Cal Poly Travels to No. 5 Hawai'i for BWC Match, Saturday
10/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
First Serve:
The Cal Poly volleyball team will continue Big West Conference play this week with a single match when they travel to Hawai'i for a match on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 10 pm.
Cal Poly enters the match 8-8 overall and 2-1 in conference play while Hawai'i is 15-1 overall and 4-0 in Big West matches.
The Mustangs have won four of the last five matches while Hawai'i's only loss came against San Diego in the third match of the season and is ranked fifth in the nation.
Senior Chelsea Hardin leads the team with 3.15 kills per set while hitting a solid .312. Fellow senior Megan McConnell remains second on the team in kills per set (.290) after taking home Big West Conference Player of the Week after the opening week of conference play.
The Mustangs dropped their first match in conference play this past Saturday when the team lost on the road to UC Santa Barbara in four sets. Seniors Chelsea Hardin and Jennifer Keddy paced the team with 12 kills each. Sophomore Hannah Schleis added 11 kills.
Sophomore Maddie Kuber dished out 43 assists and added seven digs.
Cal Poly hit .209 in the four set match while UCSB hit .310.
A Quick Look at the Teams:
CP UH
Record: 8-8 15-1
BWC 2-1 4-0
Kills: 12.80 14.07
Hitting %: .215 .311
Digs: 14.07 14.52
Blocks: 1.75 2.36
Ser. Aces: 1.37 1.07
Hawai'i: Hawai'i enters the match with the Mustangs as the 5th-ranked team in the nation with a 15-1 overall record and post a 4-0 record in Big West matches. The team's only loss came in the third match of the season when the team lost to San Diego in five sets. Emily Hartong leads the team 4.62 kills per set while hitting .308. She adds 2.82 digs and 0.41 blocks. Tai Manu-Olevao adds 2.62 kills and 2.13 digs. Ali Longo is the team leader in digs with 4.11 digs per set with Mita Uiato dishing out the assists with 10.91 per set. Hawai'i holds a 31-4 advantage in the all-time series with the Mustangs.
Cal Poly - Hawai'i Connection...: Former Cal Poly football standout Stan Sheriff attended George Washington High School in San Francisco from 1947-50 and was Cal Poly's starting center all four years (1950-53), leading the Mustangs to the California Collegiate Athletic Association title with a 9-0 overall mark. Following his senior season, Sheriff was named CCAA most valuable player, first-team All-CCAA, first-team Little All-Coast, first-team Little All-American, honorable mention National NCAA All-American and played in both the East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in 1954 and played for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns from 1954-57. He served in the U.S. Army in 1955. Sheriff was a successful teacher, coach and administrator at the University of Northern Iowa from 1958-83 and the University of Hawaii from 1983-93. At Northern Iowa, he was both athletics director and head football coach, compiling a 129-101-4 record with six conference titles, 15 winning seasons, four bowl appearances and twice was named Coach of the Year. Sheriff was director of athletics at Hawaii from 1983-93 and passed away in January 1993. He is a member of the Cal Poly, Hawaii and Northern Iowa athletics halls of fame. Sheriff was posthumously inducted into the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame. The field in the UNIDOME at the University of Northern Iowa is named Sheriff Field and the 10,300-seat arena at the University of Hawaii is named Stan Sheriff Center.
Mustangs Suffer First Conference Loss: With a 3-1 loss to UC Santa Barbara last week, Cal Poly is currently tied with the Gauchos for third in the Big West with a 2-1 mark. The loss at UCSB snapped a four-match win streak for the Mustangs.
Dazzling Duo: Senior Chelsea Hardin and Freshman Taylor Gruenewald own the last two spots in the Big West's top 10 for hitting percentage with clips of .312 and .310. In conference-only stats, the duo is even more impressive with Gruenewald holding the fifth spot (.400) and Hardin sitting eighth (.348). Hardin also sits second in kills in conference-only matches with a 4.10 average
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 1,058 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 35 sets this season and averages 1.86 kills while hitting .186... She adds .80 blocks per set....
Doing it the Hard-in Way...: Senior outside hitter Chelsea Hardin leads the team with 3.15 kills per set after the opening of Big West Conference season... She has tallied a team-high 186 kills on 433 swings (.312)... Since BWC season started (three matches), Hardin has recorded 4.10 kills and is hitting at a .348 clip...
More on BWC.... : True freshman Taylor Gruenewald is averaging 2.80 kills while hitting .400... Has has added nine assisted blocks for a 0.90 average... For the season she is hitting .310 and averages 2.34 kills and 0.69 blocks.
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 two BWC matches she recorded 12 digs against UCI and 10 against LBSU for a per set average of 3.67....With her 16 digs against UCSB her Big West Conference average is up to 3.80 digs per set... For the season she averages 2.64 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 42 sets and junior Shannon Garrett 26 sets.... Kuber dishes out 9.62 assists per set while Garrett hands out 8.35 assists... Kuber and Garrett also check in with 1.81 and 1.62 digs per set respectively.... In BWC matches Kuber has seen all the action and dishes out 11.90 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 2.90 kills per set.. She has recorded 171 kills on 535 swings (.151)... But she also adds 2.71 digs per set, second on the team... She has also dished out 18 assists and served up seven aces with 17 total blocks...
Schleis-ing it up....: Sophomore Hannah Schleis is third on the team with 2.71 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 2.60 kills while hitting .243...
Who is are the Opponents...: Currently there are seven teams on this year's schedule who are ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll.... Hawai'i is currently the top ranked opponent at No. 5 with Stanford at No. 8... Colorado State improving to No. 13 and Arizona State at 16.... The others receiving votes and include Kansas State (5), California (76) and Cal State Northridge (12)...
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.
Besting Last Year: With the two wins at the ASU tournament, Cal Poly surpassed its win total from a season ago.... and now in conference play only needs one more win to match last season's conference total...
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.
