Mustangs Face CSU Bakersfield Tuesday, First Place Hawai’i Saturday

Tuesday, October 11

Bakersfield, CA

6 P.M.

CSU Bakersfield

Cal Poly Volleyball vs. UC Davis 10/8/22

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Mustangs Face CSU Bakersfield Tuesday, First Place Hawai’i Saturday

10/10/2022 5:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Winners of three straight matches, the Cal Poly volleyball team will look to keep things rolling this week with another pair of Big West matches. The Mustangs (8-8, 5-1 BW) are on a short week as they head east to face CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday at 6 p.m. They then return home to take on first-place Hawai'i at Mott Athletics on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+. Links to those as well as live stats for both matches can be found on the volleyball schedule page. Saturday's match against the Rainbow Wahine (9-5, 6-0 BW) is a black out match with all fans encouraged to wear black. The Mustangs are coming off a pair of sweep victories last week over UC Riverside and UC Davis to keep them in a tie for second place with UCSB in the Big West standings at 5-1. Cal Poly's defense was stout in both matches. The Mustangs held both UC Riverside and UC Davis to sub .075 hitting percentages. Through the first six matches of conference play, the Mustangs are holding opponents to a .270 hitting percentage which leads the Big West. SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: CSU Bakersfield is also coming off a pair of 3-0 wins over UC Davis and UC Riverside last week, their first of conference play. Libero Paige Calvin, who was named Big West Defensive Player of the Week, is fourth in the conference in digs at 3.75 per set. Cal Poly lead the all-time series 7-2, however, the Roadrunners won the last matchup last year in Bakersfield. Hawai'i is a perfect 6-0 so far in Big West play. Last week, they beat UC Irvine and UC San Diego. As a team, they lead the conference in hitting percentage, assists, and kills. Individually, middle blocker Amber Igiede is fourth in the conference in kills and is first in hiittng percentage and points. Hawai'i has won the last three matchups but Cal Poly has won three of the last four at Mott. STRAIGHT KILLERS: Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Tommi Stockham and senior right side hitter Maia Dvoracek hold two spots of the top five spots in the Big West in kills per set. Stockham is averaging a conference-leading 3.82 per set while Dvoracek is fifth at 3.50 per set. BLOCK PARTY: Through the first 16 matches of the season, the Mustangs are third in the Big West and are 43rd in the nation in blocks per set, averaging 2.49 per set. Senior middle blocker Meredith Phillips leads the Big West and ranks 30th in the nation in blocks per set at 1.34. This past weekend, Phillips moved into 8th all-time in program history in career blocks with 381. ACE IN THE HOLE: Now with 89 career aces to her name, senior Maia Dvoracek has moved into fourth all-time in program history with a career aces per set average of .44. She recorded 64 of those in 2019, just two shy of the all-time Cal Poly single-season mark. She also has the program record for aces in a match with 8. Last week against UC Riverside, she had seven matches with six of those during one service run. STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Cal Poly put itself to the test in non-conference play with all 10 of their first matches on the road. Five of those were against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2021. PRESEASON COACHES' POLL: Cal Poly was selected to finish third in the Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll. They were picked behind two-time defending champion Hawai'i and last year's second place finisher UC Santa Barbara. The Mustangs last won the Big West title in 2018. DVORACEK, STOCKHAM NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-BIG WEST TEAM: Cal Poly senior right side hitter Maia Dvoracek and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Tommi Stockham were each named to the eight-player Big West Preseason All-Conference Team. Stockham is back for her second year with the Mustangs after earning First Team All-Conference honors last season. The outside hitter led the team and was fourth in the Big West in kills at 3.54 per set. That included posting at least 20 kills five times, six double-doubles, and double digit kills in 16 of 20 conference matches. Dvoracek last played in 2019 due to the 2020 season being cancelled due to the pandemic and was forced to miss the 2021 season while recovering from a severe knee injury. She burst on to the scene in 2019 in her first year as a starter. That year, she led the team and was second in the Big West in kills at 4.25 per set in addition to ranking top-five in the nation in service aces. She was named First Team All-Big West and an AVCA Third Team All-American, becoming the seventh Mustang in program history to be named to one of the three All-American teams. GUESS WHO'S BACK?: After being forced to miss the 2021 season while she recovered from a serious knee injury, senior outside hitter Maia Dvoracek returns to the Cal Poly lineup this season. In her first year as a starter in 2019, Dvoracek averaged 4.25 kills per set overall and 5.09 kills per set during conference matches. Her 4.25 kills per set ranked second most in the conference that year. She was also top-five in the nation in service aces per set at .58 and 64 total aces. She recorded double-digit kills in the final 20 matches of the 2019 season and had 20 or more kills on seven matches, including a career-high 30 against Utah. She also averaged 2.21 digs per set and had seven double-doubles on the year. She was named an AVCA Third Team All-American as well as First Team All-Big West and AVCA Pacific North All-Region RETURNING POWER: Although the program lost seven letterwinners from last year's team, eight are back this year for the Mustangs, including five who played in at least 80 sets last season. In addition to Dvoracek and Stockham, several key pieces return. Senior middle blocker Meredith Phillips, a three-time All-Big West honoree, is back after leading the team last season in blocks (118) and hitting percentage (.310) while also being second in kills (2.40 per set). Senior setter Avalon DeNecochea, the Mustangs' starting setter the last three seasons, returns for her final season. Coming into the season, she ranks sixth in program history for career assists with 3,187. Last year, she was second in the Big West in assists at 10.31 per set. She was also third on the team in blocks (69), digs (198) and service aces (24) and posted three double-doubles. Back for her second season after playing in 111 of 112 as a freshman last season is redshirt sophomore middle blocker Kate Slack. Last season, Slack was second on the team in blocks with 90 and was sixth in kills at 1.32 per set. Redshirt sophomore Amy Hiatt will be another key piece off the bench for the Mustangs this season. In her first season of action last year, she played in 86 sets and was third on the team in kills with 228. She had at least 10 kills in 10 matches. She was also fourth on the team in blocks with 52.