Cal Poly to Travel to CS Fullerton, UC Riverside
11/13/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
This Week....: The Mustangs will continue conference play on the road this week with matches at Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside. The match with CSF is scheduled for Nov. 16 while the match with UCR is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 17. Both matches will begin at 7 pm. Live stats will be available for both matches at GoPoly.com.
• For the seventh year, institutions will air all home and conference matches on BigWest.TV, and beginning with the 2012 season, all BigWest.TV events will air free of charge. Head to http://www.bigwest.org/ ...this week for weekly event schedules.
What's coming up: With the conclusion of the road trip, Cal Poly will return home to host UC Irvine and Long Beach State to conclude the regular season. Cal Poly will host UCI on Nov. 23 and LBSU on Nov. 24 with both matches to start at 7pm. Prior to the start of the match with LBSU, Cal Poly will honor the team's lone senior, Molly Pon.
• In 2012, Big West volleyball expands to 10 teams with the addition of the University of Hawai'i. The Rainbow Wahine competed in the Big West from 1985-95 and posted a 165-31 Big West record and an overall mark of 302-68.
... The Mustangs have not advanced to the postseason since the 2007 season... Overall the team has made 14 appearances and post a 13-14 overall record.
A Quick Look at the Teams:
CP CSF UCR
Record: 3-23 14-13 7-21
BWC Record: 2-12 8-6 1-13
Kills per Set: 11.78 12.49 12.47
Hitting % .156 .173 .159
Digs per Set: 14.85 16.17 11.77
Blocks per Set: 1.57 2.39 1.59
Service Aces Per Set: 0.84 1.36 1.39
CS Fullerton: The Titans enter the match with the Mustangs having won three of its last four matches and post a 14-13 overall record with an 8-6 record in conference matches. Kayla Neto leads the team with 4.35 kills per set followed by Bre Moreland with 3.34 kills. Babrielle Dewberry leads the team with 4.85 digs per set. Cal Poly defeated CS Fullerton in five sets on Oct. 20 in San Luis Obispo.
UC Riverside: The Highlanders enter the week with a 7-21 overall record and post a 1-13 record in Big West matches. UCR picked up the team's lone conference win in four sets against UC Irvine on Nov. 8. Ashley Cox leads the team with 3.56 kills per set followed by Amanda Vialpando with 3.47. Cal Poly defeated the Highlanders in five sets on Oct. 19.
UC Davis Recap: SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The Cal Poly volleyball team lost in three sets to UC Davis in a Big West Conference volleyball match on Friday in San Luis Obispo. UC Davis won by set scores of 25-10, 25-23 and 29-27. Junior Holly Franks led the Mustangs with 13 kills while fellow junior Chelsea Hardin added 11 kills. Franks' kills came on 22 swings with just three hitting errors. Senior Molly Pon recorded nine kills in the loss. Junior Megan McConnell led Cal Poly with 13 digs and one block assist. UCD was led by Allison Whitson with 19 kills while Devon Damelio and Valerie Brain each added nine kills. UCD outhit the Mustangs .385 to .222 and held the edge in assists, 49-43. UCD outblocked the Mustangs 6-3 with Cal Poly holding a 44-41 edge in digs. The first set was all about UCD as the Aggies hit .517 in dominating Cal Poly, 25-10. UCD recorded 15 kills on 29 swings with no hitting errors. The second set had three ties as the Aggies hit .279 as the teams battled to 25-23 UCD win. The third set had 13 ties as the teams battled with Cal Poly outhitting UCD, .412 to .405 in the set. The difference in the 29-27 set came down to one more hitting error by the Mustangs and one more block by UC Davis.
