Mustangs Begin Four-Match Road Trip at UC San Diego, UC Irvine

Friday, October 21

La Jolla, CA

7 P.M.

UC San Diego

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Mustangs Begin Four-Match Road Trip at UC San Diego, UC Irvine

10/19/2022 3:27:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Coming off its biggest win of the season last weekend beating Hawai'i at home to move into a three-way tie atop the Big West standings, the Cal Poly volleyball team begins a four-match road trip starting with a pair of matches this weekend. The Mustangs (10-8, 7-1 BW), winners of five straight and 10 of their last 11, head south to face UC San Diego on Friday at 7 p.m. They then face fifth place UC Irvine Saturday at 5 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+. Cal Poly broadcaster Daniel Gillman will also be doing a live audio broadcast for both matches. Links to those as well as live stats for both matches can be found on the volleyball schedule page. Last Saturday in front of a sold out Mott Athletics Center, Cal Poly beat Hawai'i 3-1 to hand the Rainbow Wahine their first conference loss of the season and move into a three-way tie for first place in the Big West with Hawai'i and UCSB. Senior right side hitter Maia Dvoracek matched a season-high with 21 kills while hitting a season-best .514 with 15 digs and four aces. Dvoracek leads the Big West and is 39th in the nation in service aces with 33. Through the first eight matches of conference play, Cal Poly ranks top-five in the Big West as a team in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, assists, kills, blocks, aces, and digs. SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: UC San Diego is coming off a win over Cal State Fullerton last Saturday which snapped a five-match losing streak. Outside hitter Ava McInnes is the Big West leader in kills at 3.79 per set. This is just the third all-time meeting with Tritons, with Cal Poly winning both of the first two matches. UC Irvine sits at 4-4 in Big West play which puts them in fifth place. They are 8-1 at home this year, with their lone loss to UCSB. Middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu leads the Anteaters in both kills and blocks. Cal Poly has won 11 of the last 12 meetings and leads the all-time series 51-19. 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 3.77 per set which ranks second while Dvoracek is fifth at 3.51 per set. DOUBLE-DOUBLE CAL POLY STYLE: Three Mustangs have recorded at least five double-doubles on the season. Dvoracek leads the team with 11, redshirt freshman setter Emme Bullis has 10, and Stockham has seven. BLOCK PARTY: Through the first 18 matches of the season, the Mustangs are third in the Big West and are 35th in the nation in blocks per set, averaging 2.51 per set. Senior middle blocker Meredith Phillips is second in the Big West and ranks 38th in the nation in blocks per set at 1.28. Last Saturday, Phillips moved into seventh all-time in program history in career blocks with 389. ACE IN THE HOLE: Now with 97 career aces to her name, senior Maia Dvoracek has moved into second all-time in program history with a career aces per set average of .47. 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. 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). Back for her second season after playing in 111 of 112 sets 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.