Mustangs Host Hawai’i Saturday in a Battle For First Place

Saturday, October 15

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

7 P.M.

Hawai'i

Tickets

Mustangs Host Hawai’i Saturday in a Battle For First Place

10/13/2022 11:57:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Winners of four straight matches, the Cal Poly volleyball team will look to keep things rolling when welcoming first-place Hawai'i Saturday in a pivotal Big West match. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center. It is a Blackout night with all fans encouraged to wear black. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Daniel Gillman and Harry Kaseff on the call. Links to that as well as live stats can be found on the volleyball schedule page. The Mustangs (9-8, 6-1 BW) are coming off a five-set win over CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday night. The win moved the Mustangs into sole possession of second place in the Big West standings. That came on the heels of a pair of sweep victories last week over UC Riverside and UC Davis at home. Against CSU Bakersfield, three players finished with double figure kill numbers and three had double-doubles. Redshirt freshman Lizzy Markovska had a career-high 15 kills to lead Cal Poly offensively. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Tommi Stockham, senior right side hitter Maia Dvoracek, and redshirt freshman setter Emme Bullis all had double-doubles as the Mustangs picked up their first five-set win of the season. Through the first seven matches of conference play, Cal Poly's defense has been stout as the Mustangs are holding opponents to a .175 hitting percentage which leads the Big West. SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: 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 hitting 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 3.74 per set while Dvoracek is tied for fifth at 3.40 per set. BLOCK PARTY: Through the first 17 matches of the season, the Mustangs are third in the Big West and are 49th in the nation in blocks per set, averaging 2.45 per set. Senior middle blocker Meredith Phillips leads the Big West and ranks 41st in the nation in blocks per set at 1.25. On Tuesday, Phillips moved into a tie for seventh on the all-time in program history in career blocks with 382 and needs just one more to hold the spot herself. ACE IN THE HOLE: Now with 93 career aces to her name, senior Maia Dvoracek has moved into a tie for second all-time in program history with a career aces per set average of .46. 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.