Nov. 14, 2017

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

C a l P o l y, S a n L u i s O b i s p o

w w w. m u s t a n g n e ws . n e t

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HACKERMAN FORMER CAL POLY STUDENT AVOIDS JAIL TIME FOR CYBER CRIME Sydney Brandt @ syd_brandtt

Former Cal Poly student Sean Tiernan was sentenced to two years of probation Oct. 30 by a Pittsburgh judge for creating and selling a botnet that infected more than 77,000 computers. Tiernan was arrested in 2012 and pleaded guilty to a CAN-SPAM violation in 2013.

The CAN-SPAM Act provides recipients with the right to stop people from emailing them. Tiernan was not given any jail time because his motives were considered to be “non-intrusive.”

“It certainly was wrongdoing … he broke the law for sure,” associate computer science and software engineering professor Foaad Khosmood said.

Computer science senior Max Zinkus said that putting a label on these types of computer violations can be a difficult task.

“It’s definitely a challenge to quantify harm with computer-related crimes … it’s always hard to keep laws up-to-date with technology,” Zinkus said. “They will always lag behind, but it’s important that we keep updating them so that they are dealt with in a way that is widely agreed upon.”

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VEGETABLE BUTCHER

BIG WEST CHAMPIONS

Despite the name, the new restaurant offers vegan, vegetarian and meat options.

Volleyball wins the conference title for the first time since 2007.

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ZACH DONNENFIELD | MUSTANG NE W S

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MATT LALANNE | MUSTANG NE W S

Content NEWS

SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS .........................4 PARKER PATIERNO ......................................4 QL + LAB ......................................................5

ARTS

KENNEDY LIBRARY ......................................6 VEGETABLE BUTCHER FEATURE ................8 KCPR OPEN MIC NIGHT.............................10

OPINION

THE BLUE COLLAR CLASS .........................11 HONORING VETERANS DAY.......................11

SPORTS

CROSS COUNTRY ......................................14 FOOTBALL .................................................14 VOLLEYBALL ..............................................15

Mustang News TODAY ,S ISSUE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017 VOLUME O, ISSUE 9

CONTACT EDITORIAL (805) 756-1796 ADVERTISING (805) 756-1143 CLASSIFIED (805) 756-1143 FAX (805) 756-6784 Graphic Arts Building 26, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

EDITORS AND STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Naba Ahmed MANAGING EDITORS | Gina Randazzo | Brendan Matsuyama NEWS EDITOR | James Hayes ARTS EDITOR | Mikaela Duhs OPINION EDITOR | Elias Atienza SPORTS EDITOR | Erik Engle SPECIAL SECTIONS COORDINATOR | Megan Schellong COPY CHIEF | Bryce Aston COPY EDITORS | Monique Geisen | Clarisse Wangeline | Jordyn White LEAD DESIGNER | Zack Spanier DESIGNERS | Jessie Franco | Tanner Layton

ON THE COVER

Botnets can infect one’s computer and use it to send spam emails.

Photo Illustration by Hanna Crowley, Mustang News.

ZERO WASTE

JAKE DOUGLAS | MUSTANG NE W S

| Zero Waste Leaders help people sort their waste into the appropriate bin to increase awareness about sustainability.

Zero Waste Leaders promote producing less waste on campus Rachel Marquardt @ rachmmarie

In an effort to teach students to manage their waste, Zero Waste Leaders will be attending upcoming events to teach students how to sort trash into the recycling, compost or landfill bins.

Leaders dressed in vests will stand near zero waste stations to help direct students.

Volunteer coordinator and member of AmeriCorps Colleen Trostle trained the leaders prior to their first zero waste event.

Currently, the position for zero waste coordinator is empty and will be filled by the end of January, but until then Trostle will be filling those shoes.

Trostle and the Zero Waste Leaders have given presentations to staff and groups who are interested in zero waste.

“My role currently is to educate students and faculty on zero waste … the biggest thing for zero waste is to educate people on what is recyclable, compostable and what goes to the landfill,” Trostle said.

Zero Waste Leaders were seen for the first time at the football game against Portland State Nov. 4. Their goal for the event was for 10 percent or less of waste to go to a landfill.

In order for any event to be consider “zero waste,” 90 percent or more of the waste created must be composted or recycled. Clean up was done by Facilities rather than the

Zero Waste Crew, making it unclear if they met the “zero waste” goal. However, Trostle felt it went very well.

“The attendees were very excited and interested in learning about the proper way to dispose of items and happy that we were making it zero waste,” Trostle said.

According to Sustainability Coordinator Kylee Singh, Cal Poly diverts 80 percent of its waste from a landfill.

“We often get bad press around not composting on campus, which is false,” Singh said. “All the clean compost material used from Campus Dining is composted.”

Though Cal Poly’s zero-waste efforts are ranked highly among universities, Singh wants to encourage students to make the percentage even higher.

“It’s the stuff we touch and see every day that we need to begin focusing on and diverting so we can move from an 80 to 100 percent diversion rate,” Singh said.

The goal of the newly organized leaders is to teach students which bin to use for their trash in order for the campus to reduce contamination.

“Students play the biggest part in making Cal Poly a zero-waste campus,” Trostle said.

“It’s very important for them to sort their trash and compostables so we can reach these goals.”

Though the tailgate was the first event where the Zero Waste Leaders were present,

it is not the only event that coordinators have scheduled to go zero waste.

At Make a Difference Day Oct. 28 – an event where volunteers get assigned to help specific clubs — the waste produced at the zero waste event was two candy wrappers over the goal of 90 percent of the trash being composted or recycled.

Sustainability leaders believe it is essential for students to understand which bins to place their waste in, and therefore it is essential for Zero Waste Leaders such as civil engineering freshman Claire Anovick to teach them.

“I think as we become a society that has to focus on being sustainable and green, the best way for us to start those practices is for us to take action in what we do,” Anovick said. “So the best way to start zero waste is to start working on it now, rather than taking action later. And zero waste is one of the easiest ways to start being green.”

The leaders want students to focus on sustainability and make a positive impact not just on campus, but also on the planet.

“This would help the environment hugely, and these things go into the environment and have a trickle down effect and come back down to humans. The first tier is to reduce, second tier is to reuse and third tier is to recycle,” Trostle said. “The most important thing is for students to take the time to do all these things.”

Sydney Harder @ CPMustangNews

Entrepreneurship is not foreign to Cal Poly alum Jonathan Allen.

