SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After a heartbreaking loss to Sacramento State in a five-set match Friday evening, the Wolf Pack drop their second match of the weekend to Cal Poly 3-1 Saturday afternoon at The Nest in Sacramento.
 
This was the first meeting between the two teams since 2016, with the Mustangs now leading the matchup series 10-5 over Nevada.
 
Freshman Tehya Maeva got her first collegiate career start in the lineup, earning her first double-double with 30 assists and 14 digs, earning 11 more assists than Friday's night match against Sacramento State. Including Maeva, who led the overall leaderboard for assists, Sia Liilii led the attack leaderboard with 51. Nicanora Clarke led the offense with 13 kills while Hikialani Kaohelaulii led the defense with 20 digs.
 
The Mustangs started off with the first point with a kill by Emma Fredrick. Nevada kept the score within one before going on a 3-0 run to lead 8-5. The Mustangs went on their own 3-0 run to tie up the set at 8-8 a piece before a kill by Clarke stopped the run. The Pack force the Mustangs to call a timeout after going on a 4-0 run to go up 17-13, the largest lead of the match so far. Continuing the back-and-forth battle, Cal Poly went on a 5-2 run to tie it all up at 19-19. After reaching the set point after a serve from Maeva, a kill by Jordan Schwartz helped secure the opening set for Nevada 25-23 over the Mustangs. Bella Snyder, Kaohelaulii, Lexi Applebach, and Clarke all had service aces in the set to help put points on the board for Nevada.
 
The Mustangs opened the second set 4-0 with a service ace by Emme Bullis and three attack errors by the Pack. Liilii earned her fifth kill of the match after going back-to-back kills helping Nevada get within one of the Mustangs 6-5 lead. Snyder and Clarke double teamed for a block assist before two errors by Cal Poly gave Nevada its largest lead of the second set with a 4-0 run, putting the Pack up 11-9. The Mustangs saw its largest lead of the two sets 22-17, ultimately carrying that momentum to take the second set in a six-point 25-19 victory after a service ace from Ella Scott to even the series 1-1 heading into the third.
 
Clarke started off the third set firing with back-to-back service aces to put the Pack up 3-1. Nevada found their rhythm to go on a 6-1 run, the largest of the evening to pull away from the Mustangs 12-9. Before the media timeout, the Pack and the Mustangs continued to rally back-and-forth, each squad not letting the other allow more than a two-point lead before a 5-0 run from the Mustangs put them up 18-15. Cal Poly reached their set point off a 23-23 tie from a kill by Lizzy Markovska. An error by Nevada resulted in the Mustangs winning the third set 25-23, leading 2-1 over the Pack.
 
The Mustangs continued their momentum leading 11-4 before forcing Nevada to call a timeout. The Pack continued to battle through the set but couldn't hold on as the Mustangs continued to rally to win the set 25-13 and the match 3-1.
 
Up next:
 
Nevada will wrap up the Sacramento State Invitational with its final match against Iowa at 11 a.m.