Cal Poly women’s volleyball is headed to the NCAA Tournament — here’s who they’ll face
For the third straight year, Cal Poly is going to the NCAA tournament, joining two other Big West Conference teams in the 64-team event.
The Mustangs (20-8, 13-3 Big West Conference) will face the University of Georgia at Stanford University’s Maples Pavilion at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, as they try to avenge their 3-1 loss last year to University of San Diego in the first round.
The match will be livestreamed at pac-12.com.
If the team wins Friday, Cal Poly plays on Saturday at 6 p.m. against the winner of the match between No. 3-ranked Stanford and Denver.
The Mustangs received an at-large berth in this year’s tournament, after an automatic berth in 2018 when they won the Big West championship with a 15-1 conference record.
“We played a really tough schedule this year and a lot of the basis for an at-large berth is the RPI (rankings system based on wins and losses and strength of schedule),” said Caroline Walters, Cal Poly’s head coach. “This is the first time that three teams in the Big West are in the NCAA tournament since 2013, and that speaks to our strength of schedule and the level of our conference.”
Cal Poly played tough non-conference schedule
In individual matches this year, the Mustangs topped Big West champion and No. 11-ranked Hawaii (3-0 on Oct. 11), No. 16-ranked Utah (3-2 on Sept. 14), and No. 34-ranked UC Santa Barbara (3-0 on Nov. 9).
The Mustangs non-conference schedule included matches against Pittsburgh (No. 4), Kentucky (No. 6), and Colorado St. (No. 23), all losses.
This will be Georgia’s 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2013, according to Cal Poly officials. Georgia (20-9, 12-6 SEC Conference) holds a 1-0 all-time series record against the Mustangs, with the teams’ only contest in 1990.
Cal Poly has reviewed video of Georgia’s team and its style of play, but Walters said the Mustangs will mostly stick to their approach and what they does well, rather than react to the Bulldogs’ style.
Walters said the team has worked to improve its serving, getting bigger, athletic teams “off the net with our serve.”
All-Big West hitter Maia Dvoracek leads team
“A big focus this year has been to stay consistent in serve and receive,” Walters said. “And Maia Dvoracek has had a tremendous year on the right side (as a hitter). And we’ve done well to spread out our hits to make sure to have a balanced attack.”
Dvoracek, a junior lefty outside hitter, was a first-team All-Big West selection, along with the Mustangs sophomore setter Avalon DeNecochea and sophomore middle blocker Meredith Phillips.
Dvoracek led the Big West with 63 aces, and her 0.62 aces per set average is third best in the country while her 63 aces currently rank fifth in the nation, according to Cal Poly.
Walters said the school band will make the trip to Stanford, along with a number of fans.
“We’ll definitely have a fan presence who will bring part of that Mott Gym magic up there,” Walters said.
Last year, as the nation’s No. 14-ranked team, Cal Poly played without its top player, Torrey Van Winden, in the NCAA tourney loss.
Van Winden was the 2018 Big West player of the year and team leader in kills, but she suffered a concussion in practice days before the match and wasn’t medically cleared to play.
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 5:51 PM.
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