Aztecs Set to Face UC Davis, Cal Poly at Aggie Invitational

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State volleyball team continues its road swing this week when it heads north for the Aggie Invitational, where it will battle UC Davis and Cal Poly on consecutive days, Sept. 3-4, in Davis, California.

The Aztecs will face the host Aggies on Thursday at 6 p.m. PT, while Friday's neutral-site encounter against the Mustangs is slated for a 1 p.m. start. 

Both matches will feature live stats, while Thursday's clash with UC Davis will air live via subscription basis on the Mountain West Network+.

San Diego State has commenced its inaugural season of volleyball competition as Pac-12 members, joining conference stalwarts Oregon State and Washington State, along with former Mountain West rivals Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State, while Gonzaga and Texas State complete the revived circuit. 

OPENING SERVE
> San Diego State is coming off a 2-1 performance in its season-opening tournament last weekend at the Husky Invitational, Aug. 28,  in Seattle, Washington.
> The Aztecs sandwiched a three-set defeat to host Washington around a 3-1 triumph over IU Indy (23-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-19) and a sweep of UC Irvine (25-17, 25-22, 25-22).
> Freshman sensation Layla Austin led the Scarlet and Black with 41 kills (4.10/set) for the weekend, while senior Ella Schabort launched 32 put-aways of her own (3.20/set), followed by sophomore Taelyn Bentley (19 kills, 1.90/set) and junior Tessa Schouten (16 kills, 1.60/set), as the latter two players tied for the team lead with eight blocks apiece.
> Austin hit .313 across three matches, including a .400 clip against IU Indy before finishing with a stellar .586 efficiency vs. UC Irvine when she blasted 18 kills in 29 attempts with just one error.
> In addition, SDSU received a phenomenal defensive effort from sophomore libero Zara Stewart, who collected 42 digs for the tournament (4.20/set), while sophomore setter Kendall Mairs dished out 88 assists (8.80/set) and scooped up 29 digs (2.90/set).
> Mairs completed two double-doubles on the weekend, featuring a career-high 34 assists against IU Indy when she also finished with 13 digs before duplicating the feat with a 30-assist, 11-dig effort vs. UC Irvine.
> For their performances, Austin and Stewart were named to the all-tournament at the Husky Invitational.

SERIES RECORDS
> San Diego State will face UC Davis for just the fourth time in program history on Thursday.
> The Aztecs captured all three previous meetings against the Aggies, including a five-set thriller (25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 13-25, 15-5) the last time the two squads met at the 2013 LSU Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
> UC Davis begins its first year as members of the Mountain West Conference.
> Entering the week, SDSU owns a combined 225-166 record against the 10 volleyball programs currently affiliated with the MW.
> The Aztecs trail the all-time series vs. Cal Poly, 11-8.
> The teams last met in 2015 when the Mustangs claimed a three-set decision (22-25, 10-25, 24-26) in San Luis Obispo.
> With its victory over UC Irvine at the Husky Invitational, SDSU raises its all-time record to 161-73 against current members of the Big West Conference.

MATCH CONNECTIONS
> UC Davis sports two players who attended San Diego County high schools. Senior opposite hitter Breeze Czapinski graduated from Poway High in 2023, while junior libero Ximena Cordero Barr is a 2024 alumna of Otay Ranch High.
> Aggie assistant coach Grace Doyle played collegiately as a middle blocker over five seasons at Fresno State, where she faced San Diego State on an annual basis as Mountain West rivals. From 2019-23, Doyle's Bulldog squad posted a 6-4 record against the Aztecs.
> Cal Poly middle blocker Breklyn Pulling played against Taylor Cary, the older sister of SDSU freshman Logan Cary, as high school rivals in Colorado. Pulling's Mountain Vista team defeated Taylor Cary's Rock Canyon squad in four straight head-to-head meetings from 2019-21.
> Aztec junior middle blocker Tessa Schouten is a native of Davis, California, where she prepped at Davis Senior High.

