Beach Volleyball Completes West Coast Circuit at Cal Poly Tournament

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Beach Volleyball finishes west coast circuit tomorrow at the Cal Poly Tournament in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Last Time Out
The Golden Eagles most recently spent back-to-back days in California at the Malibu Invite and in a doubleheader against No. 6 Loyola Marymount.

In the Malibu Invite, Southern Miss finished 0-2 against two of the nation's top teams. The day opened with a match against host Pepperdine. The 18th-ranked Waves crashed on the Southern Miss squad as they propelled their way to a 5-0 win, moving Pepperdine to 8-2 on the year.

The Black & Gold would spectate the second match of the day between Pepperdine and Long Beach State before taking on the No. 14 Beach for the final dual of the day.

Despite improved play at each flight, Southern Miss' result remained the same as they fell 0-5 to the Beach. The win would be LBSU's second of the year. Long Beach State's dual against Southern Miss was the team's first against an unranked opponent.

Meet the Matchups
In the first match of the day, the Golden Eagles stare down the 12th-ranked host Cal Poly Mustangs. Cal Poly enters with a record of 5-7 (1-0 Big West) on the 2022 season. The Mustangs are led by head man Todd Rogers, who enters his seventh season in San Luis Obispo with a record of 109 -72.

In 2021, Rogers' squad finished 24-11 after sweeping the Big West Conference Tournament and enjoying a run to the NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship Tournament Semifinals.

In 2022, the Mustangs have regressed slightly but are a few divots in the sand away from sporting a much-improved record. Of their seven losses, five of them have been decided by one dual.

Cal Poly began their season in Tallahassee, Fla. at the Florida State Beach Bash, a tournament Southern Miss participated in as well. The Mustangs finished 1-3 on the weekend and then traveled to Los Angeles for a tournament featuring the West Coast's top teams. Cal Poly would go on to finish 1-3 that weekend as well but picked up a win over No. 14 Long Beach State.

Last weekend, Coach Rogers and crew finished 3-1 at their first home tournament of the season with the lone loss coming to No. 6 Loyola Marymount. The team also enjoyed wins over Pac-12 opponents Washington and Arizona State.

Before Sunday's matches, the Mustangs have a 3-1 record when playing in friendly sand while Southern Miss has yet to win a game on true road sand, going 0-4 in such matches.

The Mustangs and Golden Eagles have faced five common opponents in 2022 (North Florida, Tampa, TCU, Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount). Southern Miss finished 0-6 against this group while Cal Poly managed to claw out a 2-3 record. Common losses are to Tampa, No. 6 TCU and No. 6 Loyola Marymount.

Cal Poly is the only team on Sunday to have faced Southern Miss before, taking a dual at last year's Florida State Beach Bash. The Mustangs defeated the Black & Gold 5-0 on Feb. 27, 2021.

In the 2022 edition of the matchup, Southern Miss takes the sands against Cal Poly at 11 A.M. (CT) on the Swanson Beach Volleyball Courts.

Forming the middle of the sandwich of matches on Sunday is No. 10 Cal. The Golden Bears, 8-4 (0-0 Pac-12), are led by head coach Meagna Owusu, who returns to Berkeley for her fifth season at the helm after stepping away on maternity leave for her newborn twins. In five seasons on the East Shore, Owusu posted a record of 84-44.

The 2021 Golden Bears squad finished 16-13 and did not qualify for the NCAA tournament after losing in the second round of the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships.

Through 12 games in 2022, Owusu's team has enjoyed their best start since 2019, only dropping four matches. All four losses have come at the hands of top-20 opponents, one of which was a 2-3 defeat by No. 9 Hawai'I, a team the Golden Bears would later defeat.

Cal began their season with two matches hosted by Loyola Marymount against LMU and Cal State Northridge. The Golden Bears split matches, beating CSUN 5-0 while losing to No. 4 Loyola Marymount 0-5. Coach Owusu and Co. would then travel down the I-5 for two matches in Irvine, Calif.

The Golden Bears would sweep No. 15 Long Beach State and Irvine Valley. The squad would continue their two-games-a-day schedule next weekend against San Jose State and UC Davis in Davis, Calif. Cal would again sweep the competition, improving to 5-1.

Last week, the team spent three days of matches in Manoa, Hawaii against No. 9 Hawaii, No. 3 TCU, Nebraska and UC Davis. The Golden Bears would finish 3-3, beating Nebraska, UC Davis and No. 9 Hawaii while suffering defeat against No. 3 TCU (twice) and No. 9 Hawaii.

Cal and Southern Miss share three common foes in Loyola Marymount, Long Beach State and TCU. Southern Miss posted an 0-4 record against these teams while Cal squeaked out a win against LBSU to finish 1-3 against the group.

Lastly, the Golden Bears enjoy a 5-2 record in neutral matches this season while Southern Miss has seen almost as many wins but many more losses in neutral sands, going 3-10. Match time set for 2 P.M. (CT).

Southern Miss rounds out their day with Santa Clara at 4 P.M. The Broncos sport a 3-5 (0-0 West Coast) record and are the only unranked team the Golden Eagles face during the California excursion.

Santa Clara is lead by fourth year sand skipper Jeff Alzina. Alzina's four seasons with the Broncos has seen a record of 13-37 in the Mission City. The 2021 season was extremely short for the Broncos as they were unable to take the sands until April due to COVID-19 restrictions. In the abbreviated season, the Broncos finished 5-7 with a 3-5 record in the West Coast Conference.

The 2022 Broncos squad enters Sunday 3-5. The five losses are the hands of Concordia Irvine, San Jose State, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado Mesa while the team's three victories are over Ottawa (Ariz.), Utah and Boise State.

Previously this year, Santa Clara opened at San Jose State's opening weekend tournament, finishing 2-2. In their last weekend against Division I opponents, the Broncos managed one win in four tries at Arizona's Cactus Classic.

The Broncos and Golden Eagles have no common opponents at the moment but SC plays Houston Baptist tomorrow for the first common foe. In 2022, the Broncos sport a 3-3 record in neutral matches while Southern Miss enters with a 3-10 record in such matches.

Streaming Options
No video streams will be available this weekend but staff at Cal Poly will be providing live stats for all matches. Links can be found on the Beach Volleyball schedule at SouthernMiss.com.

First match Sunday is set for 11 A.M. against No. 12 Cal Poly, second for 2 P.M. against No. 10 Cal with the final match coming at 4 P.M. as Southern Miss faces Santa Clara before traveling east.

For updates, scores and more, follow Southern Miss Beach Volleyball on Twitter @SouthernMissBVB, Instagram @southernmissbvb or at SouthernMiss.com.

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics

Beach Volleyball Completes West Coast Circuit at Cal Poly Tournament

Next Event

Related Videos