Cal Poly Volleyball started its Big West Conference schedule with two road wins on Friday, Sept. 27, and Saturday, Sept. 28, against CSU Northridge and CSU Bakersfield.
The Mustangs (9-4, 2-0 Big West) cruised to comfortable three-set sweeps against both the Matadors (5-8, 0-2 Big West) and Roadrunners (7-7-, 1-1 Big West).
Sweeping Start against Matadors
The Mustangs opened up conference play with a three-set sweep against CSU Northridge on Friday, Sept. 27.
Redshirt senior Tommi Stockham scored the first kill of Cal Poly’s Big West season on the match’s first point, and a 5-1 run in the middle helped the Mustangs secure a 25-20 first-set win.
In the second set, seven Matador errors combined with a 52% kill rate on Mustang attacks led to a 10-2 run and another easy 25-19 second-set win.
Down two sets, the Matadors capitulated, having ten kills to nine errors on 34 attacks. Conversely, the Mustangs only made three errors on their 35 attacks, cruising to a 25-18 set win and the sweep.
Redshirt junior Lizzy Markovska paced the team in kills with 11, while Stockham had 7. Redshirt junior Emme Bullis assisted on 31 of the Mustangs 39 kills.
Carrying momentum against Roadrunners
Traveling north up Interstate 5, Cal Poly took on CSU Bakersfield the following night.
With no major run by either side in the first set, the Mustangs’ efficiency on the attack led to a close 25-21 first-set victory.
An 8-0 run early in set two, which served as a tone-setter. It also ended up being a necessary buffer to hold off a late Roadrunners 4-0 to make it 23-21 before Cal Poly recovered to win 25-22.
The third set was a tight back-and-forth affair with numerous ties and lead changes. All square at 22-22, a Cal Poly 3-0 run was finally enough to break down Bakersfield and pick up their second sweep in as many Big West contests.
Stockholm led with 12 kills, while CSU Bakersfield transfer redshirt sophomore Breklyn Pulling poured in 11 of her own. Meanwhile, freshman Elif Hurriyet had a standout defensive night with 13 digs.
Cal Poly returns to the Central Coast on Friday, Oct. 5, hosting the UC Davis Aggies at 6 p.m. before turning around on Saturday, Oct. 6, and hosting UC Riverside at 2 p.m. at Mott Athletics Center.
