal Poly (2-6-1 overall, 0-2-0 conference) outshot Riverside (6-4-1, 1-0-1) 10-8.

Cal Poly’s best chance to deadlock the game late came with 42 seconds remaining, but Justin Dhillon whistled a 28-yard free kick wide of the UC Riverside goal.

Cal Poly returns home to Alex G. Spanos Stadium to open a four-match home stand Thursday against CSUN.

Volleyball wins five-set match vs. CSUN

The Cal Poly volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two sets and defeat CSUN in five sets in a Big West Conference match Saturday night at the Matadome in Northridge.

Coach Sam Crosson’s Mustangs won by set scores of 26-28, 29-27, 24-26, 25-14 and 15-7.

The victory snapped a two-match losing streak and lifted Cal Poly to 8-6 for the year and 1-2 in Big West matches.

Sophomore Adlee Van Winden and junior Raeann Greisen combined for 44 kills in the 2 1/2-hour match as the Mustangs hit .238 for the match and logged 10 service aces.

Senior Taylor Gruenewald contributed 11 kills while junior Taylor Nelson notched 65 assists and 13 digs. Sophomore Katherine Brouker led the Mustangs in digs with 21 and freshman Mika Dickson added 16.

Cal Poly will host UC Irvine Thursday inside the Mott Athletics Center before visiting UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Cal Poly roundup: Men’s soccer falls to Riverside, volleyball tops CSUN."