After a successful run as sole operator of his childhood lawn-mowing business, Allen began the journey to where he is today: co-founder and director of WizeFi, a new personal finance software.

“With a strategic spending guideline and wealth-building strategy to holistically show where your money should go each month, we hope to get people out of debt quicker than any program out there,” Allen said.

Helping students make the most of their money During college, Allen lived paycheck-to-paycheck with various side jobs, from flipping and selling cars and motorcycles to working at Domino’s and Naked Fish.

“I thought, ‘What’s the point of having a plan when I can’t do anything more with my money?’” Allen said. “Which was totally the wrong mindset.”

Allen’s personal struggle with money management led him to a deeper passion for solving a problem many college students face.

“There’s plenty of software helping the one percent, and so much money being moved around,” Allen said. “But who is helping the 99 percent? And that’s what our software does.”

Allen said WizeFi was particular benefits for college student becauese it increases financial literacy and helps users understand how to make money and consolidate debt.

The affiliate program is one distinguishing fea-

CP HACKER continued from page 1

Tiernan rented out his software to send spam messages and used the money he made to pay for college. None of the information taken from infected computers was personal; only computer IP addresses were used. This can still be damaging because the infected computer is linked as the source that is sending out spam to other computers. Botnets use this tactic to avoid getting in trouble, Khosmood said.

“It would be like someone breaks into your garage, sets up this manufacturing operation to assemble spam or advertising and then uses your address for shipping and receiving.

While [they’re] there, [they’re] taking up your space and your power. That’s the analogy and so I think that’s intrusive,” Khosmood said.

Khosmood said this type of computer hacking is most often used for spam. Someone in-

ture of the app. It offers a monetary incentive to users who support the product and share it with others. This referral network is also a manifestation of WizeFi’s mission to help consumers realize their maximum net worth, according to Allen.

From exclusive use to public launch The backbone of WizeFi’s intelligence is an algorithm developed two decades ago by Allen’s father, Sean Allen, an investor and financial planning strategist.

At the time, the software was only accessible to professionals in the finance industry.

Allen saw great potential in bringing this product to a bigger market and approached his father with the idea of making this software available to consumers.

Allen and his father partnered, and Allen took on the task of developing the consumer

LEARN BY DOING

version of the product.

The app first started coming together in Kauai, Hawaii, two years ago, then relocated to the mainland at the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s SLO Hothouse in downtown San Luis Obispo.

“I’ve been working on everything the app looks like, and how it functions,” Allen said.

A development and marketing team was also brought on, and WizeFi officially launched to the public Oct. 3.

According to Allen, the company has received overwhelmingly positive feedback; several influencers, including a Hollywood star and NFL players, have contacted Wizefi in hopes of promoting it.

Despite this early success, the WizeFi team is still hard at work responding to and resolving customer complaints.

“Updates are happening every three days and we’re fixing bugs,” Allen said.

A promising future for consumers and Wizefi The team was able to showcase WizeFi in Dallas Oct. 25-28 at FinCon, a national financial tech conference that brings together more than 1,500 money media enthusiastssearching for the next big financial service.

“People come to us looking for stories to write about,” Allen said.

Allen plans to continue refining and promoting Wizefi with the end goal of assisting as many consumers as possible with their personal finance goals.

“The plan isn’t to get acquired, but to change the world, and we have the plan and ability to do that,” Allen said.

ISEL LONGORIA | MUSTANG NE W S

| Cal Poly alumni Jonathan Allen (left) and Chad Kihm (right) with Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong (middle).

fects the computers and then can rent them out and make money while a client is using the computers.

“It’s advantageous to them because if one computer sends out millions of spam emails, it’s easy to block that computer. But if there’s 77,000 computers sending out smaller amounts of spam, then it’s really hard to block all of them,” Khosmood said.

Computer science professor Clark Turner said this kind of behavior is not uncommon and hacking can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

As a student at Cal Poly, Tiernan took Professional Responsibilities (CSC 300), which teaches ethics, software system safety and intellectual property. Zinkus said there is always a possibility that students may take advantage of what they learn and use that knowledge negatively.

“Some of the biggest hackers who have made big trouble make a lot of money later because they are seen to be very knowledgeable peo-

ple,” Turner said. “What kind of an ethical issue is that, rewarding bad behavior?”

Ethical Issues Despite his violation, Tiernan was enrolled into Stanford’s CyberSecurity Graduate Program and is currently working to become a Certified Information Systems Security Professional.

Mustang News contacted the program in an effort to reach out to Tiernan, but there was no response.

Combating hacking on campus Although cases such as Tiernan’s are not considered malcious, Cal Poly has made efforts to eliminate any computer hacking on campus.

The White Hat Club is an academic club dedicated to CyberSecurity education and learning how people attack computer systems in order to better defend them.

“Our goal is very much to educate and also to talk about what are our ethical responsi-

bilities,” Zinkus said.

Zinkus is the president of the White Hat Club and said their mission is to foster an environment that teaches caution and the responsibilities that are necessary for computer science.

“What people do with knowledge is always up to them ... Certainly these skills can be used for nefarious purposes, but we need people in the workforce to understand them in order to defend,” Zinkus said.

As long as it is profitable, Zinkus said computer hacking will continue to be an issue.

Email spam that occurred in the past has been automated with spam filters and significantly decreased, but innovations like blog spam and Facebook advertising have become the future of spam problems, Khosmood said.

“I think they’re going to be with us for the long term,” Khosmood said. “I think it’s going to be a continuous arms race and that’s just the nature of the beast.”

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | NEWS | MUSTANG NEWS

An entrepreneurial journey: Cal Poly alum launches personal finance software

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TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | NEWS | MUSTANG NEWS

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Cal Poly took home four sustainability and efficiency awards this summer

GO GREEN

FRANCES MYLOD-VARGAS | MUSTANG NE W S

| Dennis Elliot shows off the sustainability awards that Cal Poly won in June.

Jody Miller Special to Mustang News

Cal Poly continues to advance in energy efficiency, waste reduction and food sustainability.

Cal Poly won four awards at the 2017 Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Best Practice Awards for its sustainability programs and projects June 2017. Cal Poly has won more sustainability awards than any other California State University (CSU).

Best Practice Award in Sustainable Food Systems The first award was Best Practice in Sustainable Food Systems, which is given to campuses that integrate food sustainability practices into their dining operations. In 2014, a CSU mandate was passed

that required 20 percent of all food at campus dining operations to be sourced organic, locally grown or certified fair trade within six years. It also required schools to educate their campuses about food sustainability.

