Friday, October 22
San Luis Obispo, Calif.
7 P.M.
vs
UC San Diego
Photo by: Owen Main
Cal Poly Hosts UC San Diego, UC Irvine This Week
10/18/2021 4:13:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Winners of four of its last five matches and currently in third-place in the Big West standings, the Cal Poly volleyball team will host a pair of Big West matches this week at Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (8-11, 6-2 BWC) will welcome Big West newcomer UC San Diego to Mott Athletics Center Friday at 7 p.m. and UC Irvine Saturday at 2 p.m. Friday's match against the Tritons is 'Pancakes at Poly' with the first 250 fans into Mott getting a free pancake breakfast from campus dining. Saturday's match against the Anteaters is another 'Double Up Saturday' and fans who show their ticket to the football game against UC Davis get free admission into the match.
Attendees are required by the California Department of Public Health to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to the event. Proof of vaccinations include the actual card, a photo of your card or a QR code verifying that you have been vaccinated. Proof of a negative test must include documentation from the testing agency. Facial coverings are required for all volleyball fans at all times, unless actively eating or drinking. No negative test is required for attendees 12 and under.
For fans not able to attend in person, both matches will have live streaming video, audio, and live stats. Daniel Gillman and Maia Dvoracek will provide play-by-play for both audio and video streams. Links to all these can be found on the volleyball schedule page.
Last week, Cal Poly split its two matches, sweeping CSU Bakersfield at home on Tuesday before falling on the road in three sets to first-place Hawai'i on Friday. Now at 6-2, the Mustangs sit in third place behind the first-place Rainbow Wahine who are undefeated at 8-0 and second-place UCSB who is 7-1 after suffering its first loss last weekend to UC Davis.
During last week's two matches, redshirt freshman outside hitter Tommi Stockham recorded double-digit kills in both matches. Against the Roadrunners, she had 12 kills on 25 attempts to hit .320. On Friday against Hawai'i, she had a team-high 10 kills to go along with seven digs. She has had double figures for kills in seven of the last 10 matches. For the season she is averaging 2.83 kills per set and in conference matches alone is averaging 3.12 kills per set.
Something else to come out of Saturday's match against Hawai'i was that junior outside hitter Kristina Jordan, who was out the first 15 matches of the season due to injury, came in during the second set of the match and had seven kills. Jordan is a transfer from West Virginia where she averaged 2.20 kills per set in two seasons with the Mountaineers.
Halfway through the conference season, Cal Poly ranks near the top as a team for stats that include just Big West matches. In Big West play alone, the Mustangs are tied for first in the conference in opponent hitting percentage at .151, tied for first in blocks per set at 2.63, are third in hitting percentage at .250, fourth in assists per set at 12.31, fifth in kills at 13.54 per set, and fifth in digs at 17.12 per set.
Individually in conference matches solely, junior setter Avalon DeNecochea ranks second in the Big West in assists per set at 11.00. She has had at least 30 assists in six of the eight conferences matches so far this year. Junior middle blocker Meredith Phillips and freshman middle blocker Kate Slack are both tied for fifth in blocks at 1.15 per set. Freshman libero Peyton Dueck currently sits tied for fifth in the conference in aces per set at .38 and leads the team on the season with 23. Dueck is also fourth in the Big West for the entire season in digs per set at 4.23.
UC San Diego comes into Friday's match with a record of 7-12 overall and 4-4 in the Big West, good for fifth place in the Big West. The Tritons are coming off a split last week in which they lost in four sets to Long Beach before beating Cal State Fullerton in four sets. They bring a balanced offensive attack of five players who are averaging more than 2.00 kills per set. They are in their first year as both a member of the Big West Conference and as a Division I volleyball program. This will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Heading into the week, UC Irvine has an overall record of 12-6 and a 5-3 record in the Big West and sit behind the Mustangs in the standings in fourth place. Last week they split a pair of matches, falling in three sets to Cal State Fullerton before bouncing back with a five-set win over Long Beach State. The Anteaters have been led this season by sophomore outside hitter Joy Umeh who ranks third in the Big West in kills at 3.63 per set. This week, she was named the Big West Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 5.13 kills per set in UC Irvine's two matches last week. Cal Poly sports a 50-18 all-time record against the Anteaters and have won the last 10 matches, last losing in 2014.
Cal Poly By The Sets: Seven of Cal Poly's eight wins this year have come via sweep. They are 7-6 this year in three-set matches, 0-3 in four-set matches, and 1-2 in five-set matches.
When the Mustangs win the first set, they are 8-2. When they lose the first set, they are 0-9.
Tough Non-Conference Schedule: Cal Poly put itself to the test in its non-conference schedule. The Mustangs played 11 non-conference matches with five of those against teams ranked in the AVCA Preseason Top 25.
Those teams were No. 13 Louisville, No. 19 Utah, No. 22 San Diego, No. 9 Washington, and No. 22 Pepperdine.
Setting Up Her Teammates: Junior setter Avalon DeNecochea currently ranks seventh in program history for career assists with 2,783. She moved into seventh earlier this season on Sept. 25 in a match against Cal State Fullerton.
Her single match career-high for assists is 62 which came in that Sept. 25 match against the Titans.
Strong In Conference: Since 2017, the Mustangs are 50-6 in Big West matches. That includes a perfect 16-0 record in 2017, a 15-1 record in 2018, a 13-3 record in 2019, and a 6-2 record so far this season.
