Cal Poly Volleyball swept Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, Oct. 17, before falling to the University of Hawaii on Friday, Oct. 18 at Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (13-6, 6-2 Big West) dominated the Gauchos (7-12, 3-4 Big West) before their sweep to the Rainbow Wahine (11-6, 5-2 Big West) knocked them out of first place in the Big West Conference.
After the weekend, Cal Poly now sits in second place in the Big West Conference behind UC Davis.
Long Beach State, Hawaii and UC Irvine trail one game back of the Mustangs.
Domination in Blue-Green Rivalry
Cal Poly Volleyball continues to sweep away their competition in the Big West. After winning four consecutive games, all of which have ended in sweeps, they swept UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night at Mott Athletics Center in a Blue-Green rivalry.
The Mustangs have fallen short of the Gauchos every season since 2022 and swept them to solidify the number one spot in the Big West Conference.Â
Both teams traded points back and forth in the opening set as they sought to establish a rhythm.Â
The score remained close the whole set, but critical kills from redshirt senior outside hitter Tommi Stockham helped the Mustangs pull through in a closely contested matchup, going on a 3-0 kill run early in the game.
In the first set, the Gauchos capitalized on open spaces in Cal Poly’s defense, taking a slight lead at 6-4.Â
Miscommunication on the Gauchos’ end helped the Mustangs close the gap and remain neck-and-neck.
Tied at 16 apiece, the Mustangs pulled it together with kills from Stockham and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Breklyn Pulling.
The Gauchos attack errors also contributed to Cal Poly’s momentum, allowing them to gain control and pull ahead further, winning the set 25-22.Â
Service errors in the second set plagued the Gauchos.
Stockham and redshirt junior outside hitter Lizzy Markovska took advantage of the gifted points, delivering a series of kills that helped the Mustangs claw back from a 12-8 deficit after a 4-0 scoring run by UC Santa Barbara.
Stockham’s decisive kill at 18-17 gave Cal Poly the lead, which remained for the rest of the set.
Three consecutive errors from the Gauchos sealed their fate, allowing the Mustangs to close out the second set 25-21.
The Mustangs were the most dominant in the last set, with multiple back-to-back scoring bursts from Stockham.
Freshman middle blocker Chloe Leluge emerged as a key contributor, delivering back-to-back kills to extend Cal Poly’s advantage to 9-8 after a 4-0 run.
Cal Poly’s largest game lead came at 21-14, following a series of powerful kills from Stockham, who finished the night with 18, her third-highest total of the season.
UC Santa Barbara struggled to contain Cal Poly’s relentless offense, committing crucial errors along the way, including a service error that gave Cal Poly the final point in a 25-17 victory.
Cal Poly’s last sweep against the Gauchos was back in 2019, and now they’ve notched their sixth sweep out of seven of the Big West matches.
The Mustangs will remain home in their next matchup, Friday, Oct. 18, against Hawaii in Mott Athletics Center. They aim to extend their win streak and remain the top contenders in the Big West.
Mustangs struggle as they fall to Hawaii
Cal Poly Volleyball hosted the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in Mott Athletic Center on Oct. 18 to wrap up the rivalry weekend.
After coming off a dominant performance against UC Santa Barbara the night before, the Mustangs have not lost a volleyball set in two weeks.
In this match, the Rainbow Wahine would end that streak. Hawaii was victorious after a clean sweep of the Mustangs, 3-0.
The match is just the third that Cal Poly has been swept this season and the first time they’ve been swept at home by Hawaii since 2021
In the first set, the Mustangs won seven of 10 points, but the Rainbow Warriors came right back and won six of the next seven.
This was a common theme in all three sets.
“I don’t think playing back and forth takes a toll on toll,” head coach Caroline Walters said postgame. “I think it’s just fun to have this level of competition in this conference and we’re seeing it from a lot of different teams this year which is good for the conference as a whole.”
Early in the match, the Mustangs really struggled in serve receive giving up four aces in the first set to Hawaii setter Kate Lang.
“I don’t think we were able to find a rhythm in serve receive,” Walters said. “I think we were making some good decisions attacking the ball despite being off net but our offense is going to be built on our ability to set middles.”
Later in the match, it became less of an issue for the Mustangs, allowing just one in the remainder of the game.
Two of the top five players in terms of kills showed off in the match in Stockham and Hawaii outside hitter Caylen Alexander.
Both teams’ production came mainly from the outside hitters, but Hawaii’s middle blocker, Jacyn Bamis, added 16 kills.
Lately, the Mustangs have efficiently distributed the ball, but it was all Stockham and Markovska. The two accounted for 66 of the Mustangs’ total 111 attacks and 21 of their total 41 kills.
Both setters, Lang for Hawaii and Emme Bullis for the Mustangs had impressive nights. Lang had 50 assists, a major feat in a three-set match, and Bullis had 35 of her own.
“They had 57 kills in a three set match,” Walters said. “That only happens when you have someone like Lang who set the ball as well as she did tonight.”
Next up, the Mustangs will travel to Long Beach to take on Long Beach State on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