According to the Cal Poly Campus Dining website, they focus on buying locally grown produce and educating students on the environmental benefits of eating that produce to increase sustainability.

Founder and Director of the Center for Sustainability in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences Hunter Francis said that once students learn where their food comes from, they can make environmentally conscious decisions. He cited education as the most important part of food sustainability.

Parker Patierno recovering from second-story fall Sydney Harder @ CPMustangNews

Business administration freshman Parker Patierno has returned home to Colorado, where he will continue to receive intensive care at Craig Hospital in Denver for his brain injury.

Early in the morning Oct. 27, Patierno fell from the second-story balcony of the Shasta residence hall after attending a Halloween party according to Construction management freshman and Patierno’s roommate Jack Radovan. He was taken to Sierra Vista

Regional Medical Center and underwent a craniectomy, a surgery in which part of the skull is removed to allow room for brain swelling.

“At the beginning it wasn’t a good thing at all,” architecture junior and Patierno’s older brother Cutler Patierno said. “The doctors didn’t know if he would make it.”

Despite sustaining severe head trauma, according to Patierno, he impressed doctors with his steady progress and “showed signs of life in three days.” Patierno did not incur a spinal injury or broken bones.

Best Practice Award in Student Sustainability Leadership In addition to increasing the amount of sustainably sourced food available to students on campus, Cal Poly also organized an event for students and faculty called the Student Sustainability Leadership Summit. The summit won the Best Practice Award in Student Sustainability Leadership for bringing together campus groups that were trying to achieve the same goal but weren’t working together.

Sustainability Coordinator Kylee Singh, who works as the connection between Facilities and students, wanted to “get all the club leaders on the same page and elevate the work they were doing.”

Singh oversees the Cal Poly Green Campus Team, which is a group of student employees who create programs to get students more involved with energy efficiency and sustainable practices on campus. Green Campus Team Manager Ben Christensen says when multiple groups are working to address a problem, they can accomplish more by working together.

Christensen wants to make saving energy, using less water and reducing waste easier for students on campus. Christensen said the Green Campus Team is working to show students how to do that through programs such the Annual Conservation Diversion Challenge (ACDC).

ACDC is a competition between the red brick residence halls to use less water and energy.

Christensen said his involvement with Cal Poly sustainability isn’t about personal achievement but rather what the school can achieve in the long run. To Christensen, these awards are a reflection of Cal Poly’s commitment to creating a better campus for future students.

Best Practice Award in Sustainability Innovations

Radovan said that earlier that night, Patierno returned back to his apartment after attending a pledge event and “was completely sober.”

“We were hanging out, talking and [Patierno] said he was going to a Halloween party with his [fraternity] brothers,” Radovan said. “I even helped him pick out a costume.”

That was the last time Radovan saw Patierno that night.

Over the past weeks, Patierno’s family has felt an outpouring of love and support from the community, for which they are “extremely grateful.”

“Parker is strong and he will prevail and all of his family, friends and supporters are going to surround him while he does it,” Patierno’s parents Tina and PJ wrote in an email.

Patierno will receive a combination of

Cal Poly’s 20-acre solar farm project received a Best Practice Award in Sustainability Innovations, which is given to projects that don’t fit into any other award category. The solar farm is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by December 2017, according to Director of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability Dennis Elliot.

The solar farm will be linked to databases that will contain metered energy information provided to Elliot by students and will be available for students to use for projects and research. It is projected to generate enough power to meet about 25 percent of the campus’ total electricity needs and save the school millions of dollars, according to Elliot.

Honorable Mention in Innovative Waste Reduction The Zero Waste Collaborative received an Honorable Mention in Innovative Waste Reduction for its efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling on campus.

The Collaborative involves decision makers on campus, such as the organizers of WOW and SLO Days, and off campus, such as the manager of the recycling center at Cold Canyon Landfill. Facilities purchased three-bin collection systems for waste, developed new signage instructing students on what goes in compost, recycling and landfill bins. These were placed in Robert E. Kennedy Library, The Avenue, the Julian A. McPhee University Union and a number of the residence halls.

The Zero Waste Collaborative monitored how well students were sorting trash and found that students needed additional guidance in recycling. Energy, Utilities and Sustainability was approved to add a Zero Waste Program coordinator to their team to continue to teach students how to reduce waste and recycle, according to Elliot. occupational, physical and speech therapy at the rehabilitation center at Craig Hospital; a full recovery is expected, according to Cutler.

Patierno could be back at Cal Poly as early as Spring 2018 if rehabilitation goes well.

CUTLER PATIERNO | COURTE SY PHOTO

5 TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | NEWS | MUSTANG NEWS

GIVING BACK

ISEL LONGORIA | MUSTANG NE W S

| Students with Quality of Life Plus (QL+) have designed and manufactured a variety of custom-built prosthetics for members of the San Luis Obispo community.

QL+ Lab makes one-of-a-kind prosthetics for Central Coast community Andi Di Matteo @andimatteo_

Chris Bratcher is an artisan winemaker from Santa Ynez, California whose right hand was amputated three years ago. Aaliyah Ramos is a mechanical engineering junior at Cal Poly.

Together, they’re creating technology that will change Bratcher’s life.

Ramos is a team lead at the Quality of Life Plus (QL+) Lab which makes one-of-a-kind prosthetics for community members of all ages and backgrounds.

QL+ was started by alumnus Jon Monett, who served in the U.S. Air Force and spent 26 years working for the Central Intelligence Agency. After retiring, Monett wanted to give back to service personnel harmed in the line of duty, according to Biomedical Engineering Department Chair Robert Crockett.

“His vision was that we could have a facility that would have Cal Poly engineering students work with individuals on a case-by-case basis, because often every single prosthetic is unique to a single person,” Crockett said.

Applying QL+’s model to Cal Poly One of QL+’s early challenges was to develop a way to allow a firefighter with a breathing stoma — a hole in the neck that lets allows breathing after larynx surgery — to use a respirator when fighting fires. Ac-

cording to Crockett, this project epitomized QL+’s mission.

“There just isn’t a product out there like that, because how many firefighters have that condition?” Crockett said.

While at the national level, QL+ caters to veterans and service-people, at Cal Poly the organization works with people in the Central Coast community who have very specific prosthetic needs.

