Long Beach State
Mustangs Take on Pair of Top-6 Teams in Battle for First Place
10/23/2024 2:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — With six teams all within a pair of wins away from the top of the conference, Cal Poly (13-6, 6-2 BWC) takes on two of them this week.
Due to next weekend containing a Hawai’i away match, the Mustangs have an unusual upcoming schedule with Long Beach State on the road Thursday, UC San Diego in San Luis Obispo on Saturday, and right back on the road against UC Santa Barbara next Tuesday.
Massive rivalry win over UCSB, which makes six sweeps in our last seven Big West matches! ??
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) October 18, 2024
Tommi Stockham exploded for 6?? kills per set??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/sq1213czek
Here are some more looks at last night's win! The Mustangs retain first place in the conference ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/2OMtnPsuML
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) October 18, 2024
About Last Week
Last week, the Mustangs traded sweeps, winning one with ease against UC Santa Barbara while falling to Hawai’i in what was a much closer match than the score would indicate. Despite the split-results, Tommi Stockham showed out with one of her best statistical efforts of 2024 in the pair of matches.
Against UC Santa Barbara, the redshirt senior helped Cal Poly record a sixth sweep in seven Big West matches and was virtually unstoppable, hitting at her highest clip (.455) since Oct. 7, 2023 while also leading the match with 18 kills. Stockham also picked up a double-double (14 kills, 10 digs) against UC Davis and finished the week with 5.33 kills per set while second on the team with 3 total blocks.
Milestone Watch
With 1,437 career kills at Cal Poly, Stockham is well within range to surpass Melanie Hathaway (1997-00) for the third-most kills in the program’s Division I history, needing just 32 more kills to accomplish the achievement. Keeping with milestones, after nabbing another win over UCSB last week, head coach Caroline Walters is now four wins away from a coveted 100 career victories.
Led by true freshman middle blocker Chloe Leluge (.365), Cal Poly boasts four players in the top-20 of the conference for hitting percentage, which also puts the team 44th in the country at a .249 clip. Elsewhere in the national rankings, Emme Bullis continues to pace the conference with 10.60 assists per set, also good enough for 16th in D1 volleyball.
vs… Long Beach State
In terms of Big West opponents, Long Beach State is a contender for Cal Poly’s most evenly played opponent over the last decade with the Mustangs leading the series 10-8 since 2014. That is a turn from the all-time series, which still leans the Beach’s way at 48-28.
Last season featured each team grabbing a win at home with the Beach taking their hosted match 3-2 and the Mustangs earning a 3-1 win in theirs. Barring 2021, three of the last four seasons have featured split-result matches between the opponents.
Long Beach State is currently tied with Cal Poly for second place in the conference after having picked up notable wins against first place UC Davis and Cal Poly’s other opponents this weekend UC San Diego. The Beach’s pair of losses have come against Hawai’i, swept like the Mustangs, and a five-set nail biter against UC Irvine.
The Beach paces the entire conference by a wide margin in holding opponents to a paltry .158 hitting percentage and 10.95 kills per set. Their remarkable defense encounters Cal Poly’s red hot offense as the Mustangs lead the conference in hitting percentage and are second in kills (13.15 per set) to only Hawai’i.
vs… UC San Diego
In their first season of Big West Championship eligibility, the Tritons have gotten off to a raging start, just a pair of wins away from tying their single-season high Big West wins total (7 wins in 2021 and 2022).
Perennially ranked among the best DII programs in the country since the turn of the century, UC San Diego has found a legitimate place among the Big West’s playoff competitors, only losing to UC Davis, Long Beach State, and Hawai’i this season.
Despite UC San Diego’s fantastic start to the season, the Mustangs will be looking to lean on their 6-0 unbeaten record against the Tritons since the southern California program joined the conference before the 2021 season.
The Tritons currently have a middling offense statistically but similarly to Long Beach State are defensively dominant this season at third in the Big West with a .177 opponent hitting percentage. Their most statistically significant player at the moment is Emily McDaniel, third in the conference with 1.08 blocks per set, just behind Long Beach State’s Kameron Bacon.
Got a pair of top-6 clashes this week!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/Joq6dAZAAd
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) October 21, 2024
Following this tough pair of matches, the Mustangs face the same two teams next week that they had last week with UC Santa Barbara on the road Tuesday and Hawai’i in the islands Saturday.
