Mustangs Travel to No. 8 Stanford for Wednesday Match
9/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
COMPLETE NOTES (pdf)
First Serve:
Cal Poly will return to the Bay Area when they Travel to No. 8 Stanford for a week day match on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 7 pm. Following the match with the Cardinal, Cal Poly will travel to the Arizona State Tournament where they will face the host Sun Devils on Friday, Sept. 20, at 7 pm. On Saturday the Mustangs will play a pair of matches opening with Louisiana Monroe at 10 am and Alabama State at 5 pm.
The team dropped all three matches at the loaded Cal Tournament this past weekend falling to No. 23 California, Kansas State (RV) and Santa Clara.
Cal Poly enters the Stanford match with a 4-5 overall record while the Cardinal post a 5-2 overall record.
In the three-set loss to No. 23 Cal, senior Megan McConnell continued to pace the Mustangs with a team-high nine kills. True freshman Taylor Gruenewald had eight kills on 17 swings (.412). Seniors Jennifer Keddy and Chelsea Hardin added seven kills each as the team hit .145 while Cal hit a blistering .412.
In Friday's match with Kansas State, Cal Poly was led by Hardin's 15 kills with Keddy and McConnell each adding 12 kills. Libero Kate Walters handled a career-high 23 digs with McConnell recording a doulbe-double with 14 digs. Cal Poly hit .124 in the four-set match while K-State hit .188.
Saturday's match at Santa Clara had the Broncos dominate the first (25-14) and second (25-14) sets while the Mustangs gave them all they could handle in the third (25-23). Hardin led the team with 11 kills with McConnell adding six kills and Gruenewald and Keddy five each. Cal Poly hit. 157 compared to Santa Clara's .340.
This weekend's matches will all have live stats with links available at GoPoly.com.
A Quick Look at the Teams:
CP Stan
Record: 4-5 5-2
Kills: 13.15 14.91
Hitting %: .216 .330
Digs: 13.65 15.65
Blocks: 1.60 2.83
Ser. Aces: 1.35 1.13
Stanford: The Cardinal enter the match with the Mustangs 5-2 and have won their last three matches. Rachel Williams leads the team with 3.43 kills per set. Brittany Howard and Carly Wopat add 3.30 and 3.00 kills per set. Wopat plays big at the net with 1.36 blocks per set. Madi Bugg dishes out the assists at 11.65 per set. Kyle Gilbert leads the team in digs with 4.95. Stanford holds an 11-8 advantage over the Mustangs with the teams last meeting in 2008.
McConnell Leading the Way... : Senior outside Megan McConnell sets the pace for the Mustangs with 3.38 kills per set. That is up from her previous best, 3.06, set as a freshman. McConnell has recorded 115 kills on 351 swings (.177) and adds a solid 2.62 digs per set.
Doing it the Hard-in Way...: Senior outside hitter Chelsea Hardin is second on the team with 2.97 kills per set. She led the team in kills in the match with Kansas State (15) and against Santa Clara (11). For the season she is hitting .287....
Schleis-ing it up....: Sophomore Hannah Schleis is third on the team with 2.70 kills per set ... She has tallied a season high 20 kills in the win over Baylor...
Welcome Back: Senior Jennifer Keddy is back in the lineup for the Mustangs... After limited action at the Northern Colorado/Colorado State Tournament, Keddy played in two matches and six sets at the Sacramento State Tournament. In her time on the court (21 sets) she has averaged 1.95 kills while hitting .214. She has totaled 13 total blocks for a 0.62 average. The two-time All-American tallied 10 kills on 15 swings with no errors (.667) in the match with San Jose State. Keddy missed all of last season with a shoulder injury and later in the off season had foot surgery.
Setting it Up...: Second-year head coach has made the use of two setters this season with sophomore Maddie Kuber playing 21 sets and junior Shannon Garrett 18 sets.... Kuber dishes out 8.91 assists per set while Garrett hands out 8.39 assists... Kuber and Garrett also check in with 2.04 and 1.83 digs per set respectively....
Calling All Freshman: True freshman Taylor Gruenewald has been making a name for herself just nine matches into the 2013 season.... Let's look at what she has done overall.... She has seen action in all 34 sets and averages 2.06 kills while hitting .306.... She has played big at the net in leading the team with 24 total blocks (three solo) averaging 0.71 blocks...
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.
Seniors Taking The Reigns:
Senior Megan McConnell leads the Mustangs and ranks sixth in the Big West with a
3.38 kills average. Teammate seniors Kate Walters is tied for third in the conference with .38 service aces per set.
Besting Last Year:
Cal Poly needs just one win to surpass its win total from a season ago. The Mustangs have four chances this week, two of which are against Top 25 opponents. They visit No. 8 Stanford on Wednesday and then travel to Arizona for the Arizona State Tournament where they are scheduled to battle the 18th-ranked Sun Devils, LA-Monroe and Alabama State.
Headed To Mott Gym...Finally:
This week's tournament at Arizona State closes out a season-opening, 13-match road trip for Cal Poly. The Mustangs open the home portion of their schedule on Friday, Sept. 27 when they entrain UC Irvine in both teams' conference opener
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...
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.... Stanford is currently the top ranked opponent at No. 8 with Hawai'i moving up to 7th.... Arizona State breaks into the rankings at No. 18. .. Colorado State enters the polls this week at No. 22.... The others receiving votes and include; California (92) Kansas State (40) and Cal State Northridge (4)...
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.
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Brian Thurmond
Director of Athletic Communications
Cal Poly
1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Office: 805.756.2410
Fax: 805.756.2650
Cell: 805.550.7601
