It was set four in the Cal Poly Volleyball’s matchup against the University of San Diego, and the Mustangs led with a score of 17-13 as the Tritons sent the ball over the net.
Sophomore outside hitter Kendall Beshear passes it, redshirt senior Emme Bullis sets it, and junior outside hitter Emma Fredrick fires the ball down with a strong swing securing the point.
This was not your typical play. Instead, Bullis had just become the fourth Mustang in history to reach 4,000 career assists.
“If it wasn’t for the people before me, who graduated in my time here, the people that sit next to me in the locker room or the people that are in my position and push me to be my best every day, I wouldn’t be here,” Bullis said.
Revenge Weekend
Cal Poly Volleyball faced Cal State Long Beach and UC San Diego in what the team called their “Revenge Weekend,” as these are the only two teams that they have lost to in the Big West.
The Mustangs swept Cal State Long Beach on Friday in a tight three set match and defeated UC San Diego on Saturday in four competitive sets.
These two wins bring the Mustangs to a 10-game winning streak and extend their 18-match home winning streak that stretches back to 2024.
“It was great to finish up our revenge weekend with both teams, and it just proved to us how special Mott is and how real Mott Magic is,” redshirt senior outside hitter Annabelle Thalken said.
Making Waves vs Long Beach
Cal Poly started the weekend off strong sweeping Long Beach 3-0, leading each set by at least five points.
The Mustangs held control of the game the entire first set, allowing no lead changes and zero ties and ending with a score of 25-19.
The Beach came back fiercely in the second set, resulting in eight ties, three lead changes and forcing Cal Poly to their lowest hitting percentage of the night with .214%. Yet, their efforts were not enough as the Mustangs’ defense also held Long Beach to their lowest offense performance with a .140%.
Fredrick captained the defense with a total of 12 digs while sophomore libero Elif Hurriyet followed closely behind with 10 digs.
The third set was the tightest out of the three, with a score of 25-20, but the Mustangs saw their best performance offensively with a .357% hitting percentage and a .500% kill percentage.
This game was especially important for sophomore middle blocker Chloe Leluge as she achieved the division one program record for current hitting percentage with a .367% after passing the threshold of 800 hitting attempts.
“There’s all these special accolades and it’s cool to get those but to have a good team that works really well together is so nice and that’s what we have,” Leluge said.
Not only was the game important for Leluge, but beating the Beach allowed Cal Poly to secure a spot in the Big West Championship in Long Beach and take over the second-place spot in the Big West Conference.
“It meant something more to us in a way, but it was also just another game to go out and get a better seed for the Big West tournament,” Bullis said.
Flipping the Script against San Diego
The Mustangs carried their winning momentum into Saturday night’s game as they defeated UC Davis 3-1 in a competitive four set match.
The match started rocky for the Mustangs as the Tritons controlled set one 25-19. The Mustangs did not go down without a fight as they out-hit the Tritons in set one by a slim margin of 0.007% and had their best defensive performance of the night with 17 digs in the first set.
Hurriyet was a defensive standout accounting for 11 of Cal Poly’s 51 digs, helping the Mustangs hold the Tritons to an overall .106% hitting percentage.
“Defense just gets us going man,” Thalken said.
A key role in their only set loss was their service performance as the Mustangs tallied in four service errors, accounting for a large part of their point deficit.
The Mustangs came back vigorously, only giving up the lead once within the next three sets and securing the win.
They had their best offensive performance of the night in set three with a .533% hitting percentage. This contributed to their overall match hitting percentage of .331%, which is .049% better than their season average. Their .282% season average puts the Mustangs at number one in the Big West conference by a whopping .032% margin.
Beshear led the offense with 15 kills and was fourth on the team with an overall hitting percentage with a .317%.
The fourth set not only secured the win for Cal Poly with a score of 25-14, but it also cemented Bullis’ place in the Cal Poly history books, and she became the fourth Mustang to achieve 4,000 career assists.
Coming into the game, Bullis needed 39 assists to reach the milestone, and the fourth set allowed her to make her mark.
“She’s a killer,” Thalken said about Bullis’ performance.
The Mustangs continue their season on the road to compete in part two of the Blue-Green Rivalry against UC Santa Barbara. The game will take place on Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the Thunderdome.