Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics

The Cal Poly women are expecting a challenging start to the new volleyball season, when new head coach Angela Spoja takes her team to New Mexico next week.

The Jacks will play at the Green Chile Classic in Silver City, opening against the host school, Western New Mexico, on Aug. 25, before playing both Holy Names and Wisconsin-Parkside the following day.

And the new coach is looking forward to seeing how an experienced Jacks team performs.

“The coaching staff is really excited to start the season against competitive teams at our preseason opener,” said Spoja, who replaced Kelly Wood this past offseason. “We are eager to watch our team perform and compete and use the skills we are working on in a live match. We see them improving greatly at practice and look forward to the upcoming season.”

The Jacks began preseason practice last week with 13 returning players, including all-conference selection and team leader Lindsey McLaughlin.

McLaughlin led the Humboldt women in 2021 with 166 kills and a .176 hitting percentage, as well as posting a team-high 44 total blocks. 

Also returning this year are starters Riley Tishlarich, Kaitlyn Patterson and Anna Hopsodar, as well as 2019 all-conference honoree Lenox Loving, who saw just limited time early in the season last fall because of injury. 

Tishlarich played a key role for the team in 2021 and had a team high 243 assists in 57 sets played.

After the season-opening tournament, the Jacks will have a week off before opening the California Collegiate Athletic Association at home against Cal State East Bay (Sept. 8) and Cal State San Marcos (Sept. 10.)

Both of those matches are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. 

The Humboldt women will be hoping to qualify for the 2022 CCAA Championships, which are set for Nov. 10-12 at Cal State San Marcos. 

The top six teams at the end of the regular season advance to the conference championships.