Ramos’ client or “challenger” is Bratcher, who lost his hand in a grape crushing accident in 2014. He’s been seeking a way to perform tasks at the winery ever since.

“We reached out to him and offered him the opportunity to work with us to design and build something that looks closer to what he wants and that will help him with his winemaking,” Ramos said.

Building Bratcher’s prosthetic The partnership between Bratcher and QL+ began November 2016, when they first met and discussed what his specific needs were. After research, the team determined a myoelectric prosthesis would best suit the winemaker’s needs. The final product will use electrical signals from the muscles in his upper arm to control prosthetic digits.

The prosthetics developed in the QL+ Lab combine hardware and software. This requires people of different disciplines to come together and create innovative designs. There

are seven members on Ramos’s team whose specialties include mechanical, biomedical and electrical engineering.

“We split into small groups that took care of different sides of the hand,” electrical engineering sophomore and team member Mavis Tsoi said. “There was a socket group, an electronics and software group and a group for everything above the wrist. This way, we could all utilize our strengths and give the most input to the project based on what our talents are.”

The prototyping process began Winter 2017 after about 15 rounds of designing. Though it was expected to be finished by Spring 2017, Ramos said the team wasn’t ready and the project deadline was pushed to the end of the calendar year.

The prototype the team created will allow Bratcher to point or type with his first finger and hold wine bottles. It even has an opposable thumb. With his old prosthetic, Bratcher couldn’t even hold his phone.

Bringing a human element to engineering Bratcher is one of more than 10 challengers selected by the QL+ Lab every quarter.

Challengers are nominated by either current club members or people who have heard of the organization. Current projects range from designing an ankle brace for a woman hit by a drunk driver to creating a customized mechanical hand for a six-year-old boy.

“These are people who are experiencing

difficult challenges and you would expect that maybe they have kind of a disappointed outlook on life, but in my experience everyone I’ve worked with has been the most positive and encouraging person that I’ve ever met,” QL+ President Berkeley Davis said.

The lab and its challengers bring a human element and local connection to the College of Engineering. According to Crockett, Cal Poly is the perfect environment for a QL+ satellite because of its Learn by Doing philosophy.

Team leads and members have the unique opportunity of first-hand experience in the biomedical engineering field as early as their freshman year.

Crockett said one of the most impactful things one can do as an engineer is design something that directly impacts a life and makes it better.

“This myoelectric hand ... offers a chance to learn to use individual fingers once again,” Bratcher said. “That’s extremely exciting and I’m honored to be around such a smart, caring group of students.”

Ramos said what drew her to join QL+ her very first quarter at Cal Poly was the hands-on approach to the different, real-life scenarios.

She said she looks forward to what’s next after giving Bratcher the final product.

“I think it says it all in the name: we’re reaching out to people and helping them overcome the disabilities they have, literally improving their quality of life,” Ramos said.

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | ARTS | MUSTANG NEWS

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Students help brainstorm renovation ideas for Kennedy Library Cassandra Garibay @cassandragari

The Robert E. Kennedy Library renovation design team held its first town hall meeting to discuss library renovations Nov. 2. It was the first of many meetings that will take place over the next seven months. Students and staff participated in discussions, helped create vision boards and voiced their opinions on the future of the library.

According to Stacey White, liaison between Cal Poly and the renovation design team, the school was allotted $55 million by the state of California to renovate Kennedy Library.

“This has been a project 20 years in the making. The library has been very active in soliciting funds to be able to renovate the space,” White said.

In order to utilize the money to best benefit the students and staff, the library has partnered with two design firms, Brightspot Strategy and BNIM. Through a series of visits that will span from now until May 2018, Brightspot Strategy and BNIM will be performing programming and feasibility studies White said. The studies will include different activities and presentations to narrow down what students and staff want in the renovated library.

“We are doing the visioning for the future library, as well as the concept design. So it’s

going to go all the way from ‘What do we want to see more of, what kind of library do we want to have on campus and how does that look in this building?’” Associate Director of Brightspot Strategy Amanda Worth said.

The process aims to involve as many students as possible. According to Worth, the initial goal is to create a plan for an ideal library crafted by the Cal Poly community that can realistically fit into the space provided.

Town hall meeting attendee and architecture junior Chaomin Chen participated in the brainstorming activities because she wanted to share her opinions regarding a new library. Although she feels some changes to the library could be beneficial, she is concerned they will not be able to fulfill everyone’s needs.

“I feel like we won’t know what we want until we get it, and the library for me is already pretty good. And by pushing it further it might just become a way too open activity room instead of a library,” Chen said.

After seven months of brainstorming and refining ideas, BNIM will begin making concrete plans, and renovation will begin thereafter.

“I can say that I have been working in this building for 20 years on different design projects and I’ve never seen a group more optimistic and excited about the potential,” White said.

OPPORTUNIT Y

JAKE ERICKSON | MUSTANG NE W S

| Students can tell designers what they want in the new study space.

The Annual Audit of the Associated Students, Inc. and the University Union for Fiscal Year 2016–2017 has been completed.

Public information copies of the financial statements are available at the ASI Business Office (UU 212) and at the Kennedy Library.

Connecting students to their ultimate college experience.

IDEAS

JAKE ERICKSON | MUSTANG NE W S

| Students will get to participate in the design process of the new improved library.

8 TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | ARTS FEATURE | MUSTANG NEWS

Vegetable Butcher: A modern La

YUM

ZACH DONNENFIELD | MUSTANG NE WS

| Charred steak sticks with spring onions and special chimichurri.

Emma Kumagawa @ emma_kumagawa

A flamboyant skeleton named Lola greets customers as they enter Vegetable Butcher.

Sporting a sash that reads “Bienvenidos” and a wide smile, she sets the scene for Latin American cuisine with a twist.

Vegetable Butcher is a restaurant that offers a variety of vegetarian, vegan and meat dishes served in a refined, rustic atmosphere with a constant buzz of chatter and movement. The restaurant is owned

by husband-and-wife duo John and Becky Windels and their third business partner Rich Hanen.

Creating Vegetable Butcher Becky’s 26-year-long cooking career started in Scottsdale, Arizona. She began by working in catering and eventually became the owner and executive chef of her own business, The Herb Box. On the business’ 20th anniversary, Becky sold it and set off with John to travel along the California coast.

