Mustangs Host UC Irvine, UC San Diego for Final Home Matches This Weekend

Friday, November 25

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

7 P.M.

UC Irvine

Tickets

Maia Dvoracek, Meredith Phillips Celebration

Mustangs Host UC Irvine, UC San Diego for Final Home Matches This Weekend

11/22/2022 2:27:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — In third place in the Big West standings, the Cal Poly volleyball team will play its final matches of the regular season this weekend inside Mott Athletics Center. The Mustangs (16-12, 13-5 BW) will host UC Irvine (18-10, 11-7 BW) Friday and UC San Diego Saturday. Both matches are for 7 p.m. starts. Daniel Gillman and Harry Kaseff will be on the call for both matches which will be streamed on ESPN+. Links to those as well as live stats can be found on the schedule page. Cal Poly will be looking to win both matches this weekend to secure its seventh straight year finishing in the top three of the Big West standings. Saturday's match will be senior night, the final home match for three of the Mustangs' seniors: setter Avalon DeNecochea, opposite hitter Maia Dvoracek, and middle blocker Meredith Phillips. All three have been hugely important to the successes of the program during their time at Cal Poly. Combined, the trio has helped Cal Poly to a 104-33 overall record and a 70-16 Big West record during their time here. They've also helped the program win two Big West titles and reach the NCAA Tournament three times. DeNecochea is a two-time All-Big West honoree and ranks sixth in program history with 3,188 career assists. As a freshman in 2018, she started all 28 matches and was named Big West Co-Freshman of the Year. Off the court, she was named Big West All-Academic twice. She earned her undergraduate degree in Business and is working on earning a Master's degree. Dvoracek has had one of the more interesting careers in Cal Poly history. After not being recruited heavily out of high school, she sat on the bench her first two seasons at Cal Poly. In her first season as a starter in 2019, she worked her way to become an AVCA Third Team All-American and First Team All-Big West honoree. That year she was second in the Big West in kills and was top-five in the nation in aces. After being forced to miss the 2021 while recovering from a severe knee injury, she has returned this year to be top-five in the Big West in kills and is top-10 in the nation in aces. For her career, she heads into the week fifth all-time in program history for career aces and is on track to finish second all-time in career aces per set average. Phillips has been one of Cal Poly's most consistent players the last four seasons. A starter since her freshman year, she's a three-time All-Big West honoree, has started 113 of of 117 possible matches and heads into the week having played in 416 sets which ranks eighth most in program history. One of the best blockers in program history, Phillips ranks sixth in Cal Poly history for career blocks, seventh for career block assists, and ninth for career solo blocks. SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: UC Irvine heads into Friday's match sitting in fifth place in the Big West standings. They've won three of their last four, including two in a row. The Anteaters rank second in the conference in kills and blocks, and lead the way in opponent hitting percentage. UC Irvine won the first meeting earlier this season in Irvine, winning 3-1. However, Cal Poly leads the all-time series 51-20. UC San Diego comes into the week having lost three of its last four matches. However, they possess the Big West's leader in kills, Ava McInnes, who is averaging 3.81 per set. As a team, the Tritons lead the conference in points at 15.73 per set. This will be just the fourth ever meeting with UC San Diego, with Cal Poly winning the first three matches. STRAIGHT KILLERS: Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Tommi Stockham and senior right side hitter Maia Dvoracek hold two of the top five spots in the Big West in kills per set. Stockham is averaging 3.74 per set which ranks third in the Big West while Dvoracek is fifth at 3.59 per set. DOUBLE-DOUBLE CAL POLY STYLE: Three Mustangs have recorded at least five double-doubles on the season. Dvoracek leads the team with 19, redshirt freshman setter Emme Bullis has 12, and Stockham has nine. BLOCK PARTY: The Mustangs are tied for third in the Big West in blocks per set, averaging 2.23 per set. Senior middle blocker Meredith Phillips is fourth in the Big West in blocks per set at 1.13. Phillips ranks sixth in program history for career blocks. She heads into the week with 421 total blocks in her career. ACE IN THE HOLE: Now with 129 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 .53 and fifth all-time for career aces. 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. She currently leads the Big West and is sixth in the nation in total aces. She also leads the Big West and ranks eighth in the nation in aces per set at .62 which would rank third-best in a single season in program history. At 65 aces for the season, she needs just two more to break the single-season program record. 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. 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.