UC Santa Barbara
Cal Poly Looks to Sweep Blue-Green Series at UCSB on Tuesday
10/28/2024 5:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Coming into an unorthodox week with UC Santa Barbara in a rare Tuesday match before Hawai’i on Saturday, Cal Poly (14-7, 7-3 BWC) remains tied for second in the Big West with the Rainbow Wahine.
Currently, Hawai’i is tied at 7-3 in the same position as the Mustangs, but Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara are all tied at 6-4 for third place. Cal Poly will surely need to continue winning at least one of its contests per week, if not both, to keep up the current pace other Big West teams are at.
Hurriyet averaged 4.56 digs per set last week as the Mustangs held their opponents to a combined .165 hitting percentage! #RideHighhttps://t.co/EHu1JEFoiE
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) October 28, 2024
This volleyball thing can be fun sometimes ?????
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) October 28, 2024
We’re pretty sure Chloe and Lizzy helped us beat LBSU with these moves! ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/O6tab3qinG
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Last week, the Mustangs split results with a five-set comeback thriller over Long Beach State and a 3-1 home loss to UC San Diego.
Elif Hurriyet received her first career Big West Defensive Player of the Week nod after pacing the conference with 4.56 digs per set including a single-game career-high of 28 during the win over the Beach.
As a team, the Mustangs remain a defensively solid unit as they put up a season-high 14 blocks against UCSD and held both of their opponents last week to a combined .165 hitting percentage.
Breklyn Pulling totaled 10 blocks between the pair of matches and Chloe Leluge followed closely with 9 blocks of her own.
Tommi Stockham tallied double-digit kills for the fifth consecutive match and 17th time overall this season. At 1,465 career kills, Stockham will almost certainly pass Melanie Hathaway (1997-00) during the UCSB match for the third-most career kills in program history.
The redshirt senior needs just three to tie Hathaway and four to be in sole possession of third. After a terrific week of hitting, Stockham is now second in the Big West with 3.63 kills per set.
Amy Hiatt has also been ramping up her play as of late, notching double-digits in the past two matches to total 24 kills last week while hitting at a .280 clip.
Emme Bullis, still on her best per-set pace for assists in her career, leads the conference with 10.51 assists per set after supplying 89 against last week’s opponents highlighted by 51 in the Long Beach State match.
The difference between making and missing the playoffs in 6th/7th place is currently one win away from Cal Poly’s total as the Big West is a log jam in the middle of the standings.
Entirely on the road this week with UCSB tomorrow evening and a trip to the islands on Saturday!#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/yASSyXe6aK
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) October 28, 2024
Since being swept by Cal Poly at home, UCSB has gone on a three-match win streak, all wins against teams at the top of the table: 3-0 vs. Hawai’i, 3-1 at UCSD, and 3-2 vs. LBSU. The Mustangs are looking to string together their first pair of wins against UC Santa Barbara since back-to-back series sweeps in 2017 and 2018.
In the last edition of the Blue-Green rivalry, just two weeks ago, Stockham led the match with 18 kills, her third-highest total of the season. She kept up an astonishing per-set pace and also contributed on defense with 4 digs and 2 total blocks.
Redshirt freshman hitter Eva Travis is red-hot, picking up her second career Big West Freshman of the Week honors on Monday after smashing 38 kills (4.22 per set) in UCSB’s pair of wins. She is also 8th in the conference with 3.13 kills per set.