The Windels were on a mission to find the

WELCOME

SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTANG NE WS

| Lola greets each customer with a warm welcome and smile.

best location to start a new restaurant. San Luis Obispo was the first place they visited, and after four months of looking elsewhere, they knew it was the right place. However, they still had one main concern: the type of cuisine the restaurant would serve.

“We would go out and talk to almost every demographic and ask, ‘What is needed here in [San Luis Obispo]?’ A lot people would say modern Mexican … And I’m a very vegetable-forward chef, so I combined the two,” Becky said.

The name “Vegetable Butcher” was born three weeks prior to the restaurant’s opening — July 5, 2017 — during a meeting between Becky, the executive chef and a freelance butcher.

“He introduced himself as, ‘Hi, I’m Josh; I’m a meat butcher.’ And my wife goes, ‘I’m Chef Becky; I’m a vegetable butcher,’” frontof-the-house manager John said.

Developing the menu Becky created the menu from scratch, sourcing more than 90 percent of

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HOST

SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTANG NE WS

| Manager Domnic Boro gets Vegatable Butcher ready for the day.

the local farmers here. But the pork is from Nebraska, where I’m from,” John said.

Becky’s menu items began as basic ideas in her head, which she then added an element of surprise. She does not pay attention to trends, instead relying on her creativity when it comes to food.

“I constantly have ideas, and I get excited by that,” Becky said.

The menu consists of many smallplate meals, the concept being that

customers can come in for any occasion and order as much food as they like.

“It isn’t the basic steak and potatoes — you can have a lot of fun,” Becky said.

Becky credits her staff as her greatest source of motivation when coming to work. She loves being a mentor to them and ensuring that they enjoy coming to work as much as she does.

“I love the ambiance, the small plates, the flavor of the food and [the] management,”

VARIET Y

SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTANG NE WS

| The restaurant offers vegetarian, vegan and meat options.

server Ashley White said. “The teamwork alone is super valuable — they’ll ask me to come in and do dishes sometimes, and I’ll just come because I care about the whole restaurant, not just my own success.”

Vegetable Butcher on 712 Marsh Street, the restaurant sees a flow of local students and residents as well as tourists. One of the main values of Vegetable Butcher is achieving excellence in every situation, which includes treating each customer like a “VIP.” “I feel like everyone truly wants me to

enjoy my experience here,” biomedical engineering sophomore Esther Park said.

“They’re all so friendly, and the food is presented so nicely.”

While the Windels are open to the idea of establishing a second Vegetable Butcher location in the future, they are currently content with the San Luis Obispo location.

“I want Vegetable Butcher to be a place that people feel comfortable coming into,” Becky said. “We have so many different things to offer, a variety for everybody.”

SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTANG NE W S

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | ARTS FEATURE | MUSTANG NEWS

atin American eatery for all diets

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | ARTS | MUSTANG NEWS

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MOSH PIT

Z ACH DONNENFIELD | MUSTANG NE W S

| Punk rock band Crucial Measures performed last at Open Mic Night, riling the crowd up enough to start a mosh pit in the middle of the Performing Arts Center Pavilion.

KCPR Fall Open Mic Night Emma Kumagawa @ emma_kumagawa

KCPR hosted their Fall Open Mic Night Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) Pavilion. People trickled into the dimly lit room and plopped down on personalized carpet cutouts surrounding the stage, ready to be entertained.

The event featured Cal Poly students, as well as alumni and residents from the San Luis Obispo area. The 11 performances included various bands, one poet and one stand-up comedian. From a song about cosmic lattes to a full-fledged mosh pit, the show was an eclectic assortment of talent.

Fall Open Mic Night was emceed by graphic communication senior Jaya Narasimhan and political science senior Kelli Normand, who have both been with the station for two years as DJs. KCPR Event Director Will Brady was in charge of the entire event. This role involved reviewing applications to determine the performers and planning details such as the venue’s layout, audio and visuals.

“I’m hoping the audience enjoys it, maybe just forgets about school for a little bit and gets to see what [San Luis Obispo] has to offer music-wise,” recreation, parks and tourism administration senior Brady said.

Here’s a closer look at a couple acts who graced the stage:

Bassist, vocalist and construction management senior Phunmongkol, drummer and Cuesta College student Quilici and Haag pracManic Expression tice as a group about three to four times per Ben Haag, Jeff Phunmongkol and week in their home. As they have Preston Quilici used to casuonly been a band for oneally “jam” together during and-a-half months, they their senior year of high are working on refining school. After graduatheir musical strengths tion, the three boys and establishing a solleft their homes in id set. They hope to the Bay Area, going start appearing at their separate ways more local venues to pursue differand to eventually ent interests. Now, open for larger acts nearly four years latthat come to town. er, they have reunited Manic Expression’s in San Luis Obispo not music is on Soundcloud IZZIE CLARK only as housemates but also and YouTube, but the band as bandmates. hopes to release an album by Manic Expression made its debut at February of next year.

Shabang IX in October. KCPR’s Fall Open Mic Ego Sunshine Night was the band’s first open mic event, and they performed their new song, “She’s My Baby.”

Izzie Clark has spent the last few years finding Inspiration for the name “Manic Expression” her sound. In 2015, Clark began playing drums comes from Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” in her two-girl band Grrls. In 2016, Clark beand honors the concept of jamming. gan releasing her own recordings on Sound“That’s how we feel you really develop muCloud under her name. Now she’s writing and sically: giving yourself the flexibility to play recording as Ego Sunshine, her solo indie-punk whatever feels best in the moment,” guitarist band. She released a three-song EP on Spotify and vocalist Haag said. with Redbull Records in August 2017.

I’m honestly just raging on my guitar and trying to get emotions out.

KCPR’s Fall Open Mic was Clark’s first performance as Ego Sunshine. She sang “Alone,” a new song dedicated to her cheating ex-boyfriend.

For English freshman Clark, one of the hardest parts of forming her own band was choosing a name. After contemplating several band names, “Ego Sunshine” finally came to her.

“It’s a reflection of feeling egotistical of what you create but also the happiness it gives you when you show it to people,” Clark said.

Clark’s songwriting process usually starts with a riff paired with a feeling or message that she wants to convey. She finds inspiration by pulling from past relationships and experiences as well as whatever mood she happens to be in.

“I’m honestly just raging on my guitar and trying to get emotions out,” Clark said. “If I’m lucky, it turns into a song, and if not, I scrap it.”

