After an impressive season and winning the Big West regular-season championship, Cal Poly Volleyball was one of two teams in the Big West with six honorees and two players who made the All-Big West First Team.
In addition to the six players, head coach Caroline Walters received her first Big West Coach of the Year award.
Front Row Seniors
Two of Cal Poly’s six honorees celebrated their senior night earlier this season. The conference recognized redshirt seniors Amy Hiatt and Tommi Stockham for their efforts this season.
Stockham made the All-Big West First Team for the fourth time. With this feat, Stockham becomes just the second Mustang and the 14th Big West player in history to make the All-League First Team four times.
Tommi has grown tremendously over her four seasons with the Mustangs, which has been apparent to her teammates, coaches and fans.
“Just to see her take tremendous leaps as a leader has been so rewarding,” Walters said, reflecting on Stockham’s past four seasons. “An immense amount of pride in the way she’s impacted the program the last four years.”
As of Nov. 27, Stockham has 1,573 career kills, third in Mustang history. That number is bound to increase in the postseason tournaments.
On the other hand, Hiatt emerged this season as another who could kill the ball for the Mustangs. After stepping back the last two seasons, she exploded this season, recording 135 kills and 64 total blocks.
Hiatt received an honorable mention from the Big West for her contributions to the Mustangs this season.
What a Season, Coach!
Just a few weeks after winning her 100th career game with the Mustangs, Walters received the Big West Coach of the Year nod.
Very humbly, Walters said that it’s not just her award but also her staff’s award, specifically her assistant coaches Jason Borchin and Addie Picha.
Walters said they are incredible and that they take all of them to make such a great team.
“I just felt a ton of gratitude,” Walters said. “There’s so much for me to be grateful for in my life. The one thing I think I’ve done well is selecting a great staff and student-athletes to share this wonderful experience.”
Stockham expressed that her team could not be more proud and thankful for her.
“She’s an awesome coach and an even better person,” Stockham said. “When I got here, I made a ton of mistakes but she was patient and worked with me. I trust her more than anything.”
After such an incredible season behind Walters, the Mustangs have a chance to make their mark in the Big West tournament.
3,000 Assists and Big West Second Team
After back-to-back seasons of being an honorable mention, redshirt junior Emme Bullis was selected to be on the All-Big West Second Team this season.
In her third season as a Mustang, Bullis had her best season yet. She finished the regular season averaging 10.27 assists per set, which is 37th in the nation. She also added 31 service aces, which is good for the top 15 in the Big West.
Bullis also hit a huge milestone this season for a setter, reaching 3,000 career assists. She currently has 3,156 with the postseason and one more season to go as a Mustang. She currently sits in seventh all-time for Cal Poly.
Young Core, Big Impact
The conference also recognized three brand-new players in the Mustang program.
Freshmen Chloe Leluge and Elif Hurriyet made the Big West All-Freshman Team. They received honorable mentions for the conference teams, and redshirt sophomore Breklyn Pulling received All-Big West First Team honors.
Hurriyet, the Mustangs’ libero, moved here from TĂĽrkiye to play volleyball at the Division I level and was huge for Cal Poly in the back row this season.
Hurriyet recorded 361 digs this season, second of all freshman in the Big West, and was eighth in the conference in service aces.
Leluge finished the regular season with the best attack percentage in the Big West and ranked 11th in total blocks.
Walters had many great things to say about the two freshmen and their impacts on the team this season.
“They’re wonderful volleyball players and have been extremely consistent on the court,” Walters said.
Being a slide hitter, the Mustangs can use Pulling in ways that make the offense more dynamic and harder to stop, and that’s what got her such a high honor this season.
Tallying 237 kills on an impressive .354 attack percentage (5th in the Big West), she was the missing piece that Cal Poly needed.
With all the awards, Walters said that it has been a group effort to get to where they are now and that the buy-in to what they want to achieve has been tremendous.
They have worked together all season long, on and off the court, to make Mustang volleyball what it is.
“The players need people who are going to pour into them and show them that they have people who trust them not only as players, but as people,” Walters said.
