Cal Poly Dominates Blue-Green Rivalry Match as UC Santa Barbara Falters

By Hadleigh Bolton

An inefficient offense and a scary injury sink UC Santa Barbara as Cal Poly extends its record to 9-0 in conference play.

This Big West conference matchup, often referred to as the Blue-Green Rivalry, was highly anticipated after last year’s five-set thriller.

Star outside Kendall Beshear kicked off the match for Cal Poly with a serve. UCSB responded with strong plays in the middle, with senior Sandrea “Sandy” Thomas blocking the Mustangs’ opposite Kayla Murdoch and following it up with a kill. 

Cal Poly quickly responded, forcing the Gauchos to call a timeout at 7-2 after a 5-0 Cal Poly run. 

UCSB’s coach Michael Henchy challenged the line judge’s out ruling, successfully overturning the official’s call for a Gaucho point.

Two unsuccessful challenges later in the first set left Henchy with zero challenges for the rest of the match. After Henchy’s second unsuccessful attempt, the Gauchos lost momentum with Cal Poly winning multiple hard-fought rallies. 

A deep corner shot from Cal Poly’s Beshear brought the Mustangs to set point, but a service error gave the Gauchos a chance for a comeback. Yet an efficient slide attack from Cal Poly’s senior middle Breklyn Pulling finished the set for Cal Poly, 25-19.

Set two opened in a similar fashion, with two early kills from Pulling powering Cal Poly to a five-point lead over UCSB’s single point. Pulling’s strong offense would prove historic: her overall hitting percentage of 0.867 broke the Cal Poly school record for single-match hitting percentage. The previous record had been held by Raeann Greisen since 2017.

UCSB responded to their slow start with an aggressive line shot from opposite Auburn Tomkinson followed by an ace from setter Ava Zamora. However, Cal Poly’s block shut down UCSB, bringing them to 10 points. Henchy took a timeout at 10-4 in an effort to reset UCSB’s mindset.

After the timeout, UCSB’s senior middle Bella Mathis swung wide to give Cal Poly an eight point lead. Another block from Cal Poly’s sophomore middle Charlotte Kelly brought the Mustangs to six blocks on the night, an unusually excellent performance for the second-worst blocking team in the Big West conference. 

UCSB took another timeout at 14-4, but still could not stop Cal Poly’s relentless run, fueled by their aggressive middle attacks on the slide and on the quick set in the middle of the court. The Mustangs reached 10 consecutive points at 17-4. 

A swing on the outside from UCSB scored them a fifth point, but Beshear’s topspin serve brought Cal Poly up to 20-5.

The Gauchos’ block finally responded with Mathis taking away outside Emma Fredrick’s swing. Santa Barbara continued to build momentum, with an overpass opportunity bringing them up to 10 points, but Cal Poly’s efficient slide attack stopped the run.

Sophomore outside Gabi Martinez swung from the back court to bring UCSB up to 11, but after a short run, a service error from Tomkinson granted Cal Poly the set at 25-13.

Martinez called the Gauchos’ slow start “unacceptable. [But] we have another 3 sets to prove what Gaucho volleyball is and how we play. Being loud, making aces, making kills, not being timid, just pursuing every ball, having really good volleyball: that’s Gaucho volleyball.” 

Martinez proved to be the star of set three for the Gauchos, opening the set with three kills for UCSB’s first three points. Outside Sophia Wendlick contributed a kill of her own for the Gauchos, but the outsides on Cal Poly’s side were strong as well. The duo of Beshear and Fredrick led the Mustangs to 8-4 over UCSB.

Thomas and Martinez scored kills, aided by Tomkinson at the service line, to bring Santa Barbara to a tie at 11-11. However, Cal Poly began to pull away again, with a slide attack from Pulling bringing the Mustangs up to 15-12.

Unfortunately, UCSB’s Kate Martin and Wendlick collided on the next play. Though Martin was able to walk away with only a bloody nose, Wendlick was unable to get up and was taken off the court on a stretcher with a suspected knee injury. 

“We felt really saddened because we were imagining that could end [her] season, and we were really worried for her. I just imagined, what if that happened to me? You can’t take volleyball for granted,” said Laguna Blanca sophomore Emma Brand, who plays volleyball on Laguna Blanca’s varsity team.

After a delay of close to 20 minutes, play resumed, but their teammate’s injury rattled the Gauchos. Fredrick powered the Mustangs to a 7-1 run. 

“My biggest area of growth is my vocalness on the court. I’ve always been a quieter person so I’ve really been working on that. I think it helps me play better and I think it helps everyone else around me,” said senior Fredrick, a star of Cal Poly’s offense this season. 

An ace from Mustang setter Alexis Haury brought the Mustangs within two of the match win. Consecutive errors from Cal Poly brought the Gauchos closer at 24-17. UCSB’s service error closed out the match at 25-17.

Cal Poly remains top of the Big West conference, now 9-0 in conference play and 13-6 overall. They hit 0.384 on the night and held UCSB to 0.085. Defensively, Cal Poly also edged out the Gauchos on digs, recording 32 to the Gauchos’ 21. Cal Poly also recorded nine blocks over UCSB’s three.

In their next matches, Cal Poly will hope to keep running their slide attack to score points efficiently. UC Santa Barbara will want to improve their defense against aggressive swings and make sure their blocks are on time and over the net.