Her goal is to bring “a rockist female energy” to a music scene that is traditionally dominated by males. She believes music plays an important role in social movements and wants to help change the way women and minorities are represented in the industry.

Above all, she wants to encourage people to get out of their comfort zones and do what makes them happy.

“I just wanna make music that melts people’s faces off and gets them dancing,” Clark said.

“I want to make people feel again.”

Kendra Coburn @ kencob97

Kendra Coburn is a mathematics junior and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed in this column do not reflect the viewpoints and editorial coverage of Mustang News.

As a student in higher education, you are working towards becoming a member of one of America’s most elite minority classes: college graduates. According to statistics compiled by the Department of Education in 2016, bachelor degree-holders greater than the age of 25 enjoy a low 2.7 percent unemployment rate, compared to the 5.2 percent seen among those of the same age range with only high school diplomas. They also earn about 40 percent more per week while having statistically-higher job satisfaction than those of without a college degree. Yet according to a 2014 study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 72 percent of 27-year-old Americans do not hold a bachelor’s degree.

For most of our nation’s history, this lopsid-

ed proportion hasn’t been a problem. There higher education needed for work. has always been a steady supply of midIs the evaporation of the blue collar class dle-class, low-skill jobs for Americans without inevitable? Will the march of progress uncollege degrees. avoidably leave behind the lesser-eduHowever, machine automacated? It is easy to rally a witch tion poses a serious threat hunt when looking for an exto these low-skill jobs. A planation for such a comrecent Oxford Univerplex issue. Some look to As technology improves sity study estimates other explanations for at an exponential rate, it that up to 47 percent the disappearance of of U.S. jobs could American blue colwill become increasingly become automated lar jobs, in the hopes easy to lose sight of those in the next two deof placing blame on cades. This will dissomething tangible.

Americans working at place human workLast year, President the fundamental levels ers and force them to Trump claimed on his of industry. find higher-skill jobs campaign website that that can’t be performed “America has lost nearly by machines. one-third of its manufacturBy necessity, this will lead to ing jobs since the North Amerimore Americans entering the college can Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and system than ever before — at a time when 50,000 factories since China joined the World college tuition is more expensive than ever.

Trade Organization.”

It isn’t difficult to see how this will lead to This explanation seems reasonable unless more Americans entering a cycle of debt as one looks at a study by Ball State Universithey take out student loans in pursuit of the ty that found 85 percent of this job loss can

actually be attributed to technology and automation changes rather than international trade. In fact, some economists even warn that bringing outsourced jobs back into domestic businesses might lead to further long-term job loss by means of automation.

It is at this point in this article that the student reader might wonder, “I’m going to college, so I don’t have to worry about my job being automated. Why does any of this matter to me?”

I present this article as an ethical challenge to the reader. As students of one of the highest-rated technical colleges on the West Coast, many of you will pursue jobs in the industrial and technical fields after graduation.

The American economic machine encourages optimizing profits at any cost.

As technology improves at an exponential rate, it will become increasingly easy to lose sight of those Americans working at the fundamental levels of industry.

I urge the reader to strive to find the balance between innovation and ethics. As humanity marches forward, it’s important to not leave the blue collar worker behind.

Honoring Veterans Day OPINION

Elias Atienza @ elias_atienza

Elias Atienza is a history junior and Mustang News columnist. The views expressed in this column do not reflect the viewpoints and editorial coverage of Mustang News.

Veterans Day is the day we honor veterans who have fought for the country. From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines of the United States have sacrificed life and limb and answered the call of duty.

Veterans Day is Nov. 11, known as Armistice Day or the end of World War I (WWI).

While WWI didn’t officially end until June 28, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, then-President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as its official end. It was a day to honor peace in the aftermath of the Great War that killed tens of millions.

Wilson said the holiday was to honor “the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”

In 1926, Congress put that into law and in 1938, declared it to be a holiday. In 1954, after the end of World War II and Korea, Congress struck “Armistice” from the title and put in its place “Veterans.” Instead of simply being a holiday to celebrate the end of WWI and the pursuit of peace, it became a holiday to commemorate and honor the veterans who fought for the U.S. throughout our history.

It is a day to remember those who fought to free the colonies from British tyranny, a day to remember those who fought to defeat the secessionists who would enslave others because of their skin color, a day to remember those who embarked on the great crusade to free a continent from the hands of totalitarianism and fascism.

And while the alt-right and Lost Cause revisionists might argue that the Civil War was an unjust war, Colonel Ty Seidule puts it plainly in a video for Prager University,”As a soldier, I am proud that the United States Army, my army, defeated the Confederates.

In its finest hour, soldiers wearing this blue uniform, almost 200,000 of them former

slaves themselves, destroyed chattel slavery, saved 4,000,000 men, women and children and saved the United States of America.”

We can debate the consequences of our more controversial wars such as Vietnam, but Sen. Dick Durbin put it best. In recalling Joseph Ambrose, a WWI veteran who lost his son in Korea, Durbin said, “He wanted to remind us of an important truth: that no matter the outcome of a war, those who answer the call of duty and risk everything to defend America deserve the respect of a grateful nation.”

That’s the meaning of Veterans Day. It is not

MILITARY VETER ANS

just a day that we have off; it’s a day where we honor those who have risked everything to fight for the U.S. They deserve our utmost respect.

As Reagan said in 1986: “Veterans Day gives all Americans a special opportunity to pay tribute to all those men and women who, throughout our history, have left their homes and loved ones to serve their country ... From Valley Forge to Vietnam, through war and peace, valiant patriotic Americans have answered the call, serving with honor and fidelity.”

CARSTEN FRAUENHEIM | MUSTANG NE W S

| Post 66 in San Luis Obispo serves as a location for the American Legion.

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | OPINION | MUSTANG NEWS

OPINION

The blue collar class is becoming obsolete

11

PUZZLES Sudoku Fun By The Numbers Like puzzles? Then you’ll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test!

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a

sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

Guess Who?

Word Scramble

I am a reality star born in California on November 16, 1972. I was a model from age 16, appearing in high-profile magazines. It was a stint on “Real Housewives” that landed me in the limelight.

Rearrange the letters to spell something pertaining to food.

