Cal Poly Mustangs women’s volleyball team is set to compete against top-seeded Kentucky in the NCAA Regional Semifinals on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. PT in Lexington. The match will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Cal Poly secured its place in the tournament after a strong season, finishing with a perfect 15-0 home record and extending their win streak to 19 matches, which is the second-longest in program history. The team also achieved their third consecutive season with at least 14 conference wins, placing second behind UC Davis during the regular season.
As the number two seed in the Big West Championship, Cal Poly defeated Long Beach State and then overcame top-seed UC Davis to claim an automatic NCAA bid. This marked their 18th appearance in postseason play.
In the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament, Cal Poly became both the lowest seed and only the second mid-major program this year to reach the Sweet 16. They accomplished this by winning five-set matches against BYU and USC within a span of 24 hours.
This year marks Cal Poly’s seventh overall appearance in the Sweet 16 and their second since the current 64-team format was adopted. The Mustangs have recorded 27 wins this season—the highest under Head Coach Caroline Walters since 2017.
The team’s offense ranks among the nation’s best, sitting at 18th nationally for hitting percentage (.278) after spending over three months ranked in the top 25. Chloe Leluge has been recognized as an AVCA All-Pacific Region Honorable Mention and is second in the Big West for hitting percentage (.383). Leluge’s career average would set a new Division I era record for Cal Poly, and she leads both her team and conference with 130 total blocks. Her performance earned her MVP honors at the Big West Championship as well as inclusion in Michella Chester’s NCAA Rotation of the Week.
Other notable players include Emme Bullis, Kendall Beshear, Emma Fredrick, Annabelle Thalken, Charlotte Kelly, and Elif Hurriyet. Bullis recently set a Big West Championship single-match record with 51 assists against Long Beach State and moved into second place on Cal Poly’s all-time assists list with more than 4,000 career assists. She currently ranks seventeenth nationally for assists this season (1,184).
Emma Fredrick leads Cal Poly in kills (411) and digs (339), while Beshear follows closely with kills (369), digs (281), and ranks among national leaders for service aces (49). Thalken leads outside hitters for efficiency (.296 hitting percentage).
Freshman Charlotte Kelly stepped up following an injury to Breklyn Pulling and now co-leads both her team and conference with Leluge in blocks (130). Libero Elif Hurriyet leads Cal Poly in digs per set (3.35) while also contributing as a secondary setter.
Their opponent Kentucky enters Thursday’s match as SEC Champion with a record of 27-2 and is currently on a 24-match win streak—including an undefeated home slate this season. Kentucky ranks near or at the top nationally for assists per set, kills per set, and hitting percentage. Setter Kassie O’Brien is second nationally for assists per set (10.97), while Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson are listed among ESPN.com’s top-10 players to watch during this round.
Historically, Cal Poly holds a slight edge over Kentucky with two wins out of three meetings; their last encounter was a sweep by Cal Poly over then-No.7 Kentucky in 2019.
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