Mustangs Travel to Fullerton, Irvine This Week

Friday, October 27

Fullerton, CA

6 P.M.

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Travel to Fullerton, Irvine This Week

10/26/2023 8:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Coming off a 2-0 week last week, Cal Poly volleyball turns the page to the second half of conference play this week with a pair of matches on the road.

The Mustangs (13-9, 7-3 BW) will face two teams they have already played this season in Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. The Mustangs take on the Titans (1-18, 0-10 BW) Friday at 6 p.m. at Titan Gym with the match aired on ESPN+.

They will then play UC Irvine Saturday at 4 p.m. with the match taking place at Crawford Hall on UC Irvine's campus instead of the usual Bren Events Center due to a facility issue there. That match will also be streamed on ESPN+. Links for both can be found on GoPoly.com.

Cal Poly will be looking to keep its winning ways going after beating CSUN and CSU Bakersfield last week. The Mustangs are currently in fourth place in the Big West standings at 7-3, one game behind Long Beach State and Hawai'i who are tied for second at 8-2. UCSB is in first place at 10-0. Cal Poly will play all three of those teams once more later this season.

The Mustangs have been very good at playing from behind so far this year as they already have four wins via reverse sweep. Overall, they have played seven five-set matches and are 5-2 in those matches.

Offensively, the Mustangs have been led by outside hitters Lizzy Markovska and Tommi Stockham. Markovska leads the team with 3.22 kills per set while Stockham is right behind at 3.09 kills per set. Both are ranked in the top eight in the Big West in kills per set.

Stockham and Markovska have each had 16 matches with double digit kills. Three weeks ago, Stockham surpassed 1,000 kills for her Cal Poly career and now ranks 10th in program history for career kills with 1,244.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: The Titans are 1-18 overall and 0-10 in Big West play so far. Cal Poly beat Cal State Fullerton 3-1 earlier this season on Sept. 30 in Mott Athletics Center.

The Anteaters are 6-15 overall and 4-6 in conference play so far. The first time Cal Poly faced UC Irvine, the Mustangs pulled off a reverse sweep to beat them in five, 3-2.

DEFENSE IS THE CALLING CARD: So far this season, it has been the Cal Poly's defense that has led them to wins. As a team, they rank 57th in the nation and second in the Big West in blocks per set (2.44).

Individually, libero Jolei Akima is 76th in the nation and second in the Big West in digs per set at 4.33. Meanwhile, Kate Slack ranks 29th in the country and second in the Big West in blocks with 99.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE, CAL POLY STYLE: Cal Poly has had several players doing multiple things on the court and reach double-doubles.

Redshirt junior outside hitter Tommi Stockham leads the team with nine double-doubles so far this season.

Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lizzy Markovska is right behind her with eight double-doubles.

Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore setter Emme Bullis has three double-doubles through assists and digs.

YOUTH RULES: Cal Poly is one of four teams in Division I without a senior on its roster. The other three are Canisius, Baylor, and Syracuse.

UP NEXT: Following this week's matches, Cal Poly will host Blue-Green rival and conference leader UCSB for a Halloween matchup on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 5:30 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center.