Cal Poly continued their dominant run through the Big West Conference with an away sweep (25-19, 28-26, 25-11) against UC Davis on Saturday, Oct. 26. Outside hitters Maia Dvoracek and Nikki Jackson tallied eleven kills apiece to lead the Mustangs to victory. The sweep comes three weeks after the teams played a five set battle that ended in a 3-2 Mustang victory.
This is the second win in a row for the Mustangs (15-8, 8-1 Big West), who currently sit tied for first place in the Big West behind rival UC Santa Barbara.
In the first set, both squads exchanged blows until the score was 11-10 in favor of UC Davis (12-10, 4-5 Big West). Cal Poly took advantage of two bad sets and two attack errors by the Aggies for a run that ended with the Mustangs up 20-12. UC Davis battled back to cut their deficit to two points at 20-18, but Cal Poly took the set 25-19.
The Mustangs trailed during most of the second set and sat two points behind the Aggies at 15-17. However, two kills from Jackson and a service ace from senior defensive specialist Mika Dickson helped Cal Poly get out to a 20-17 lead. Two kills from Dvoracek ended the second set with the Mustangs on top 28-26.
The third set was owned by Cal Poly, who went on a dominant 13-3 run after being ahead just 12-8 to end the match. Dvoracek racked up four kills during the final set of the match while Jackson added two.
The Mustangs totaled 35 kills on the match and barely edged out the Aggies, who ended with 33. However, Cal Poly dominated the hitting percentage statistic and hit for .313 compared to UC Davis’s .082.
Dvoracek is second in the Big West in kills (307) and is one kill from the top spot while Dickson is currently fifth in digs (279) after she totaled 15 against the Aggies. Dvoracek and Dickson lead the Mustangs in kills and digs, respectively.
Cal Poly will return to Mott Athletics Center for their first home match in over two weeks against CSUN on Tuesday, Nov. 29th at 7 pm.