Cal Poly won the Big West Conference in 2017 and 2018 and has won the conference title a total of five times.
The Mustangs (8-11, 6-2 BWC) will welcome Big West newcomer UC San Diego to Mott Athletics Center Friday at 7 p.m. and UC Irvine Saturday at 2 p.m. Friday's match against the Tritons is 'Pancakes at Poly' with the first 250 fans into Mott getting a free pancake breakfast from campus dining. Saturday's match against the Anteaters is another 'Double Up Saturday' and fans who show their ticket to the football game against UC Davis get free admission into the match.
Attendees are required by the California Department of Public Health to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to the event. Proof of vaccinations include the actual card, a photo of your card or a QR code verifying that you have been vaccinated. Proof of a negative test must include documentation from the testing agency. Facial coverings are required for all volleyball fans at all times, unless actively eating or drinking. No negative test is required for attendees 12 and under.
For fans not able to attend in person, both matches will have live streaming video, audio, and live stats. Daniel Gillman and Maia Dvoracek will provide play-by-play for both audio and video streams. Links to all these can be found on the volleyball schedule page.
Last week, Cal Poly split its two matches, sweeping CSU Bakersfield at home on Tuesday before falling on the road in three sets to first-place Hawai'i on Friday. Now at 6-2, the Mustangs sit in third place behind the first-place Rainbow Wahine who are undefeated at 8-0 and second-place UCSB who is 7-1 after suffering its first loss last weekend to UC Davis.
During last week's two matches, redshirt freshman outside hitter Tommi Stockham recorded double-digit kills in both matches. Against the Roadrunners, she had 12 kills on 25 attempts to hit .320. On Friday against Hawai'i, she had a team-high 10 kills to go along with seven digs. She has had double figures for kills in seven of the last 10 matches. For the season she is averaging 2.83 kills per set and in conference matches alone is averaging 3.12 kills per set.
Something else to come out of Saturday's match against Hawai'i was that junior outside hitter Kristina Jordan, who was out the first 15 matches of the season due to injury, came in during the second set of the match and had seven kills. Jordan is a transfer from West Virginia where she averaged 2.20 kills per set in two seasons with the Mountaineers.
Halfway through the conference season, Cal Poly ranks near the top as a team for stats that include just Big West matches. In Big West play alone, the Mustangs are tied for first in the conference in opponent hitting percentage at .151, tied for first in blocks per set at 2.63, are third in hitting percentage at .250, fourth in assists per set at 12.31, fifth in kills at 13.54 per set, and fifth in digs at 17.12 per set.
Individually in conference matches solely, junior setter Avalon DeNecochea ranks second in the Big West in assists per set at 11.00. She has had at least 30 assists in six of the eight conferences matches so far this year. Junior middle blocker Meredith Phillips and freshman middle blocker Kate Slack are both tied for fifth in blocks at 1.15 per set. Freshman libero Peyton Dueck currently sits tied for fifth in the conference in aces per set at .38 and leads the team on the season with 23. Dueck is also fourth in the Big West for the entire season in digs per set at 4.23.
UC San Diego comes into Friday's match with a record of 7-12 overall and 4-4 in the Big West, good for fifth place in the Big West. The Tritons are coming off a split last week in which they lost in four sets to Long Beach before beating Cal State Fullerton in four sets. They bring a balanced offensive attack of five players who are averaging more than 2.00 kills per set. They are in their first year as both a member of the Big West Conference and as a Division I volleyball program. This will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Heading into the week, UC Irvine has an overall record of 12-6 and a 5-3 record in the Big West and sit behind the Mustangs in the standings in fourth place. Last week they split a pair of matches, falling in three sets to Cal State Fullerton before bouncing back with a five-set win over Long Beach State. The Anteaters have been led this season by sophomore outside hitter Joy Umeh who ranks third in the Big West in kills at 3.63 per set. This week, she was named the Big West Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 5.13 kills per set in UC Irvine's two matches last week. Cal Poly sports a 50-18 all-time record against the Anteaters and have won the last 10 matches, last losing in 2014.
Cal Poly By The Sets: Seven of Cal Poly's eight wins this year have come via sweep. They are 7-6 this year in three-set matches, 0-3 in four-set matches, and 1-2 in five-set matches.
When the Mustangs win the first set, they are 8-2. When they lose the first set, they are 0-9.
Tough Non-Conference Schedule: Cal Poly put itself to the test in its non-conference schedule. The Mustangs played 11 non-conference matches with five of those against teams ranked in the AVCA Preseason Top 25.
Those teams were No. 13 Louisville, No. 19 Utah, No. 22 San Diego, No. 9 Washington, and No. 22 Pepperdine.
Setting Up Her Teammates: Junior setter Avalon DeNecochea currently ranks seventh in program history for career assists with 2,783. She moved into seventh earlier this season on Sept. 25 in a match against Cal State Fullerton.
Her single match career-high for assists is 62 which came in that Sept. 25 match against the Titans.
Strong In Conference: Since 2017, the Mustangs are 50-6 in Big West matches. That includes a perfect 16-0 record in 2017, a 15-1 record in 2018, a 13-3 record in 2019, and a 6-2 record so far this season.
Cal Poly won the Big West Conference in 2017 and 2018 and has won the conference title a total of five times.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
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