SDSU IN PAC-12 RANKINGS
> As of Sept. 1, Layla Austin ranks second in the conference with 4.10 kills per set and is slotted seventh with a .313 hitting percentage, while Zara Stewart occupies the second spot with 4.20 digs per set. 
> In addition, Taelyn Bentley (.400 hitting pct) and Kendall Mairs (8.80 assists/set) are ranked third in their respective categories.
> Elsewhere, Ella Schabort and Rylie Sengdara find themselves in a six-way tie for sixth in service aces (0.40/set).
> As a team, the Aztecs are slotted second in the Pac-12 this week in kills (13.10/set) while ranking third in hitting percentage (.234) and assists (11.60/set).
> SDSU also shares the third spot in the league in service aces (1.50/set) while ranking fifth in digs (12.40/set) and eighth in blocks (1.80/set).
> The Aztecs' .340 hitting percentage vs. UC Irvine marks the second-best team efficiency thus far in the Pac-12, while their 56 kills against IU Indy is tied for fifth.
> SDSU has limited the opposition to a .204 hitting percentage this season, which ranks fourth in the conference.
> Individually, Layla Austin's .586 hitting percentage (18-1-29) vs. UCI represents the highest clip in the league so far this year.
> In addition, Austin's owns two of the top kill totals in the Pac-12 with 18 against UCI and 17 vs. IU Indy, which are tied for third and fifth, respectively. Not to be outdone, Ella Schabort's 16 kills in the IU Indy match are tied for ninth.
> Elsewhere, Zara Stewart's 21 digs vs. IU Indy represents the third-best figure in the league this season, while Kendall Mairs' total of 34 assists from that same match is tied for fifth.

ALL-TOURNAMENT AZTECS
> San Diego State's freshman Layla Austin and sophomore Zara Stewart were named to the all-tournament team after helping the Aztecs to a 2-1 record at the season-opening Husky Invitational, Aug. 28-30.
> A former prep All-American from Texas, Austin paced the Aztecs with 41 kills and 4.10 kills per set last weekend, adding 14 digs (1.40/set), six blocks and three service aces.
> In addition, Austin led all players with 17 and 18 kills, respectively, in SDSU’s victories over IU Indy and UC Irvine. She also logged match-high hitting percentages of .400 and .586 in those wins over the Jaguars and Anteaters, respectively.
> Against UCI, Austin blasted nine kills alone in the first set, helping the Aztecs set the tone for the match. Earlier, she also served up two aces vs. IU Indy.
> Meanwhile, Stewart led the Aztecs with 42 digs and 4.20 digs per set for the tournament, posting match-highs of 21 and 12 digs, respectively, in SDSU’s victories over IU Indy and UC Irvine.
> Her total of 21 digs in the season opener vs. the Jaguars is tied for the third-highest total of her career and marked the fifth time she surpassed the 20-dig plateau as a collegian.
> With her efforts, Stewart has now eclipsed the double-digit dig plateau in 31 of 34 matches since arriving on campus in 2025.
> Additionally, Stewart tied her career high with 10 setting assists vs. IU Indy for her second career double-double and served up three aces for the week, including two vs. UC Irvine.

NEWCOMERS CONTRIBUTING
> Eight of the Aztecs' 10 newcomers saw action at the Husky Invitational last weekend, including middle blockers Taelyn Bentley and Tessa Schouten, who tied for the team lead with eight blocks.
> A sophomore transfer from South Florida, Bentley posted a team-high .400 hitting percentage and ranked third on the squad with 19 kills (1.90/set), launching eight put-aways against IU Indy while adding five blocks vs. IU Indy.
> A junior transfer from Saint Mary's, Schouten ranked fourth on the team with 16 kills (1.60/set), flooring seven shots in the season opener vs. IU Indy when she posted four blocks, including a solo stop.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
> Picked to finish second in the 2026 Mountain West preseason coaches poll, UC Davis compiled a 1-2 record in its season-opening road trip mark to Colorado last weekend, featuring a four-set triumph at Northern Colorado on the Greeley campus (20-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-18), which was sandwiched between a three-set loss to Colorado State (21-25, 16-25, 16-25) and a narrow 3-2 defeat to No. 11 SMU (25-27, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12), with both of those matches contested in Fort Collins. Despite the setbacks, the Aggies garnered two conference weekly accolades, as junior libero Ximena Cordero Barr was named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week, while opposite hitter Isabella Umpierre was tabbed the league's top freshman. Cordero Barr leads the conference with 43 digs and ranks fourth with 3.58 digs per set thus far, while Umpierre is slotted third in the league with 33 kills overall and is tied for seventh with 3.00 kills per set. In addition, the UCD offense has received a boost from senior middle blocker Ally Chandler (31 kills, 2.58 /set), who ranks fourth in the MW in service aces (0.42/set) and seventh in hitting percentage (.328). Elsewhere, senior setter Mia Starr leads the conference with 115 assists (9.58/set), while freshman libero Khloe Wong tops the league in service aces (6, 0.60/set). Starr was named the 2025 Big West Setter of the Year in the Aggies' final season in that conference. At the net, Chandler owns a team-high six blocks, followed by Starr and Umpierre with four each. Collectively, UCD leads the Mountain West in service aces (24, 2.00/set) while ranking fourth in kills (11.67/set) and fifth in assists (10.67/set). On the flip side, the Aggies occupy the seventh position in opponent hitting percentage (.238) and are slotted ninth in digs (10.25/set) while tying for the ninth spot in blocks (1.17/set). UCD is under the direction of 13th-year head coach Dan Conners, who earned Big West Coach of the Year honors in 2025 after leading the Aggies to a regular-season championship in their final season in that league. His career record stands at 173-153.

