Cal Poly is waiting.
And so is the Mott Athletics Center, with an anticipated sellout of the 57-year-old, 3,032-seat facility on a designated Blackout Night.
Friday will be just the fifth home match for the No. 23 Mustangs (20-2, 10-0), who ride into the critical Big West showdown with Hawaii (15-6, 9-1) on a 15-match win streak that is the third-longest in the country. Cal Poly, off to its best start in program history, looks to take the regular-season series from the Rainbow Wahine for the first time since 1985 as well as win for the first time in 12 Hawaii visits to San Luis Obispo.
“It’s obviously the biggest game of my career here,” sixth-year Mustangs coach Sam Crosson said in a telephone call. “It’s getting there (the sellout). We had a really nice crowd (2,658) last Friday for (Cal State) Northridge and I was impressed with what we got for Long Beach (State) for an afternoon game on a football Saturday (1,589).
“Our No. 1 goal was to win the conference, and this match is set up for us to take the outright lead. Our girls are very aware that Hawaii is a very good team, but they also know they’ve beaten Hawaii. I think the turning point for this team was coming back for that win at Hawaii. This group wants to validate that the match in Hawaii wasn’t a random fluke.”
Since visiting the Stan Sheriff Center on Oct. 7, a 2-hour, 29-minute reverse sweep after being down 0-2, the Mustangs have dropped just one set in their past four matches (at UC Santa Barbara). Seven of Poly’s BWC victories have come in straight sets, including Tuesday’s sweep at UC Irvine, which some thought was a potential “trap game.”
After the Mustangs dispatched the Anteaters 25-22, 25-20, 25-23 in 95 minutes, they bused back home to San Luis Obispo, a ride of nearly four hours. Crosson said he liked the focus he saw at the Bren Center, particularly when UCI closed to 24-23 in Set 3.
“I thought we had a good response for a mid-week game where we could have potentially been looking ahead,” he said. “The next challenge is the short week. We have two practice days to prep for Hawaii. We’ll evaluate what worked well there, see where our execution was good and where it wasn’t. It’s certainly a change of style, going from a UCI, which isn’t a big blocking team (the Anteaters had three blocks on Tuesday, as did the Mustangs) to Hawaii with (Emily) Maglio.
The Wahine top the conference in blocks with 211 total, an average of 2.63 per set. Maglio, a senior middle, is the runaway leader in both with a 1.59 average and 127 total. Maglio ranks fifth nationally in both categories.
At the Sheriff Center earlier this month, Hawaii outlblocked Cal Poly 16-5, with Maglio in on 10, including four solo.
The Wahine hold a 39-5 edge in the series, all five losses coming in Honolulu and all in five sets. Until this season, the most notable win in the series by the Mustangs came in 1989, when they ended Hawaii’s then-nation-leading home winning streak at 55.
Should the teams finish tied for the conference title, the tiebreakers for the NCAA’s automatic berth could come down to the number of lost sets in all Big West matches: Heading into tonight’s match, Cal Poly has lost four sets to Hawaii’s nine.
When Hawaii last played in Mott, the air conditioning went out. It created problems for some players, including Mustangs setter Taylor Nelson, who was hampered with cramps.
Crosson said that given the current heat wave in the area — it was 101 degrees on Wednesday — the administration has taken steps to ensure the gym will be comfortable and safe. Today’s high was expected to be 87 with game-time temperature in the low 60s.
Note
Hawaii has a quick turnaround, traveling down the coast for a match at UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The contest has been moved to the smaller Rob Gym (1,300) due to a conflict with the Thunderdome.
The Wahine, who lead the series 38-5, have not lost in Santa Barbara since 1993. The Gauchos (6-15, 5-4) are led by reigning AVCA national player of the week Lindsey Ruddins, a sophomore hitter who leads the conference in kill average (5.62 cps).
