Ryan ChartrandAt a recent Cal Poly women’s volleyball practice, Mustangs associate head coach Mike Johnson decided to do something that hasn’t worked out too well for many people: challenge Kylie Atherstone.
“One of our big, powerful coaches – coach Johnson – ripped a ball at her in practice,” Cal Poly head coach Jon Stevenson said. “We want to get those girls up to a speed that is at a rate as good or better than they’ll ever face in an actual match. So here comes Mike hitting this ball, a ball she would normally bail out on because it’s coming fast.”
Atherstone, a senior opposite for the Mustangs, showed the kind of presence that made her an American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American last year.
“She hung in there and dug the ball,” Stevenson said. “And I thought, ‘Wow.’ ”
Atherstone’s tendency to impress has been in the making not only for four seasons, but for 4,000 swings.
She became just the second player in the 30-year history of the program to eclipse 4,000 career hitting attempts on her way to a team-high 17 kills Saturday night in a 3-1 win over UC Irvine.
Atherstone, in her bid to become the first three-time Big West Conference Player of the Year since U.S. Olympian Misty May, enters Friday’s 7 p.m. match against Cal State Northridge in Mott Gym just three aces away from breaking the school’s career record of 167.
She’s not the only Mustang to be rewriting the school’s record book, though.
Two nights prior to Atherstone’s 4,000th hitting attempt, senior middle blocker Jaclyn Houston became the program’s all-time block assists leader during a sweep of UC Santa Barbara when she surpassed the previous standard of 499.
In spite of the history, Atherstone said, the Mustangs were too caught up in the moment to be concerned with the numbers.
“I didn’t even hear it when (the PA announcer) said it,” she said. “I didn’t find out until the end of the game. We don’t really think about that too much. It’s the same thing with Jaclyn. Of course, it’s fun to be recognized but it’s not something we’re thinking about right now.”
The two-time defending Big West champion Mustangs had plenty to think about after dropping out of the AVCA top 25 poll (for the first time in more than two years) following a five-set loss to Long Beach State on Oct. 10 – just their third loss over their past 35 conference contests.
It came after an ambitious preseason, in which five of Cal Poly’s six defeats came at the hands of teams ranked in the top 12.
“We had a really tough preseason and that got our spirits down a little bit,” Atherstone said. “Getting into conference play, we’re just making sure we keep up our intensity.”
Stevenson said that dipped a bit against UC Irvine, which followed a second-set win by getting out to a 21-18 third-set lead before a Cal Poly rally.
“You’d think we’d come in and be guns blazing, and we were just flat,” Stevenson said. “We need to serve better, we need to pass better and be more aggressive.”
After committing 17 serving errors in the loss to the 49ers, the Mustangs totaled a combined 20 over their past two matches.
“We’ve been working on serving a lot,” Atherstone said. “It hasn’t been as good as it could’ve been, but we keep on getting better every day.”
The Matadors (6-15, 1-7) certainly have no shortage of things to work on. They enter Friday’s match last in the Big West in wins, hitting percentage (.166) and digs per game (12.1).
Still, though, Cal State Northridge is coming off a 3-1 win Saturday over Pacific – its first home win of the season – and is led by junior outside hitter Angela Hupp, who earned an All-Big West honorable mention last season and averages a team-best 2.63 kills per set.
Atherstone said that the Mustangs (11-7, 6-1), now alone atop the conference standings, shouldn’t be overly concerned with adapting to possible challenges posed by Big West foes, much less spending time admiring their own individual milestones.
“We just really need to focus on playing our game,” she said.