Pacific Recap: The Cal Poly volleyball team lost in five sets to Pacific in a Big West Conference match in Mott Gym on Saturday. Pacific won by set scores of 25-21, 25-23, 13-25,22-25 and 15-7. The Mustangs came back from a two set deficit to push the match to five sets. Junior Holly Franks led all players with 21 kills while senior teammate Molly Pon added 11. Junior Megan McConnell missed out on a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs. Junior Steffi Sooter led the Mustangs with 27 digs with freshman Nicole Kessler recording 19. Franks rounded out her match with five service aces, five digs and four assisted blocks. Junior Marianne Gera led the team with seven assisted blocks while McConnell added six. Shannon Garrett dished out 35 assists with Maddie Kuber adding 21. Pacific was led by Began Birch with 16 kills with Jennifer Sanders and Gabby Cowden each adding 14. Annne-Sophie Bauer led the Tigers with 24 digs with Hannah Clancy adding 20. Overall in the match Cal Poly hit .222 compared to Pacific's .198, but the Tigers recorded one more kill, 64-63. Cal Poly served up nine service aces to six by Pacific and outblocked the Tigers 13-9. In the first set the Tigers outhit the Mustangs, .260 to .186 and held an 18 to 12 advantage in kills. In the second set Pacific once again outhit the Mustangs (.220 to .188) with the Mustangs holding a 19-12 advantage in kills. But Cal Poly committed 10 hitting errors while Pacific had only three and out blocked the Mustangs 6-1 in the set. Cal Poly regrouped after the break and dominated the third set, outhitting Pacific .345 to .000. Pon led the team with four kills in the set. Cal Poly continued to hold the hot hand in the third, outhitting Pacific, .318 to .267. Franks had five kills in the set alone with Pon adding four. The fifth and deciding set the Tigers hit. .217 while holding the Mustangs to .000 hitting percentage. Pacific had eight kills in the set with three hitting errors while Cal Poly had only three kills with three errors.
Megan McConnell Wins BWC Player of the Week: Junior Megan McConnell (Mountain View, Calif./Mountain View HS) helped Cal Poly snap a program record for longest winless streak to capture the Big West Women's Volleyball Player of the Week award. The Mustangs, which had lost 15 straight matches, defeated UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton at home in a pair of five-set thrillers with McConnell leading the way. The middle blocker averaged 2.30 kills, 2.60 digs and 1.40 blocks per set while hitting a solid .346 (23-5-52) to get Cal Poly into the win column. McConnell hit .440 with 13 kills, six digs and eight blocks in the win over the Highlanders. She set a season-high in kills. Against the Titans, McConnell posted a double-double with 10 kills and a career-high 20 digs. She chipped in six blocks and swung at a .259 (10-3-27) clip for the contest.
Big West Play By The Numbers...Kills: In Big West Conference play the Mustangs are led by Holly Franks with 2.84 kills per set with senior Molly Pon adding 2.39 kills. Junior Chelsea Hardin is third on the team with 2.35 kills with Hannah Schleis helping out with 1.81 kills. Juniors Megan McConnell and Marianne Gera rounds out the players with better then one kills per set with 1.53 and 1.12 respectively.
BWC.... Digs : Four players on the team are averaging better then two digs per set in conference play led by Steffi Sooter with 3.74 digs per set. Junior Megan McConnell adds 2.71 with freshman Nicole Kessler helping out with 2.67 digs. Freshman Maddie Kuber is the fourth Mustang with 2.08 digs...
Overall...: Holly Franks leads the team overall with 2.88 kills per set followed by senior Molly Pon with 2.28. Junior Chelsea Hardin is third on the team with 2.18 kills per set. Junior Steffi Sooter leads the team with 3.19 digs per set.
Freshmen Report Card: The Mustangs have a number of freshman contributing across the board.... Overall Hannah Schleis is fourth on the team with 1.76 kills per set followed by Maddie Kuber with 0.98.... Kuber also leads the team with 5.39 assists per set while adding 2.11 digs per set.... Nicole Kessler adds 2.98 digs per set .....
Playing the Best.... : The Mustangs have faced the No. 2 team (Texas) and the No. 19 team (San Diego) in the first week of the season.... Two weeks later the Mustangs faced No. 5 USC and No. 17 San Diego (again)... During the BWC season Cal Poly will face No. 8 Hawai'i twice... .
Missing in Action.... : Jennifer Keddy, a two-time AVCA All-America selection, was named the 2011 Big West Conference Player of the Year when she led the conference with 4.06 kills per set is sidelined for the season with a shoulder injury. The 6-4 middle blocker was also third in hitting percentage with a .339 clip and blocks with a 1.22 average. Keddy's 4.85 points per set average ranks first in the Big West and 22nd in the nation. Her all-around skills include 1.76 digs per set with her career-high 19 coming against UC Irvine. She was also selected for the national A2 team.
Triple -Double.... : True freshman Maddie Kuber led the team to a five set win over Idaho when she tallied a triple-double with 15 kills, 30 assists and 10 digs.... Her kills came on 38 swings (.184) while adding one solo block and three assisted blocks...
Franks Earns All-Tournament in Utah Classic: Junior Holly Franks earned all-tournament honors when she averaged 3.45 kills per set... Franks had 17 kills against Utah Valley and 13 against Nevada... In the loss to Utah she tallied eight... For the tournament she hit .202 recording 38 kills on 84 swings....
