After falling a game short of the Big West Championship last year, the Cal Poly Women’s Volleyball team has a chip on their shoulder and wants to come home with some hardware in November.
“They have all the experience from last year and the semifinal match to think back on and I think it kept us motivated during the offseason,” head coach Caroline Walters said.
Same Team, New Year
The Mustangs return 14 players from last season, including some key pieces from last season: redshirt senior Tommi Stockham, redshirt junior Emme Bullis, and redshirt junior Lizzy Markovska.
Markovska and Stockham were in the top five in kills last season in the Big West Conference, and both were in the top 10 in service aces, with Stockham being first and Markovska eighth.
However, Stockham still aims for higher accomplishments despite taking home an All-Big West First Team award.
“It would be a huge accomplishment if I was Big West Player of the Year,” Stockham said. “That’s one of my goals that I’ve had, and the coaches and I have talked about for a while.”
The Mustangs’ only significant loss this season was libero Jolei Akima, who led the Big West in digs and graduated from Cal Poly in the Spring of 2024.
Although the Mustangs haven’t lost many players, the Mustangs brought in four incoming freshmen and a transfer.
Cal Poly will benefit from some of its new acquisitions, such as freshman Elif Hürriyet, one of the options for filling Akima’s shoes.
Big Decisions to be Made Defensively
With Akima gone, a crucial role opens up at Libero and big shoes to fill.
“Losing Jolei was a huge loss for us,” Stockham said. “She’s so good and she has that experience on the court.”
Now, Walters and the coaching staff must decide who will fill the shoes of the libero this year.
In training camp, Hürriyet and junior London Haberfield have emerged as the libero options for this season.
“They have different qualities that are really good,” Walters said. “London’s a little bit better in serve receive, Elif has shown she’s a little better defensively.”
A new rule has allowed the flexibility for teams to designate two liberos. This is something that the Mustangs could use this season to ensure they have the best six on the floor at all times.
This has been an option that Walters has considered and even used in a scrimmage against Stanford.
“They can kind of interchange so you can have one serve receive libero, one defensive libero,” Walters said. “I don’t know if we will utilize it but we have some very good ball control kids that have shown that we hopefully won’t skip a beat.”
Big West Championship hopes grow larger
After falling to Hawaii in the semifinals of the Big West tournament, Cal Poly is looking to strike back this year and win the Big West Conference.
The Mustangs last won the Big West in 2018 when Walters was the Associate Head Coach.
The Big West announced on Aug. 21 that Cal Poly had been selected as the league favorite in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
“I think it gives these guys a lot of confidence,” Walters said. “They know that they can go in and play against any team in this conference.”
Voted on by the 11 Big West head coaches, the Mustangs received a total of 94 points, which is nine points more than Hawaii, the 2023 Big West Champions.
Stockham also received recognition, making the Preseason All-Big West team for the third straight season.
Tough Schedule to Start the Season
Cal Poly starts its season hosting the Cal Poly Tournament against Sacramento State, St. Mary’s, and No. 19 Arkansas. It will then play in the Auburn-Troy Tournament against Auburn, Troy, and No. 20 Florida State.
This is not an uncommon theme for the Mustangs. In 2022 and 2021, Cal Poly had multiple matchups against nationally ranked opponents.
“We told the girls that our plan is to test them a lot during the preseason,” Walters said. “With our talent returning, we knew that we needed to do that number one so we can go into the Big West feeling we’re able to really test them.”
Cal Poly kicks off its season on Friday, Aug. 30, at 6 p.m. against Sacramento State, the opening game of the Cal Poly Tournament.
Following that up on Saturday with a doubleheader against Saint Mary’s and Arkansas at Mott Athletics Center.