Cal Poly women’s volleyball upset USC Friday with a 3-2 victory at Galen Center.
The unseeded Mustangs (27-7, 14-4 Big West) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 18 years.
“That is an incredible performance by a group of people that loves one another, that loves this game, that has committed to something bigger than themselves,” Cal Poly head coach Caroline Walters said. “I would say nobody has a perfect bracket anymore.”
This marks the fourth straight year that the No. 4 seed Trojans (25-7, 15-5 Big Ten) have not advanced past the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“I love this team,” USC head coach Brad Keller said. “I hate this feeling for them.”
The Mustangs beat the Trojans 25-19 in the first set.
After a kill by Cal Poly sophomore outside hitter Kendall Beshear brought the Mustangs to a 2-1 lead, the team held the Trojans to a deficit for the rest of the set.
USC had seven attack errors and six service errors in the set, compared to three and two for Cal Poly.
Cal Poly held the Trojans’ front row to a hitting percentage of .146 with 3 blocks. USC senior middle blocker Rylie McGinest had five kills and a hitting percentage of .571 in the set.
The second set saw 13 tie scores and five lead changes, with Cal Poly winning 25-20. USC moved up to 3.5 blocks for the set while Cal Poly had three.
Beshear led the Mustangs’ attack with five kills, while USC freshman opposite hitter Abigail Mullen led the Trojans with five.
Cal Poly junior defensive specialist Ella Scott scored the winning point of the set when a USC communication error on serve receive led to an ace.
USC won set three 25-20, holding Cal Poly to a deficit or a tie the entire set. Sophomore middle blocker Mia Tvrdy had five kills on six attempts for a .833 hitting percentage. Mullen had six kills on the right side.
The set ended with an ace by senior outside hitter Dani Thomas-Nathan.
Mullen and redshirt sophomore outside hitter London Wijay led the attack in the fourth set with four kills each. For the Mustangs, junior outside hitter Emma Frederick had six kills in the set.
Both teams had three blocks.
The Trojans won the set 25-14 in the largest point differential of the match.
Although the match seemed to be turning in the Trojans’ favor after set four, the Mustangs won the final set 15-7.
“There was never a doubt in my mind coming off of the fourth set [that we would win],” said Beshear. “Looking everyone in the eye, none of us looked defeated, none of us looked like this game was over, and we came out with fire and passion and pride and trust. I knew from the first point… this is ours.”
At the beginning of the set, the Mustangs went on a six-point scoring run to bring the score from 3-3 to 9-3.
A kill from sophomore middle blocker Chloe Leluge, the Big West Championship MVP, brought the score to 13-7. An ace from Scott took it to 14-7, and redshirt senior setter Emme Bullis finished out the match with a dump on the second touch.
The Mustangs will play the No. 1 seed Kentucky Wildcats on Dec. 11 in the third round of the tournament.
The match ended with 15 total service errors and 20 attack errors for the Trojans. The Mustangs had nine service errors and 23 on attack.
“If this is not motivation,” Keller said, “Then I don’t know what is.”
The Trojans end the season tied for third in the Big Ten conference.
The team received several Big Ten conference awards: Wijay and freshman setter Reese Messer were named to the first team, while freshman libero Taylor Deckert and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Leah Ford were named to the second team. Messer was also named to the All-Freshman team along with Mullen.
Wijay had the ninth-most kills in the conference with 400, and Mullen was ranked second in service aces with 52.
Senior defensive specialist Gala Trubint was a Big Ten Sportsmanship Honoree for the second straight year.
“I’m incredibly proud of everyone stepping up this year,” Trubint said. “I think our level of play has jumped tremendously, and I have no doubt that this team is going to take this on…starting this spring with a chip on their shoulder and knowing what’s coming.”