Mustangs to Host UC Davis, CS Northridge This Week in BWC Matches
10/15/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Cal Poly returns home to host UC Davis and Cal State Northridge in Big West Conference matches this week.
The match with the Aggies is slatted for Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 pm while the match with the Matadors will be on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7 pm.
Cal Poly enters the match with UCD 8-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play while UC Davis is 10-8 overall and 2-3 in Big West matches. Cal State Northridge enters the week 15-3 overall and 5-0 in conference matches.
Cal Poly went on the road and faced a hot hitting No. 5 University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team that swept the Mustangs in three sets on Saturday. Hawai'i won by set scores of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-13.
UH hit .405 in the three set match while Cal Poly was held to a .159 hitting percentage. UH held a 5-2 advantage in aces with the Mustangs committing nine service errors. UH had a 38-21 edge in digs and 5-2 advantage in blocks.
Cal Poly was led by Hawai'i native, Chelsea Hardin, with nine kills. True freshman Taylor Gruenewald tallied eight kills with one hitting error (.500). Megan McConnell, Jennifer Keddy and Hannah Schleis each added three kills each.
Maddie Kuber handed out 15 assists with Steffi Sooter recording a team-high five digs.
Emily Hartong led UH with 11 kills while Nikki Taylor added 10 kills. Tai Manu-Olevao and Jade Voster had eight and seven kills respectively.
A Quick Look at the Teams:
CP UCD CSUN
Record: 8-9 10-8 15-3
BWC 2-2 2-3 5-0
Kills: 11.76 12.09 13.94
Hitting %: .213 .205 .274
Digs: 13.73 15.6 12.68
Blocks: 1.70 2.0 2.32
Ser. Aces: 1.34 1.3 1.18
UC Davis: The Aggies enter the match 10-8 overall after opening the season with three losses. Since that opening weekend, UCD is 10-5 and enters the match with a 2-3 conference record after defeating UC Riverside (3-1) and UC Irvine (3-2). The team's last conference outing was a four-set loss to Long Beach State. Kaylin Squyres leads the team with 3.08 kills per set while Devon Damelio and Victoria Lee add 2.90 and 2.04 kills respectively. Jenny Woolway dishes out the assists (9.94) with Megan Lancaster leading the team in digs with 3.41 per set. Cal Poly holds a 10-7 advantage over UC Davis in the all-time series.
Cal State Northridge: The Matadors enter the week 15-3 overall and 5-0 in conference matches and have been receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll. CSUN will play at UC Santa Barbara on Friday. Outside hitter Natalie Allen leads the team with 3.04 kills per set with Mahina Haina adding 2.90 kills. Two more players add better then two kills per set, Cieana Stinson (2.71) and Casey Hinger (2.58). Kelcie Randazzo leads the team with 3.28 digs while Allen's all-around game includes 2.55 digs per set. Sydney Gedryn hands out the assists for the Matadors with 10.57 per set. Cal Poly holds a 27-21 advantage over Cal State Northridge in the all-time series.
Mustangs Knotted In Fourth: Cal Poly suffered its second straight loss last week after falling to No. 5 Hawai'i 3-0. With the loss, the Mustangs dropped to 2-2 in the Big West Conference, tying them for fourth with Cal State Fullerton.
Visions Of Green And Gold: This week the Mustangs return home to Mott Gym, for just the second time this season, to entertain UC Davis and Big West leader Cal State Northridge. Cal Poly hopes to turn things around from a year ago when it went 0-4 against the Aggies and Matadors. In their home opener two weeks ago, the Mustangs went 2-0.
Turnaround Season: Things are looking up for the Mustangs as their 2013 season approaches the halfway point. So far this year, Cal Poly has already doubled its overall win total from 2012 (4-26) with an 8-9 record. In conference, the Mustangs need just one more victory to match their total from a year ago.
Dazzling Duo: Freshman Taylor Gruenewald owns the top spot in hitting percentage in conference matches... In the four matches the freshman is hitting .420... She has 36 kills on 69 swings while committing only seven errors... Senior Chelsea Hardin sits in the seventh spot with a .308 hitting percentage... Overall Gruenewald sixth in the conference hitting .318 with Hardin at No. 8 (.303)...
Welcome Back: Senior Jennifer Keddy is back in the lineup for the Mustangs... In the fourth match of the season, Keddy,, tallied five kills to give her 1,000 kills in her career... She now has 1,061 for the season... This past Saturday the two-time All-American in the match with UC Santa Barbara sent a message that she is back... The senior recorded 12 kills on 27 swings (.370)...She saw limited action in the non-conference season after she missed all of last season with a shoulder injury and later in the off season had foot surgery... This season she has seen action in 38 sets this season and averages 1.79 kills while hitting .185... She adds .79 blocks per set....
Doing it the Hard-in Way...: Senior outside hitter Chelsea Hardin leads the team with 3.15 kills per set... She has tallied a team-high 195 kills on 458 swings (.303)...
