Cal Poly sweeps UCSB for 2nd time this year in women’s volleyball
UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Tommi Stockham led the way with 15 kills, her 6th consecutive match of double-digits, as the Mustangs (15-7, 8-3 BWC) swept UC Santa Barbara (25-23, 25-20, 26-24) for the second time this season to move into sole possession of second place in the conference again.
With her fourth kill against UC Santa Barbara during the first set, Tommi Stockham moved into third all-time for Cal Poly career kills with 1,469, passing Melanie Hathaway. Alongside Stockham's 15 kills, Hiatt also recorded her third straight double-digit effort with 10 kills against the Gauchos.
For the fourth time this season, Elif Hurriyet tallied at least 20 digs and led the match, while Breklyn Pulling and Chloe Leluge both jumped up for 4 total blocks apiece elsewhere defensively.
Helping the Mustangs hit .308 for the match, Emme Bullis yet again flaunted her usual, expert setting with 39 assists. She was also second on the team with 8 digs.
A flurry of UC Santa Barbara errors allowed Cal Poly to enjoy a speedy 9-3 run before the Gauchos finally called a timeout to regroup. Six of the first nine Mustang points were kills.
UCSB roared back on a 12-6 run despite Cal Poly's early lead as Cal Poly caught the error bug and made multiple mistakes while attacking to put the Gauchos in a favorable position. They rode that momentum and tied the game at 15-all.
Breklyn Pulling helped break the deadlock to remain Cal Poly's hottest hitter as of late, later ending the first set with 6 kills and a .556 hitting percentage.
UCSB took its first lead of the match at 21-20 with a trio of successive kills, but the Mustangs held fast and relied on Amy Hiatt's three kills in Cal Poly's last four points to take the set 25-23.
The Gauchos went toe-to-toe with Cal Poly again in the second set, trading points before pulling ahead to a more wide-open 15-11 at the media timeout.
The Mustangs continued to hang behind at 17-13 despite pulling back a few points after the break but finally broke through again on a 3-0 run from Stockham and Beshear to narrow the UCSB lead to just one point.
Another collection of points continued the 6-0 run for Cal Poly before UCSB could answer, as the Mustangs retook the lead. Thanks, in part, to 6 kills from Stockham in the last 13 points of the set, Cal Poly hung on for a commanding two-set lead after winning the second frame by a 25-20 score.
Despite opening up the third set similarly to the first, with Cal Poly leading 15-10 at the media break, the Gauchos fought back and scratched away at the Mustang lead to tie the match 16-16. A point-for-point battle ensued, culminating in Cal Poly fighting back from UCSB's set-point to tie the match 24-24 and score the next two points for a set and match win.
With a second sweep over the Gauchos this season, the Mustangs have taken the two-game series over UCSB for the first time since back-to-back series sweeps in 2017 and 2018. Cal Poly heads to the islands in second place in the Big West and a half-game ahead of Saturday's foe: Hawai'i.
(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics)
