AUBURN, Ala. – Head coach Brent Crouch and the Auburn Volleyball have little time to rest as the Tigers welcome Cal Poly to Neville Arena on Thursday, Sept. 5 for its latest non-conference clash.
First serve is set for 6 p.m. CT and admission is free. For those unable to make it to the Plain on Thursday, the match will be streamed live on SEC Network plus. Graham Doty and Kele Eveland will have the call.
QUICK HITS
Head coach Brent Crouch and the Tigers are 4-0 to start the 2024 campaign and have dropped just one set in the process. Auburn has started with four straight wins in each of the last four seasons under Crouch.
The Orange and Blue's left side two-headed monster of Madison Scheer and Lauren Dreves put on a show in the Tigers' win over Troy on Tuesday. The duo combined for 18 kills and a .485 hitting percentage. Dreves, the freshman from Vancouver, Washington delivered a career-high 10 kills on her 20 swings.
Junior libero Alexis Dacosta continues to impress in the early parts of the season. Dacosta wrangled up 14 digs and has now reached double-digit dig totals in each of the three matches she's played in at Auburn. Her 5.56 digs per set put her second in the Southeastern Conference and 12th in the country.
As a team, the Tigers are running down digs at a rate of 19.31 per set. The mark leads the SEC by 1.31 digs per set over Texas and is currently the second-best in all of Division I volleyball.
A switch to a 6-2 has allowed both Peyton Dunn and Kalei Edson to showcase their talents. Together, the setting duo are orchestrating an offense that's averaging 13.62 assists per set. Not only is the close to two assists per set higher than last season but the figure also puts Auburn fourth in the SEC and 16th in the nation.
Crouch's 6-2 also allows for a taller front row, giving the likes of Chelsey McCurdy and Emma Moore to set up their presence at the net. Both middles are averaging north of 1.00 blocks per set and rank inside the top 10 of the SEC.
LAST TIME OUT VS CAL POLY
The first and only time Auburn faced Cal Poly on the volleyball court, the sport was a different game. In 1994, the Mustangs bested the Tigers, 3-2, in a pre-rally scoring affair.
SCOUTING CAL POLY
Caroline Walters begins her seventh season for the Cal Poly volleyball program. Last season, she led the Mustangs to a 21-11 overall record with an impressive 14-4 conference mark. In 2023, Walters led the Mustangs to a top-three finish in the Big West for the second year, where they ended their season with a three-set loss against Hawaii in the conference tournament.
Last season, Cal Poly led their conference in team digs (1,867) and service aces (213) and ranks second in team blocks (293.0). Cal Poly has 90 percent of their roster returning including Tommi Stockham, their senior leading attacker and London Haberfield, their leading defensive specialist.
The Mustangs kicked off their 2024 season by hosting their first tournament, where redshirt senior Tommi Stockham tied for the tournament lead with 46 kills and guided her team to their inaugural victory of the season against the Sacramento State Hornets. After wins against both the Hornets and Saint Mary’s, the Mustangs also took a set off SEC foe Arkansas.
Cal Poly’s experience roster is one of many reasons the Mustangs were picked to win the Big West in the preseason conference Coaches Poll.
CROUCH vs. CAL POLY
Despite couching out west for six seasons, Brent Crouch has only crossed paths with the Mustangs once in his career. In 2015, Crouch took town Cal Poly in five sets, 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-11, 15-25, 15-11) while with the Portland Pilots.