Big Opening in Big West...: The Mustangs opened Big West Conference play 2-0 for the first time since 2010 season...
A Dig or Two... : Senior Steffi Sooter seems to have found her form from a year ago when she averaged 3.17 digs per set... In the four BWC matches she recorded 43 digs and a per set average of 3.31.... For the season she averages 2.60 digs per set...
Setting it Up...: Second-year head coach Sam Crosson has made the use of two setters this season with sophomore Maddie Kuber playing 45 sets and junior Shannon Garrett 28 sets.... Kuber dishes out 9.31 assists per set while Garrett hands out 8.00 assists... Kuber and Garrett also check in with 1.71 and 1.61 digs per set respectively.... In BWC matches Kuber dishes out 10.31 assists per set...
Nice to be Home...: After opening the season with 13 matches on the road... Cal Poly returned home for a pair of wins in front of some nice crowds... In the conference opener against UC Irvine, 1,383 fans were there to watch the three set win... The next night the fans backed it up with 1,023 against Long Beach State....
McConnell's Way..: Senior outside hitter Megan McConnell sets the pace in the all-around game for the Mustangs... The senior is second on the team with 2.81 kills per set.. She has recorded 174 kills on 552 swings (.149)... But she also adds a team-high 2.61 digs per set... She has also dished out 19 assists and served up eight aces with 17 total blocks...
Schleis-ing it up....: Sophomore Hannah Schleis is third on the team with 2.61 kills per set ... She tallied a season high 20 kills in the win over Baylor... At the ASU tournament, she tallied 11 kills on 23 swings (.435) in the win over Alabama State and 16 kills in the win over Louisiana-Monroe.... In conference play she averages 2.23 kills while hitting .181...
Who is are the Opponents...: Currently there are six teams on this year's schedule who are ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll.... Stanford is currently the top ranked opponent at No. 7 with Hawai'i ranked No. 9.. Colorado State has moved up to No. 12 with Arizona State at 22.... The others receiving votes and include California (38) and Cal State Northridge (43)...
ASU All-Tournament: True freshman Tayor Gruenewald and senior Chelsea Hardin earned all-tournament honors when they each tallied 38 kills in the three-set tournament... Gruenewald averaged 3.17 kills while hitting .318.. She added eight total kills... For Gruenwald it was her second all-tournament selection (Sacramento State Tournament) this season... Hardin averaged 3.17 kills while hitting .438... It was also her second all-tournament selection (Sacramento State Tournament)...
ASU Tournament II : Steffi Sooter averaged 4.58 digs per set at the ASU tourney... She tallied a total of 55 digs in the three matches... For the season she has 118 digs (2.41)....
Cal Tournament by the Numbers: Senior Chelsea Hardin led the team in the three matches at the Cal tournament this past weekend with 3.30 kills while hitting .247. Megan McConnell added 2.70 kills and 2.90 digs with Jen Keddy recording 2.40 kills and 0.80 blocks.
Breaking it Down by Class...: Seniors 6 -- Kate Walters, Megan McConnell, Jennifer Keddy, Chelsea Hardin, Steffi Sooter and Marianne Gera..
Juniors 2 -- Stacia Williams and Shannon Garrett...
Sophomores 4 --Hannah Schleis, Katie Conroy, Nicole Kessler and Maddie Kuber...
Freshman 6 -- Shannon Fouts, Kristen Witous, Taylor Gruenewald, Anna Gorman, Lexi Reddick, Lauren Pluim...
More on Keddy : What Cal Poly missed last season... 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. 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.
Sophomore Step in Time...: Sophomore Nicole's Kessler is a bit of a legacy when it comes to Cal Poly... Aunt, Lynn Kessler, was a standout player for the Mustangs in the 80's under head coach Mike Wilton...
McConnell is the MVP: Cal Poly senior Megan McConnell powered the Mustangs to the Sacramento State Tournament Championship by going undefeated in the tourney (3-0). She tallied 44 kills on 129 swings in the tournament (.225), including a career-high 20 kills in the win over San Jose State. She added a pair of double-doulbes in the tournament. Her all-around game included eight assists, two aces and four total blocks.
All-Tournament: Senior Chelsea Hardin earned all-tournament honors at the Sac State tourney... In the three matches she averaged 2.83 kills while hitting .389 in the 12 sets. She also added five assisted blocks... She led the team with 18 kills against Sacramento State and had 13 kills on 17 swings (.647) against Central Connecticut State...
All-Tournament II: True freshman Taylor Gruenewald also was selected to the all-tournament team at the Sac State tourney... In the three matches she averaged 2.42 kills and 0.75 blocks per set... Her kills came on 53 swings (eight errors), hitting .396 in the tourney... In the five-set win over Sac State, Gruenewald tallied 13 kills that came on 21 swings (one error) for a .571 hitting percentage. She also recorded four total blocks (one solo) in the match.
