Mustangs Travel to Malibu to Face Pair of Ranked Teams

Saturday, September 11

Malibu, CA

6 P.M.

Washington

Cal Poly Volleyball vs. Texas A&M 9-1-21

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Travel to Malibu to Face Pair of Ranked Teams

9/7/2021 1:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After facing two top-25 teams last week, the Cal Poly volleyball team will continue its tough non-conference schedule this weekend when it faces two more ranked opponents in Malibu at the Pepperdine Asics Classic.

The Mustangs (2-5) will take on No. 9 Washington on Saturday at 6 p.m. and No. 22 Pepperdine on Sunday at 5 p.m. inside Firestone Fieldhouse. Saturday's match against the Huskies (3-1) will not be streamed but fans can follow live stats. Sunday's match against the Waves (6-0) will be streamed on the WCCsports.com and live stats will be available. Links for all these can be found on the schedule page.

These will already be the Mustangs' fourth and fifth matches this season against ranked opponents.

Cal Poly played four matches last week, going 1-3. The Mustangs fell in their home opener to Texas A&M in five sets Wednesday, snapping Cal Poly's record 32 match home winning streak that had dated back to 2016. Then over the weekend in Salt Lake City, the Mustangs beat Utah Valley University 3-0 but fell to No. 19 Utah and No. 22 San Diego.

In last week's four matches, redshirt senior outside hitter Jamie Stivers led Cal Poly in kills in two of those matches. So far this season, Stivers is averaging a team-leading 2.78 kills per set and 2.61 digs per set. It has been a solid bounce-back season for Stivers, who is coming off a season-ending knee injury she suffered 10 matches into the 2019 season.

As a team, Cal Poly is also working on implementing new players into the lineup. With the Mustangs without All-American opposite hitter Maia Dvoracek this season and currently without West Virginia transfer outside hitter Kristina Jordan, they are looking to some newcomers to step up. In three of last week's matches, the Mustangs started three freshmen in libero Peyton Dueck who is averaging a team-leading 4.35 digs per set and has a team-high nine aces, middle blocker Kate Slack who is averaging 1.30 kills and .65 blocks per set, and outside hitter Annabelle Thalken who is averaging 1.67 kills per set and .85 blocks per set.

Offensively, four different players have led the Mustangs in kills in a match so far this season.

No. 9 Washington is 3-1 so far this season. The Huskies are coming off wins over Iowa and Illinois last weekend. In the 2020 season that was played in the spring, Washington went 20-4 and made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies return three All-Americans and three AVCA All-Region players from last year's team. Outside hitter Claire Hoffman leads Washington in kills so far this season with 3.80 kills per set while hitting .365. Cal Poly leads the all-time series 4-1 with the Huskies winning the last meeting between the teams in 2017.

No. 22 Pepperdine is a perfect 6-0 so far this season. Last weekend at the Gaucho Invitational in Santa Barbara, the Waves beat Kansas State, San Diego State, and UC Santa Barbara. Last season, they finished 17-4 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They return five starters from that team, three of whom earned First Team All-WCC honors including libero Madison Shields who was named WCC Libero of the Year last year and middle blocker Meg Brown who was named WCC Freshman of the Year last season. Cal Poly is 25-12 all-time against the Waves with the Mustangs winning the last meeting in 2019 at the same tournament.

Following this weekend's matches, Cal Poly will have a home-and-home with Loyola Marymount University. The Mustangs will play at LMU on Thursday, September 16 at 5 p.m. before hosting LMU at Mott Athletics Center on Saturday, September 18 at 1 p.m.