This is the week that the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo women’s volleyball team confronts the lingering ghost of a long-tormented past.
This is the week that the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo women’s volleyball team confronts the lingering ghost of a long-tormented past.
That would be the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, of course.
Their on and off 37-year association, which will be renewed Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center, would almost be a rivalry if it weren’t so lopsided. In 43 previous meetings, the Mustangs are 4-39 and have lost 13 consecutive matches to UH since 2006.
They have dropped 10 consecutive matches to the Rainbow Wahine since UH rejoined the Big West in 2012 after a stay in the Western Athletic Conference.
In postseason matches the Mustangs have pretty much drawn the bagel against UH, going 0-5.
So, now, riding the crest of a 10-game winning streak, their longest since 1985, the Mustangs are 15-2 (5-0 Big West) and looking for a breakthrough with an eye toward ending UH’s three-year run of conference championships.
“I think this could be their best team this year,” former UH head coach Dave Shoji said.
To give you an idea of how long the Mustangs have come up against UH, consider that Mike Wilton, a UH men’s coach in the 1990s and 2000s, was guiding Cal Poly’s fortunes when they first achieved prominence in the 1980s.
To be sure, it isn’t like Cal Poly has lacked for success over the years. The problem is that it just hasn’t been able to manage it when UH was around to play spoiler. The Mustangs have won four championships in the Big West and its predecessor, the Pacific Coast Athletic Association. Just not when UH was competing in the conference.
The 40 kills put down by Teee Williams-Sanders in a 1988 match still hold a place in the opponent side of a Cal Poly record book dotted with Rainbow Wahine performances.
In 1985 the Mustangs enjoyed their best success against UH, winning both regular-season matches. But two weeks later in the postseason, it was UH that prevailed. And that’s how it has gone.
More recently, over the past two years the Mustangs have finished in third place in the Big West, denied a higher finish by UH, which has won all four matches. Last year UH took six of the seven sets played.
The Mustangs were the only other team receiving first-place votes in a preseason poll of the conference’s coaches.
This week finds the Mustangs one step outside the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 and Cal Poly no doubt sees a victory over UH (10-5, 4-0), which has won eight in a row, as a launchpad.
The Mustangs’ ascension is well timed in that Long Beach State, UH’s longest-running Big West antagonist, has fallen and fallen hard on tough times. At 5-12 (2-2) The Beach isn’t deemed much of a threat.
But the Mustangs and head coach Sam Crosson, who took over in 2012 amid allegations against a previous coach, have been building toward this season for a while. So much so that they look at this as the long-awaited payoff year on their much-advertised 2014 recruiting bonanza.
PrepVolleyball.com ranked its recruiting class that year in the Top 25 nationally and the Mustangs debuted what was the youngest team in Division I. Fast forward to 2017 and they are seniors, including three All-Big West selections boosted by UCLA transfer Torrey Van Winden, an All-Pac-12 pick.
Now we’ll see if that brings any change to the Rainbow Wahine’s domination.