Volleyball Head Coach Caroline Walters became Cal Poly’s all-time winningest volleyball coach with 144 career wins, surpassing Mike Wilton. This massive accomplishment came as the Mustangs continued their winning streak over UC Riverside (25-17, 25-12, 22-25, 25-21) and remained undefeated in conference play.
“It was incredibly special to be able to do this at home; you never can predict when that will happen, so for it to happen the way it did, in front of my family, friends, and alumni night, that’s pretty crazy… the most important thing is just touching on how many great people I’ve had in my life to get to this point… I consider myself extremely lucky,” Walters said.
This game emphasized momentum: there were only two ties in each set except in the final fourth, and only two lead changes in the entire game, one in the first set and the other in the second. Both teams attacked aggressively, with Cal Poly recording 129 attacks, 56 kills, 10 aces, and a .264 team hitting percentage. Riverside had 131 attacks and 46 kills but was held to a .185 hitting percentage
“I think teams that haven’t won are super tough to play against because they are hungry for that first conference win, and I saw that fully last night and this afternoon… teams were fighting for every point, and that’s what losing ultimately brings out: grittiness,” Walters said when asked about the possibility of considering this as a trap game for the Mustangs,
The first set began with the Highlanders (4-15, 0-8 Big West) coming out firing, taking an early lead of 3-0, and going on a 5-0 scoring run, making the score 8-2 before the Mustangs (12-6, 8-0 Big West) began to claw back, going on a 4-0 run themselves, making it 8-5 before Riverside used their first timeout. Afterward, Cal Poly increased the run to seven, tying the game at 8-8. After a competitive first set with both teams going on scoring runs, they were tied 14 -14 when Cal Poly finally took its first lead at 15-14 and tried to pull away. The Mustangs closed out the set on another five-point scoring run, 25-17.
The second set began as a back-and-forth battle until Cal Poly finally took a 6-5 lead. With momentum on their side, the Mustangs built a double-digit lead and closed the set 25-12.
Beginning the third set, the Highlanders refused to go down quietly in a sweep. Riverside led the set until Cal Poly tied the score 6-6. Riverside made a relentless effort, clearly wanting to take a set and advance at a chance of a reverse sweep. Gritty Mustang play kept it close, but they couldn’t complete the sweep as the Highlanders took the set 25-22.
The final, fourth set began with a rejuvenated, determined Mustang group. Cal Poly took an early lead and refused to let it go. While Riverside tried to stay competitive, Cal Poly’s momentum made them unstoppable. In a hard-fought set, the Mustangs won 25-21.
Emma Fredrick continued her attacking dominance, leading the Mustangs with 19 kills, a .413 kill percentage, and 21.5 points. Meanwhile, Kendall Beshear scored 14 points, had 11 kills, and a .355 kill percentage. Aveya Stone also had an impactful game off the bench, scoring 12 points, 10 kills, and a .476 kill percentage.
“It’s something as a staff we’re really big on focusing on, making sure that our athletes are unconditional in the way that they approach both practice and matches,” Walters said. “Their execution is gonna ebb and flow; that’s sports… but reactions to a mistake or teammate, those things don’t need to ebb and flow… You can choose to be great in your response… and I think it has gotten better over the course of the season.”
Next up, the Mustangs will hope to continue their best Big West start since 2019 as they prepare for a back-to-back matchup against UC Santa Barbara. The first match will be on Oct. 22 at The Thunderdome at 7:30 P.M., then Cal Poly will return to the Mott Center to host the Gauchos (9-9, 5-2 Big West) on Oct. 24 at 7 P.M.