Cal Poly Volleyball Prepares for 2023 Home Opener This Week

Thursday, September 14

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

7 P.M.

Washington

Photo by: Eyasu Betwos

Cal Poly Volleyball Prepares for 2023 Home Opener This Week

9/12/2023 6:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After playing their first nine matches of the season on the road, Cal Poly volleyball will finally play its first home matches of the season this week as part of its own tournament, the Mustang Invitational. The Mustangs (5-4) will welcome Washington, St. Mary's, and Pepperdine to Mott Athletics Center this week for the five-match tournament. Cal Poly will face Washington on Thursday at 7 p.m., St. Mary's Friday at 6 p.m., and Pepperdine Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Washington and Pepperdine will play each other on Friday at 3 p.m. and St. Mary's and Washington will square off at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. The full tournament schedule can be found below. Thursday, Sept. 14 Washington vs. Cal Poly, 7pm Friday, Sept. 15 Washington vs. Pepperdine, 3pm St. Mary's vs. Cal Poly, 6pm
Saturday, Sept. 16 Washington vs. St. Mary's, 10:30am Pepperdine vs. Cal Poly, 1:30pm Cal Poly's matches against Washington on Thursday and St. Mary's on Friday will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fans can follow live stats of the other matches to keep up with results. Links for those can be found on the volleyball schedule page. Tickets to the matches can be purchased at GoPoly.com/tickets. This will be the first tournament Cal Poly has hosted since 2019 when the Mustangs held the ShareSLO Mustang Challenge which brought North Texas, Wichita State, and San Jose State to Mott Athletics Center. This year's tournament brings teams with high volleyball pedigrees to San Luis Obispo. Pepperdine has made 25 NCAA Tournaments in its history, Washington has made five Final Fours and has won one National Championship, and Saint Mary's has made seven NCAA Tournaments. Cal Poly is 4-3 all-time against the Huskies, who are off to a 7-1 start this season and this week were in the 'others receiving votes' category of the AVCA Top 25 Poll. The Mustangs are 9-5 against Saint Mary's in their history, with the last meetings happening back in 2019. The Gaels are 6-3 so far this season but have lost three in a row after getting off to a 6-0 start. Finally, Cal Poly is 25-14 all-time against Pepperdine, falling to the Waves last year in five sets. The Waves are 2-6 so far this season, most recently going 1-2 at the Outrigger Invitational, falling to UCLA and Hawai'i before beating Liberty. 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 24th in the nation in digs per set (16.65), 30th in the nation in blocks per set (2.68), and 50th in the country in opponent hitting percentage (.160). Individually, libero Jolei Akima is 28th in the nation in digs per set at 4.97. This past week, she won her first career Big West Defensive Player of the Week award. Meanwhile, Amy Hiatt ranks 43rd in the country in blocks per set at 1.32. HOME COOKIN': Since 2017, Cal Poly has been one of the toughest teams to beat at home in the country. Over the last five seasons, the Mustangs have a 43-8 record when playing at Mott Athletics Center. 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: These three matches will be the final of non-conference play before Cal Poly opens Big West play next week on the road at Long Beach State and UC San Diego.