Cal Poly Volleyball kicks-off conference play with a bang

Cal Poly volleyball seems back on the winning track. On Friday and Saturday, the team swept its opening weekend in the Big West Conference, sending a message that last year was an aberration.

The momentum of over 1,300 fans at Mott Athletics Center on Friday night helped Cal Poly to a straight-sets victory. By Owen Main

A Hot Conference Start

Cal Poly swept all six sets they played over the weekend in dominating fashion. Last season, they won only three matches in conference and four overall.

Megan McConnell, Chelsea Hardin, and Taylor Gruenewald are starting to come into their own on the attack and former Big West Player of the Year, Jennifer Keddy, is back in the middle to anchor the front line. Players like Maddie Kuber, Kate Walters, Steffi Sooter, and Nicole Kessler are facilitating the offense much more comfortably.

McConnell racked up 23 total kills on the weekend, Gruenewald 19, and Hardin 29. Maddie Kuber facilitated the offense with 76 assists in the two matches. On Monday, McConnell was named Big West Conference Player of the Week.

“The atmosphere was awesome,” said second-year Cal Poly head coach Sam Crosson after the Friday night sweep of UC Irvine. “The crowd was unbelievable.”

Keddy agreed with her coach’s assessment.

“It’s our first home game and there are so many people. I think it’s great that they came, but it’s important that we won. We want people to come back.”

Come back they did on Saturday, when over 1,000 fans again filed into Mott to watch the Mustangs sweep Long Beach State.

“I give credit to the seniors,” said Crosson. “Last year’s juniors, we probably had more differences at times than similarities and I think as the course of their career has gone on they’ve been around me more and they’ve been around the staff with Chris and Jen here now… I think those are all positives and it’s their last year. They want to make their last year a memorable one for them, but also for the program. They want to be able to say ‘hey, we were there when Cal Poly started their rise back into national prominence.”

Most of the key cogs in Cal Poly’s machine this year are players who were on the roster last season. So what’s the difference?

“I think a lot of it is they’re better players,” said Crosson. “They’ve bought into understanding that there are some technical things you need to work on, but there’s also the mental side, which is ‘Yes, you can. You’re capable of doing these things and capable of doing them for a long period of time.’ I think last year I think they felt a little more underprepared for matches, so this year we played a fair amount of top-25 and Pac-12 schools and really tried to challenge them as much as possible… .

“We weren’t able to sustain for a long enough period of time to be victorious in those matches, but when you start getting out of that realm and playing in conference matches in the Big West I think you’re very much prepared for what’s in front of you and I think those girls have decided to fully buy in and fully go out there and do the things we’re asking them to do.”

Momentum

Volleyball has to be the most momentum-laden sport there is. From the moment any match starts, body language and what player interaction before and after points can be a great indicator as to how a team is going to play.

While I’ve only been to 4-5 matches over the past two years, Friday night was a stark contrast to the matches I saw last year. The difference between actually taking joy in success and forcing a post-point celebration became more and more clear through every point.

This year’s Mustangs have more confidence and an increased belief is definitely apparent.

Maddie Kuber usually runs the offense, but here she gets a deflection on an attack from Irvine’s Aly Squires. By Owen Main

Winning has been the norm

Cal Poly is a volleyball school. For newer fans or students, that might be a surprise.

Between 2005 and 2010, the volleyball program netted five top-3 finishes in the Big West including two conference titles. Their record over those six years was 66-26 in the Big West Conference and 112-60 overall.

This program is one that made back-to-back tournament appearances less than 10 years ago and the team’s start to conference play has fans hoping that the past two years were simply an aberration.

Keddy is back

Last season’s team lost a leading attacker to a transfer, lost Keddy to injury, and head coach Sam Crosson was brought into his first coaching job with a lot to do. Keddy has battled back from shoulder and foot surgeries and has played sparingly during the preseason in hopes of being completely healthy for Big West Conference play.

“I would never wish this upon anyone,” said Keddy, referring to her injuries after Friday night’s conference-opening win. “But I think it’s made me stronger as a player and not take anything for granted, because it can be taken away from you in a second.”

Prior to last season, Keddy was named to the “A2 Program” by USA Volleyball. That was before a shoulder injury forced the senior middle blocker to redshirt last year. With a healthy shoulder, Keddy was poised to have a strong offseason, but injured her foot, which also required surgery and has limited her playing time this season.

After a 4-26 season in his first year as head coach, Crosson has a former Big West Conference Player of the year back in Jennifer Keddy, and his team has already won twice as many matches as 2012.