UNLV
Mustangs Continue Road Trip, Look to String Wins at UNLV Tournament
9/10/2024 5:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly (3-3) heads into Nevada for a pair of tournament matches this week against North Texas (2-5) and the hosts UNLV (4-1). Following a 1-2 weekend in Alabama, the Mustangs are certainly hoping to put together a run of wins against a pair of unranked opponents.
Despite struggling as a team in back-to-back shutouts while facing #15 Florida State and Auburn, the Mustangs racked up a few notable individual performances.
Accumulating Accolades
Leading the way was redshirt junior setter Emme Bullis who earned her sixth career Big West Setter of the Week nod after averaging 11.11 assists per set and 3.22 digs per set during Cal Poly volleyball’s three-match tournament.
Bullis is now second in the Big West in assists at 10.9 per set and is ninth in digs.
Tommi Stockham remains Cal Poly’s undisputed ace hitter, sitting comfortably in third for kills (4.20 per set) in the Big West while also having tallied double-digit kill totals in every match this season.
Thanks in part to Stockham's efforts as well as Tess Mansingle (.391) and Lizzy Markovska (.341), who are both top-5 in the conference for hitting percentage, Cal Poly remains in the top-three of the Big West for kills, hitting, and points.
Freshman Frenzy
True freshman Kendall Beshear had a breakout weekend after not playing in the opening home tournament.
Beshear, a highly touted three-star recruit made her collegiate debut during the Auburn match, finishing with 10 kills and seven digs while pairing with fellow pin hitter Tommi Stockham as the only Mustangs to rack up double-digit kills in that opening contest.
Another impressive true freshman, middle blocker Chloe Leluge, began her own breakout season during the opening tournament but truly established herself last weekend as Cal Poly’s potential no. 2 middle going forward behind Breklyn Pulling.
A native of Bend, Oregon, Leluge racked up a pair of nine-kill efforts against both Florida State and Troy.
Taking home some ??
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) September 9, 2024
Congrats to Emme Bullis on being named this week's Big West Setter of the Week for the 6?th time in her career!
??: https://t.co/CtvWVwRb3c#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/IXtmziql1i
at UNLV - Sept. 12, 6 p.m. (PT)
This week Cal Poly begins with the hosts themselves, UNLV, on Thursday evening.
The Mustangs and Rebels have played a total of six times since the first matchup in 1984 with Cal Poly taking a perfect 6-0 mark.
Despite the historical dominance, the Mustangs will seemingly have their work cut out for them as UNLV is currently sporting a 4-1 record heading into the tournament after going an undefeated 4-0 to start the season and only recently losing to Rice 3-1.
One of those wins was over former Big West member and national championship contender Pacific.
UNLV, 37th in the NCAA for blocks-per-set as a team, is led by redshirt senior middle blocker Jordyn Freeman who sits 34th individual for blocks and an astounding 9th in hitting percentage from the middle. With that, the Rebels have held opponents to a .215 hitting percentage through five games.
vs. North Texas (N) - Sept. 13, 3 p.m. (PT)
Cal Poly is also undefeated historically against the Mean Green, having played a surprising nine matches against the southern opponents since 1996.
This season, the Mean Green are struggling at 2-5 with two recent losses coming last weekend against Big 10 opponents Georgetown and Maryland.
North Texas began the season with hosting a home tournament that included a trio of losses all against American Conference squads, with the Mean Green falling 9-2 in sets to Colorado, Rutgers, and Miami.
Despite a poor collection of team performances, North Texas is still hitting .263, good for 43rd in the NCAA, but have struggled to stop opponents from scoring with the same efficiency.
Aryn Johnson, pacing the team in kills and the per-set number as well, is 44th in the NCAA for total kills (92) while helping North Texas to 24th as a team.
Here's what to expect this week for Cal Poly volleyball!
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) September 11, 2024
Our match against UNLV can be watch on the Mountain West network ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/AAm9curQDb