*See answers at mustangnews.net

D P U E C O R

CLUES ACROSS

CLUES DOWN

1. “Be back later” 4. Zhou dynasty state 7. Mineral 8. __ and gagged 10. One of Lebron’s former sidekicks 12. Ivory Coast village 13. Caffeinated beverage 14. Without armies 16. Intention 17. Sulfuric and citric are two 19. Supplement with difficulty 20. & & & 21. George and Weezie 25. Liquefied petroleum gas 26. Immortal act 27. Ancient Greek sophist 29. Aids digestion 30. Comedy routine 31. Actress Thurman 32. Adult beverage 39. Amounts of time 41. An awkward stupid person 42. __ Walker, “The Color Purple” 43. Covers babies’ chests 44. Parts per billion (abbr.)

45. Ottoman military title 46. More skilled 48. Natives to New Mexico 49. Indigent 50. Illuminated 51. Very fast airplane 52. Devoid of cordiality

1. Comedian Goldthwait 2. Worn by women 3. “Naked Gun” actor Nielsen 4. Processes fatty acids 5. Mortals 6. Not invited 8. Show__: entertainment 9. Darkens 11. Pilgrimage 14. Danish krone 15. Savior 18. Midway between south and east 19. Electroencephalograph 20. Henry’s wife Boleyn 22. Hairstyle 23. Frames per second 24. Sinclair novel 27. Basics 28. A person’s life story 29. Luxury automaker 31. Ultrahigh frequency 32. Island and antelope are two 33. Taxi 34. Farm state 35. Fence part 36. Rwandan capital 37. Onomatopoeic 38. In a state of turbulence 39. Abba __, Israeli politician 40. Flowering plants 44. Inquire too closely 47. Sun up in New York

HOROSCOPES ARIES – Mar 21/Apr 20 You may feel like the world is crumbling around you this week, Aries, but don’t fear!

Good times are ahead, if you get yourself out there and try new things. Listen to heavy metal Friday.

TAURUS – Apr 21/May 21 It’s time to let someone in on an issue that’s bothering you, Taurus. Honesty is one of your best qualities, so don’t hold back. Listen to power ballads Wednesday.

GEMINI – May 22/Jun 21 Gemini, you haven’t been the nicest to people who care about you. Reach out and reconcile with those you’ve hurt. Major self reflection is in store this week. Listen to smooth jazz Thursday night.

CANCER – Jun 22/Jul 22 You’ve been anxious about family issues, Cancer. It’s time to leave old arguments in the past and come together for the holiday season. Listen to Kelly Clarkson’s Christmas album in full Monday.

Fleetwood Mac in nature Saturday.

LIBRA – Sept 23/Oct 23 Libra, you’ve been popular this week! New friends have been popping up everywhere and you’re loving it. Be sure to stay true to yourself when starting new relationships.

Listen to Goldlink Sunday.

SCORPIO – Oct 24/Nov 22 Your career choices are all over the place, Scorpio. Trust your intuition and don’t follow a path that doesn’t feel right. Listen to love songs and cry Tuesday afternoon.

SAGITTARIUS – Nov 23/Dec 21 You’ve been off in the clouds daydreaming this week, Sagittarius. It’s OK to take a break from reality sometimes, but remain focused.

Listen to Kesha Thursday morning.

CAPRICORN – Dec 22/Jan 20 Capricorn, do something fun with someone you love. You need to get out into the open air and explore. Listen to Tyler, the Creator on a hike Friday afternoon.

LEO – Jul 23/Aug 23 You’re down in the dumps because of your academics this week, Leo. Stay centered and remember your strengths. Listen to Lil Pump Tuesday night.

AQUARIUS – Jan 21/Feb 18 Big news is coming your way this week, Aquarius. Don’t get too excited though, take it in slowly and refocus. Listen to Smashmouth all week.

VIRGO – Aug 24/Sept 22 There’s been times when you wished you had spoken up this week about something that upset you, Virgo. You have important opinions so let them be heard! Listen to

PISCES – Feb 19/Mar 20 You’ve been a little lost and discouraged, Pisces. Take a day to yourself and go on a trip alone. Listen to Leona Lewis Wednesday night.

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | SPORTS | MUSTANG NEWS

14

Boyal’s comeback earns trip to cross country nationals Jay Serrano @ LJSerrano

The Cal Poly men’s cross country team finished 11th overall at the NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships held in Seattle Friday. A strong showing by senior Swarnjit Boyal played a key roll in Cal Poly’s success.

Boyal finished 10th overall with a time of 29:42.7 and was the fastest runner Cal Poly sent to the meet. Junior Mikey Giguere finished second on the team and 56th overall with a time of 30:48.1. Junior Sean McDerrmott stuck close to Giguere’s heels and finished less than three seconds later in 61st place with a time of 30:50.6 seconds.

“I thought the team competed well,” head coach Mark Conover said. “The west region is arguably the toughest region in the country … they all did what they could and went for their top efforts that they could muster up.”

The team’s 11th overall finish is not enough to send the entire team to the national finals in Kentucky next week, but Boyal’s finish will send him individually.

“It’s 255 really good runners in the race and today he showed he can run with the best of them,” Conover said.

While Boyal did manage to finish in the top 10, it was not his easiest race. Early on he tripped and fell, which sent him from near the front to a place in the middle of

the pack. After finding his feet, Boyal realized he needed to use the whole race to make up ground instead of sprinting back to where he was.

“Once I got up, there was a pack that was ahead of me and I just wanted to be smart, relaxed, just slowly work my pack up to the top group,” Boyal said. “Then I just slowly kept moving up, moving up.”

The decision paid off by the end of the race and he made it back to about where he was before he fell. With time running out Boyal realized he needed to push hard to regain his position and qualify for nationals.

“With like one [kilometer] to go I was like ‘I need to move up if I want to go,’” he said.

“I was able to catch some people at the end

and then have a strong finish.”

For their work this season, Boyal won all-regional honors and Conover won Big West men’s coach of the year. It is Conover’s 19th time winning this award.

Although the Mustangs did not qualify for nationals as a team this year and are losing two of their top runners, Boyal and senior Clayton Hutchins, to graduation, Conover said he is happy about next year’s team.

“Looking ahead, the future’s bright,” Conover said. “[We’re] losing Swarnjit and Clayton Hutchins to graduation, they’re two solid people that have done a great job here, but we got everybody else back.

Recruiting is going fantastically so we’re going to keep rolling.”

Mustangs thumped by Hornets, fall to 1-9 Erik Engle @ erik_engle

The Cal Poly football team surrendered seven unanswered touchdowns during the first three quarters against Sacramento State Saturday night, ultimately falling 49-14 in the Mustangs’ final home game of the season.

