Big Week Looms for Mustangs Facing Top Two Big West Teams

Thursday, October 12

Santa Barbara, CA

7 P.M.

UCSB

Big Week Looms for Mustangs Facing Top Two Big West Teams

10/30/2023 4:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Having won four straight matches, Cal Poly volleyball heads into one of its biggest weeks of the season this week as they look to move up in the Big West standings when facing the top two teams in the conference. The Mustangs (15-9, 9-3 BW) will host Big West leader and Blue-Green rival UCSB Tuesday at 5:30pm inside Mott Athletics Center for some Halloween evening volleyball. They will then head across the Pacific Ocean to face Hawai'i, who is tied for second in the Big West standings, on Friday for a 10 p.m. PT match. It will be the final regular season road match for Cal Poly. Both matches will air live on ESPN+. Links to those as well as live stats can be found the schedule page. Cal Poly, currently fourth place in the Big West standings, will be looking to move up with wins this week. They are one game behind both Hawai'i and Long Beach State for second and two games behind UCSB for first. The top six teams from the regular season qualify for the Big West Championship the week of Thanksgiving, with the top two teams receiving a first round bye into the semifinals. Last week, the Mustangs beat both Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine on the road in five sets to extend their win streak to four. Cal Poly has already played nine five-set matches this season and are 7-2 in those matches. Four of those wins have been via reverse sweep. Redshirt junior outside hitter Tommi Stockham had a stellar week offensively for the Mustangs, averaging 4.10 kills per set and hitting .322 in Cal Poly's two matches last week which garnered her Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this year. Against Cal State Fullerton, she had a season-high 24 kills before following it up with 17 kills the next night against UC Irvine. Offensively, the Mustangs have been led by outside hitter Lizzy Markovska and Stockham. Markovska leads the team with 3.18 kills per set while Stockham is right behind at 3.15 kills per set. Both are ranked in the top five in the Big West in kills per set. Stockham and Markovska have each had 18 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 1,285. SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: UCSB tops the Big West standings at 10-1 and are 21-3 overall. This week, they ranked just outside the AVCA Top 25 Poll in the 'others receiving votes category'. The Gauchos suffered their first loss of conference play last week at the hands of UC Irvine. UCSB beat Cal Poly 3-0 when the two teams met earlier this season in Goleta. Hawai'i heads into the week tied for second in the Big West standings with Long Beach State at 10-2 and are 17-6 overall and are in the midst of a five match win streak. Cal Poly will be looking for its first road win over Hawai'i since 2017. DEFENSE IS THE CALLING CARD: So far this season, it has been Cal Poly's defense that has led them to several wins. As a team, they rank 70th in the nation and third in the Big West in blocks per set (2.37). Individually, libero Jolei Akima is third in the Big West in digs per set at 4.14. Meanwhile, Kate Slack leads the Big West and ranks 26th in the country in blocks with 108. 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 10 double-doubles so far this season. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lizzy Markovska is right behind her with nine double-doubles. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore setter Emme Bullis has four 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 UC San Diego at Mott Athletics Center Friday, Nov. 10 and Long Beach State Saturday, Nov. 11. Both matches start at 7 p.m.