Cal Poly Volleyball celebrated head coach Caroline Walters’ 100th career win with the program with two wins over Cal State Bakersfield and CSUN this past weekend at Mott Athletics Center.
With the wins over the Roadrunners (11-15, 5-9 Big West) and the Matadors (8-17, 3-11 Big West), the Mustangs (17-8, 10-4 Big West) now sit in a four-way tie for first place in the Big West Conference.
The Green and Gold are tied with Hawaii, UC Davis and UC San Diego, with Long Beach State and UC Irvine not too far behind.
The first of two sweeps on the weekend
Needing a bounce-back win after a loss in their most recent game against the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, Cal Poly Volleyball hosted CSU Bakersfield for the first game.
Both teams had their moments where they scored multiple points in a row.
In the first set, the Mustangs scored three or more points in a row three different times, four times in the second set, and five times in the third set.
“Winning multiple points in a row has been a big focus for our group since our training right before our team trip to Europe,” Walters said. “It felt like [early in the season] we would get a side out and then immediately lose the serve.”
In this match, the Mustangs finished with 41 kills, almost double what the Roadrunners had with just 24.
On top of the total kill number, the Mustangs finished with a .361 attack percentage, their third-best mark of the season.
Cal Poly had five players finish with seven or more kills, including redshirt senior Tommi Stockham, freshman Chloe Leluge, redshirt sophomore Breklyn Pulling, redshirt senior Amy Hiatt and redshirt junior Lizzy Markovska.
Leluge had one of her best collegiate games against CSU Bakersfield, recording eight total kills on a .800 attacking percentage, her collegiate best.
“There’s a desire with Chloe to just keep getting better and keep learning and it’s refreshing to the group and to us as coaches,” Walters said. “You just want to keep coaching, keep making little changes and improving her game.”
Second weekend sweep and Walters joins elite company
The Mustangs overcame the Matadors in three sets in their Saturday night matchup. Cal Poly has now won its last six sets, with straight sweeps in the last two nights.
After the wins in back-to-back nights, Walters became the Cal Poly Volleyball program’s fifth head coach to reach the century mark.
Walters does this in the middle of her fifth season as head coach of the Mustangs. She is now 43 wins shy of leading the program in wins.
The program leader is Mike Wilton, who finished his career with 143 wins. Walters also has three Big West wins short of being second among Cal Poly coaches when playing conference games.
“I’ve been here for 16 years, and I’ve been with a lot of different head coaches,” Walters said. “I’ve learned a lot from them and the thing I remember someone telling me is when you become a head coach, the best part is that you get to choose the people you surround yourself with and I think that’s what I reflect on.”
In a very close battle, the Mustangs and the Matadors scored many of their points via slideouts. A sideout is any point in which your team does not serve.
In all three sets, the Mustangs’ side-out percentage was above 63%, and the Matadors found themselves above 56% in every set
Leluge and Pulling both had great games again with Leluge raking in seven kills on a .778 attacking percentage and Pulling with five kills and her career high in blocks with eight blocks.
On top of the two great middles, freshman libero Elif Hurriyet has been incredible for the Mustangs this season.
“Elif is so consistently steady for us and serve receive and defensively,” Walters said. “She just keeps so many balls off the ground.”
In the weekend matches versus CSU Bakersfield and CSU Northridge, Hurriyet finished with 17 digs and three service aces. Walters said the Hurriyet reminds her of herself much from when she was a Santa Clara Bronco.
“I wish I was half the player that she is in her freshman season,” Walters, the digs leader for Santa Clara, said.
They have a few days off before two more home games against Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine on Nov. 15 and 16. Also, the game against UC Irvine is senior night where the Mustangs will send off five seniors