Auburn
Mustangs Kick Off Month-Long Road Stint With Plainsman Invitational
9/4/2024 3:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Following a successful opening tournament in Mott Athletics Center, the Mustangs (2-1) are heading across the country to Alabama for the Plainsman Invitational, which is a tournament jointly-hosted by Auburn and Troy with Florida State as a neutral site opponent. With week one of NCAA volleyball in the books, Cal Poly remains just one of four Big West teams with a winning record as of today.
Congrats to Tommi Stockham of @calpolyvolley on being named the @mechanicsbank Student-Athlete of the Week!! Tommi help lead the Mustangs to victories over Sac State and Saint Mary’s and tallied 12 kills and 13 digs against Arkansas to open up the season.
— Cal Poly Mustangs (@CPMustangs) September 2, 2024
#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/s0TpagbqzL
Led by redshirt senior Tommi Stockham, the Mustangs come into this tournament as one of its conference's best offenses. Cal Poly sits first among Big West teams for hitting percentage (.280) and points per set (17.82), as well as second for kills per set (13.45) and assists (12.27).
On opening day, Cal Poly came up against a tough Sacramento State team that was coming off a 2023 National Invitational bid and managed to down the Hornets after four incredibly close sets.
The Mustangs followed that up with true dominance against Saint Mary's in which the Gaels never quite found an answer for Cal Poly's high-flying offense. The second set personified the match as Cal Poly shut down SMC with a 25-10 set win.
Despite closing the tournament with a 3-1 loss to #19 Arkansas, the Mustangs took a contentious first set and fought the entire way through against a team that danced late into the NCAA tournament last season.
Stockham, Lizzy Markovska, and Tess Masingale did not hold back in flashing their hitting abilities during the Mustangs Invitational. Stockham (4.18 k/s) and Markovska (3.60 k/s) are two of the Big West's top-5 for kills per set, and Masingale was impressive over the middle with a fantastic .434 hitting percentage, good for second in the conference.
Alongside a pair of double-doubles, Masingale also established herself as one of the conference's best blockers during opening weekend. A redshirt sophomore who is finding some consistent starting looks for the first time in her Cal Poly career, Masingale is currently fourth in the conference with 1.18 blocks per set.
Elsewhere on the defensive side of the ball, London Haberfield (3.82 dig/s) and true freshman Elif Hurriyet (3 service aces) split time at libero and defensive specialist.
Emme Bullis continued providing her usual setting ability with 10.73 assists per set, good for second in the conference, while also getting involved defensively with 3.09 digs per set.
Big weekend coming up, including matches against two teams in the AVCA coaches’ poll!
— Cal Poly Volleyball (@CalPolyVolley) September 3, 2024
Check out our schedule on https://t.co/8S5PNK9Tjn for links to all three of this week’s games ??#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/ILXBx2VK8T
at (RV) Auburn - Sept. 5, 4 p.m. (PT)
The Tigers are the second of three teams in the AVCA polls that the Mustangs will play in an eight-day span.
In the history of these two programs, there have only been two meetings: a pair of home-and-home in consecutive years from 1994-95 in which they split results 1-1.
Thus far in the season, Auburn has been blitzing the competition with a running set score of 12-1 through three shutouts and one 3-1 affair. One of those shutouts includes co-host Troy on Wednesday evening.
Auburn currently sports six players averaging at least one kill per set, and that also include a trio of women with three or more kills per set. Eight players have one or more digs per set as well.
vs. #15 Florida State - Sept. 6, 2 p.m. (PT)
Arguably Cal Poly's toughest matchup of the season, the Seminoles dismantled one of the Big West's best teams last weekend, shutting out UC Santa Barbara 3-0 during a three-game unbeaten run.
Highly ranked for good reason, Florida State is easily one of the most dangerous programs in the country and are surely primed to make a run to the NCAA tournament this season.
Although deploying an adequate and powerful offense, the Seminoles defense has been the backbone of their currently 3-0 record, having held some quality opponents to a paltry .187 hitting percentage.
This will be the first matchup between Cal Poly and Florida State in the respective programs' histories.
at Troy - Sept. 7, Noon (PT)
Wrapping up the Plainsman Invitational will be a match against the other co-host, Troy, on Saturday. Like Florida State, this will also be the first time in program history Cal Poly will take on the Trojans.
Unlike the other two teams in this tournament, Troy is still searching for steady footing after a 2-2 start to the year. Despite a recent shutout loss to co-host Auburn, the Trojans recently defeated an SEC team with a valiant 3-2 victory over LSU during opening weekend.
Currently, the Trojans are hitting at a .175 rate, but are out-digging their opponents by almost one dig per set.
