Women’s Volleyball Unable To Stop Cal Poly In Clash For Big West Lead

Saturday, October 10

Long Beach, Calif.

6 p.m.

Long Beach State University

12-4,4-2Big West

Cal Poly

10-6,6-0Big West

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Cal Poly	25	25	25	3
Long Beach St.	12	17	22	0

Women’s Volleyball Unable To Stop Cal Poly In Clash For Big West Lead

10/10/2026 8:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Sidney Hamaker’s 14 kills led Long Beach State, but Cal Poly remained unbeaten in Big West play.

By: Joe Reinsch; Assistant Director, Athletic Communications

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Long Beach State fell to Big West Conference-leading Cal Poly in a three-set sweep, 25-12, 25-17, 25-22, keeping LBSU from claiming a share of first place in the conference standings as the Mustangs remained unbeaten through six matches of Big West play.

The opportunity came just 24 hours after the Beach took down a previously unbeaten UC Santa Barbara, but Cal Poly (10-6, 6-0 Big West) hit for a torrid .378 percentage, featuring three players with at least 10 kills in the match. Long Beach State (12-4, 4-2) was held under .100 in the first two sets before warming up to a .357 percentage in the third set to finish at .140 for the match.

Sophomore Sidney Hamaker did her best to keep up with the Mustang hitters, generating a team-high 14 kills including 8 of them early in the third set, but Cal Poly's Emma Fredrick led all hitters with 15 kills and hit .393 for the match. Junior setter Madi Maxwell added another all-around productive performance, contributing 5 kills and a team-high 10 digs with her 21 assists. Maxwell and sophomore Pola Bujnarowska each registered a team-high 4 blocks, and sophomore libero Anna Jelinek notched 8 digs.

Cal Poly got their top hitters involved early, as Emma Fredrick picked up 3 kills in the Mustangs' first 7 points of the match for an early 7-5 lead. Sidney Hamaker answered with consecutive kills to tie the score at 7-7, and the teams traded points to an 8-8 tie. It was all Cal Poly from that point on, as the Mustangs finished the set with a 17-4 run for the 25-12 win. Cal Poly generated 16 kills and hit .412 in the set.

The Beach erased an early 3-1 deficit in set number two, with Sidney Hamaker's ace giving LBSU a 4-3 lead during an 8-3 run which resulted in a 9-6 margin. Madi Maxwell and Pola Bujnarowska teamed up for their second block of the match for a 10-7 lead, and Hamaker tooled the block for her fifth kill and an 11-8 edge. Cal Poly responded once again, scoring 3 straight and pulling away with a 17-6 run to close out a 25-17 second-set victory. The Mustangs notched another 15 kills and hit .324 in the set.

Facing a potential sweep, the Beach turned the third set into a back-and-forth battle, as neither team led by more than 3 points throughout the set. Hamaker notched the first 2 points of the set with back-to-back kills to claim the early lead, and she provided 8 kills in LBSU's first 12 points of the set. The last 3 all came from right-side swings as she painted the sideline for a 12-11 lead midway through the set.

Both teams scored in bunches after that. Cal Poly scored 3 to regain the lead, 14-12, but Pola Bujnarowska posted a kill and a block as Long Beach State answered with 3 straight to make it 15-14 heading into the mid-set media timeout. The Mustangs scored 4 straight out of the media timeout for an 18-15 edge, but a Kendal Murphy kill, Bujnarowska service ace, and Madi Maxwell kill tied the set at 18-18.

With Cal Poly holding a 22-20 edge, Mustangs setter Alexis Haury put a serve on the back line, catching enough of the line to record an ace and extend the cushion to 23-20. Cal Poly service errors gave the Beach an opportunity to pull even again, but Cal Poly responded with kills after both errors to finish off the 25-22 win.

Long Beach State faces a pair of new Big West Conference members on a multi-state road trip next week, taking Utah Valley on Thursday, Oct. 15 and Sacramento State on Saturday, Oct. 17. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.