Lauren RabainoThe No. 19 Cal Poly volleyball team (19-7, 13-1 Big West) aspires to replay last year’s host conference championship run this weekend as they host UC Riverside on Friday and UC Irvine on Saturday in Mott Gym.
If the Mustangs win both games this weekend they will win their second consecutive conference title.
UC Santa Barbara was the last team to win consecutive seasons of the Big West championship in 2002-04.
Cal Poly, coming off its second 10-match winning streak in two seasons, sits half a match ahead of Long Beach State in the Big West standings going into the weekend.
If Cal Poly loses one of their matches this weekend and if Long Beach tops Cal State Fullerton on Friday, the Mustangs will still receive an automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament because they beat the 49ers in both matches this season.
Also, with just one win this weekend, the Mustangs will post their second 20-win season in a row.
They were 23-6 last year in their first 20-win season since 1999.
The last time this was accomplished was when the Mustangs went 31-8 in 1985 and 21-16 in 1986.
The 64 teams entering the 2007 big dance will be announced at 8 p.m. Nov. 25 on ESPNU. The first and second rounds of tournament action are scheduled for Nov. 29 to Dec. 2 with the regionals planned for Dec. 7 and 8.
If the Mustangs pull out two victories to close out the regular season, they will boast a new program record for conference winning percentage. A possible 15-1 (.938) Big West finish for Poly will outshine last year’s 13-1 (.929) record.
Along with junior opposite Kylie Atherstone’s numerous awards this season, senior libero Kristen Jackson, the Cal Poly and Big West career digs leader, continues to break records. She is now one of 25 players in NCAA Division I history to break the 2,000-dig barrier – she now has 2,034 total digs in her career and is No. 21 on the all-time Division I list. With 64 more digs, she will sit at No. 11.
Along with her digging finesse, Jackson has competed in all 406 Poly games since her 2004 freshman season.
Just 23 Division I players have longer consecutive games-played streaks and only 15 players have played in every game possible in their careers (a 400 game minimum).
Along with Jackson’s stellar post at libero, the Mustangs look to stay dominant this weekend with their blocking prowess.
Junior middle blocker Jaclyn Houston’s 1.49 per-game average leads all Big West players and freshman middle blocker Dominique Olowolafe sports the seventh-best average among conference players with 1.18 denials a game.
Houston’s defensive achievements do not overshadow her .353 hitting percentage – fourth in the Big West.
She has hit .375 or better in 13 matches this season and has fallen lower than .250 only four times.
If this weekend proves successful and Cal Poly qualifies for the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season, the Mustangs may be sitting pretty for tournament play in California.
Cal Poly has a reasonable chance of being selected as one of 16 first- and second-round host sites.