Cal Poly to Closeout Regular Season Hosting UCI and LBSU
11/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
This Week....: The Mustangs will host the UC Irvine Anteaters and the Long Beach State 49ers in Big West Conference matches this weekend to conclude the regular season. The Anteaters enter the match with an 11-20 overall record and a 5-11 record in conference matches. Long Beach State 16-11 overall and 11-5 in BWC contests. Cal Poly enters the match with a 3-25 overall record and a 2-14 mark in Big West play. Prior to the start of the match with LBSU, Cal Poly will honor the team's lone senior, Molly Pon.
All Cal Poly home matches are broadcast on GoPoly.com with Dave Grant calling the play. Live stats and video are available for all Big West Conference matches.
• 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.
• 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 UCI LBSU
Record: 3-25 11-20 16-11
BWC Record: 2-14 5-11 11-5
Kills per Set: 11.77 13.04 14.14
Hitting % .162 .200 .227
Digs per Set: 14.81 17.69 17.30
Blocks per Set: 1.59 2.32 2.37
Service Aces Per Set: 0.88 1.02 0.78
UC Irvine: The Anteaters enter the match with the Mustangs having lost six straight Big West matches and six of the last seven matches overall. UCI picked up a non-conference win, 3-0, over Fresno State on Nov. 13. Aly Squires leads a pair of players averaging better then three kills per set with 3.79. Marisa Bubica adds 3.13. Kristin Winkler leads the team in digs with 5.65 and became the all-time Big West leader when she surpassed the mark of 2,194 digs, held by former Cal State Fullerton libero Cami Croteau (2007-10), and now has amassed 2,211. UCI defeated the Mustangs in three sets on Sept. 22 in Irvine.
Long Beach State: The 49ers entered the week with a 16-11 overall record and 11-5 mark in Big West matches after defeating UC Irvine in the team's lone match this past week. LBSU has won its last five conference matches since falling to Cal State Northridge on Oct. 27. Janisa Johnson leads the team with 3.15 kills per set with Chisom Okpala adding 2.78 kills. Johnson also leads the team in digs with 4.02 while Tyler Jackson adds 3.26. Tara Roenicke hands out the assists with 10.68 per set.
Cal State Fullerton Recap: FULLERTON, Calif. – The Mustangs had three players record double figures in kills, but it would not be enough as the Cal Poly volleyball team fell in four sets to Cal State Fullerton in a Big West Conference match in Fullerton on Friday. The Titans won by set scores of 13-25, 25-22, 25-22 and 25-21. Junior Holly Franks led the Mustangs with 16 kills while senior Molly Pon added 11 kills and Megan McConnell 10. Seven other Mustangs had four kills each. McConnell made it a double-double with 11 digs while Nicole Kessler led the team with 17 digs with Shannon Garrett and Steffi Sooter each adding 14 digs. Bre Moreland led the Titans with 24 kills with Kayla Neto adding 15 in the win. Cal Poly outhit CSF, .232 to .196 and held a 51-50 advantage in assists, with CSF holding down a lead in service aces (8-6) and digs (67-56). Cal Pol held down a 6-4 advantage in blocks.
UC Riverside Recap: RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Cal Poly volleyball team came back from a two set deficit to force a fifth and deciding set only to fall 15-13 to UC Riverside in a Big West Conference volleyball match on Saturday in Riverside. UCR won by sets scores of 25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 15-25 and 15-13. Junior Chelsea Hardin led the Mustangs with 13 kills with senior Molly Pon adding 10 of her own. Hardin's kills came on 32 swings while Pon's came on 27. Juniors Holly Franks and Megan McConnell each added eight kills of their own. Freshman Nicole Kessler led Cal Poly with 16 digs with Steffi Sooter adding 13. Amadna Vialpando led all players with 18 kills with teammate Ashley Cox helping out with 13 kills. Cal Poly outhit UCR, .239 to .169, but UCR had nine aces to Cal Poly's six with the Mustangs committing four more service errors, 18-14. The Mustangs held a 63-53 advantage in digs and outblocked the Highlanders, 10.5 to 4.
Overall Play By The Numbers...Kills: The Mustangs are led by Holly Franks with 2.86 kills per set with senior Molly Pon adding 2.28 kills. Junior Chelsea Hardin is third on the team with 2.21 kills with Hannah Schleis helping out with 1.73 kills. Juniors Megan McConnell and Marianne Gera and Megan Groess round out the players with better then one kills per set with 1.48, 1.06 and 1.15 respectively.
Digs : Four players on the team are averaging better then two digs per set in conference play led by Steffi Sooter with 3.18 digs per set. Junior Megan McConnell adds 2.17 with freshman Nicole Kessler helping out with 3.04 digs. Freshman Maddie Kuber is the fourth Mustang with 2.08 digs...
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.
Freshmen Report Card: The Mustangs have a number of freshman contributing across the board.... Overall Hannah Schleis is fourth on the team with 1.73 kills per set followed by Maddie Kuber with 0.95.... Kuber also leads the team with 5.50 assists per set while adding 2.08 digs per set.... Nicole Kessler adds 3.04 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....
