After forcing a fifth set, the women’s volleyball team couldn’t answer back to a very competitive Cal Poly team who won Saturday night’s match 3-2 at the Premier America Credit Union Arena.

This is the second time the two teams have matched up against each other, with the first being a sweep of the Mustangs (19-5 overall, 10-2 conference) over the Matadors (13-10 overall, 6-6 conference) earlier this season.

To prepare for the match, Head coach Aquiles Montoya had the Matadors watch a bit of game tape earlier that morning. He said his team is still working to push through tough scenarios.

“I think we just clean up a thing here and there, and we’re gonna be good,” Montoya said. “That’s one of the more physical teams in the conference, and I don’t think they out-physicaled us. … That’s a team that’s used to winning and knows how to persevere in those opportunities, and we’re still striving to do that.”

The Matadors found themselves down by as much as seven points three separate times before the Mustangs took set one by a score of 25-18, their fourth margin of seven points throughout the match.

CSUN was able to capitalize during set two, matching Cal Poly’s energy and keeping the score close as they tied the match five separate times.

After scoring their eighth point on a kill by CSUN opposite Leah Miller, the Matadors took the lead. The Mustangs quickly countered back and tied it up again but the Matadors went on a five-point run to give them their biggest lead of the night thus far.

CSUN finished off the set 25-19 to tie the match at one set a piece.

Cal Poly went all gas, no brakes during set three and scored nine points before the Matadors could get one.

The Mustangs continued to set the tone as they took the biggest lead of the night with 11 points over the Matadors. CSUN worked to trail by only three at one point but Cal Poly ultimately won the set 25-20, needing one more for the win.

Set four was easily the most competitive as both teams battled throughout this set. They tied the match a total of 15 times and had eight lead changes up until the last few points.

The Matadors forced a final set, winning this one 25-22.

Set five was similar to the previous one as neither team let the other get ahead by more than five points. The Mustangs sealed the match after a 15-11 set win.

CSUN currently sits in fifth place in the Big West standings with six matches to go before playoffs. Montoya said it comes down to team building through the tough battles.

“We look at it as, you know, we’re not waiting and hoping that somebody beats someone for us to get in [playoffs],” he said. “We still hold our own destiny, and we kind of control that, and so we wanna take advantage of that. That’s kind of our MO – we want our players to be aggressive and play free.”

The Matadors look to get back in the win column with their next match being set for Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. where they will host Cal State Bakersfield. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.