The lone bright spot for the Mustangs (19, 1-6) came late in the third quarter when senior fullback Jared Mohamed gashed the Hornets’ (6-4, 5-2) defense for a 41-yard rush down the middle of the field. The run helped push Mohamed over the 1000-yard mark for the season, the 21st Mustang to do so.

Though Mohamed found some success on the ground later in the game, the Mustangs’ offense never found their rhythm and their defense couldn’t do anything to stop Sacramento State.

“I dont think we played well in any phase of the game,” Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh said. “Overall, just a poor performance all the way around and I take responsibility for that.”

The Hornets wasted no time getting in the endzone. On the third play of the game, Sacramento State quarterback Kevin Thomson connected with receiver Jaelin Ratliff on a 76-yard streak down the sideline to give the Hornets an early 7-0 lead.

After several stalled drives from both teams, the Mustangs marched down the field to just outside the redzone before the drive stalled.

Cal Poly junior kicker Casey Sublette lined up for a makeable field goal, but the Hornets blocked and returned the kick the other way for a touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.

DEFL ATED

LLIANA ARROYOS | MUSTANG NE W S

| The Cal Poly offense posted 3.4 yards per play with less than 300 yards of total offense in their 49-14 loss to Sacramento State.

Just three minutes later, the Hornets found the endzone again on another scoop-andscore. Mustang freshman quarterback Jake Jeffrey fumbled inside his own five-yard-line before the ball bounced back into the Mustangs’ endzone where Hornets’ safety Marcus Bruce fell on the ball for a touchdown.

The two turnovers proved to be too much for the Mustangs to overcome, as the team continued to give up big plays on defense throughout the rest of the night while the Mustangs offense failed to move the ball until the Hornets pulled their starters late in the fourth quarter.

“It’s such a dramatic change and such

an exciting thing for the other team,” Mohamed said. “It’s tough when things like that happen, but we gotta keep persevering.”

The Hornets continued to pour it on the Mustangs, scoring again before halftime to take a 28-0 lead into the break.

After a 77-yard touchdown run from Hornets running back BJ Perkinson late in the third quarter put Sacramento State up 49-0, they pulled their starters and coasted to victory.

Freshman slotback Broc Mortensen finally pushed the Mustangs into the endzone in the fourth quarter, narrowly avoiding Cal Poly’s first shutout since 1999. However, the score was essentially meaningless as the

Mustangs still trailed by an insurmountable 42 points.

Senior fullback Reagan Enger added a garbage-time touchdown for the Mustangs five minutes before the final whistle, but the 35 point differential was still Cal Poly’s largest scoring deficit this season.

“We had battled in every game and tonight we didn’t battle,” Walsh said. “Our motto all year long has been to fight the fight, and I don’t think we fought the fight tonight. You don’t fight the fight, you get knocked out.”

The Mustangs travel to Greeley, Colorado Saturday to face Northern Colorado (2-7, 1-6) in their final game of the season.

Brendan Carretero @ brendan_breezy3

The Cal Poly volleyball team secured their 19th straight win on Senior Night against UC Irvine after defeating the Anteaters in three sets (25-11, 25-20, 25-16) at Mott Athletic Center Saturday.

With the Mustangs’ (24-2, 14-0) sweep over UC Irvine (21-6, 9-5), they were able to clinch the Big West title and a spot in the NCAA tournament. This is their first Big West title and NCAA tournament berth since 2007 when the Mustangs lost in the second round of the tournament.

Cal Poly was able to get the win behind sophomore outside hitter Torrey Van Winden’s game-high 13 kills and senior setter Taylor Nelson’s 27 assists and seven digs.

Senior outside hitter Raeann Greisen and senior middle blocker Savannah Niemen also finished with six and seven kills respectively.

Freshman middle blocker Madilyn Mercer added four kills and a team-high five blocks.

Cal Poly took the lead in the beginning of the first set and never looked back.

Halfway through the set they led 13-8 and finished the game off with a 25-11 score after several UC Irvine attack errors. The dominant set was led by Van Winden and Mercers’ four kills.

The second set proved to be a challenge for Cal Poly. The Mustangs fell behind after UC Irvine junior outside hitter Haley DeSales and sophomore middle blocker Makayla Wolfe each had several kills to give the Anteaters a 17-13 lead.

However, Van Winden and her sister, junior outside hitter Adlee Van Winden, each added two kills apiece that helped decrease the deficit and narrow the score to 20-19.

Cal Poly then rallied late, scoring the last six points to take the close second set 25-20.

In the beginning of the third set, the Anteaters kept it close and trailed 7-6. Cal Poly then went on a 4-0 run to go up 11-6.

After trading points, the Mustangs eventually took a commanding 17-9 lead. A kill by Niemen ended the match and secured the Big West Conference title.

“It feels incredible to be conference champs after we worked really hard for it, so everyone is over the moon right now,” Torrey said. “Our three seniors paved the way, they’re so many people along the road who didn’t make it because this program is incredibly hard. These girls know what they want and they finally got it and I can’t thank them enough.”

One of those three seniors was Nelson, who ranks third in the nation in assists per set (12.11) coming into this game. Nelson

expressed her emotions about her career at Cal Poly and the comradery of the team after the win.

“This win means everything, and it’s been such a fun ride the last four years so to end on a note like this is something we can only ask for,” Nelson said. “We were all here in the summer talking about doing anything to get a Big West Championship, and we’ve come so far the past four years so having it be our final year, we just came out as hard as we could.”

For head coach Sam Crosson, the success of this season shows the change the program has gone through since he took the helm in 2012 after former head coach Jon Stevenson was dismissed by Cal Poly following an investigation involving several reports of sexual misconduct.

“I’m just proud of them to be on the other side of where they were four years ago in terms of our record and where we were as a program,” Crosson said. “We’re going to keep challenging our players, challenging ourselves and just keep raising the bar and see what we can do after the season. We’re going to enjoy the weekend and then be very excited to go play at Riverside and Fullerton next weekend ‘cause the next thing we want to do is go 16-0.”

The Mustangs will finish their regular season on a two-match road trip at UC Riverside Friday at 7 p.m followed by a match at Cal State Fullerton Saturday at 7 p.m.

MATT LALANNE | MUSTANG NE W S

TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 14, 2017 | SPORTS | MUSTANG NEWS

Volleyball earns NCAA Tournament berth after clinching Big West title

15

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