> Cal Poly opened the season with a 2-1 record at the Texas A&M Invitational last weekend where it posted a pair of sweeps over Grand Canyon (25-22, 25-21, 25-22) and Arkansas State (25-15, 25-20, 25-23) sandwiched around a three-set defeat to the host Aggies (24-26, 15-25, 23-25). Prior to the 2026 campaign, the Mustangs were picked to finish first in the Big West preseason coaches poll. In 2025, Cal Poly posted a 27-8 overall record, winning the Big West tournament championship, before advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 where it fell to eventual national runner-up Kentucky in three sets. Individually, the Mustangs are led by junior Kendall Beshear, who ranks second in the Big West with 4.67 kills per set, while senior Emma Frederick is slotted eighth with 3.67 put-aways per frame.  Beshear and Frederick, both outside hitters, were named to the preseason all-Big West team last month, along with junior middle blocker Chloe Leluge. Beshear was a first-team all-conference selection in 2025 after averaging 3.07 kills and 2.33 digs per set, while Frederick received all-Big West honorable mention after posting a team-high clip of 3.35 digs per set to go with 2.75 digs per frame. Additionally, Leluge logged a .377 hitting percentage and averaged 2.28 kills per set last year to garner second-team all-conference accolades and all-Pacific Region honorable mention. This season, middle blocker Breklyn Pulling is hitting .382 after three matches to lead the Big West, while setter Alexis Haury is slotted second nationally with a league-best 12.22 assists per set. As a team, Cal Poly occupies the second spot in the conference in several categories, including kills (14.33/set), assists (13.11/set) and hitting percentage (.264), but rank just seventh in digs (11.78/set) and 10th in blocks (1.89/set). The Mustangs are led by eighth-year head coach Caroline Walters, who enters her 18th season with the program after spending 10 years as an assistant, including two as associate head coach. Her career record stands at 134-83, including a stint as Cal Poly's interim coach in 2011. Walters was a standout player as a collegian at Santa Clara from 2003-07, receiving all-WCC honorable mention on three occasions. She owns the Broncos' all-time record with 4.59 digs per set and ranks second in league history with 1,932 career digs.

ON THE HORIZON
> Following their two matches in Davis, the Aztecs return to northern California next weekend for the Santa Clara Mission Classic, where they will battle the host Broncos, California and CSU Bakersfield on successive days, Sept. 11-13, in Santa Clara, California.

HEAD COACH BRENT HILLIARD
Now in his seventh year on The Mesa, head coach Brent Hilliard and the San Diego State volleyball program begin a new chapter this fall when the Aztecs embark on their inaugural season in the Pac-12 Conference.

In its final Mountain West campaign, Hilliard directed SDSU to its second straight conference tournament appearance and third in the last four years when the Aztecs secured the No. 6 seed at the 2025 MW Championship.

Facing third-seeded Wyoming in the opening round, SDSU recorded a statement win with a 3-0 upset of the Cowgirls before falling to No. 2 seed Colorado State in a tight four-set battle in the semifinals.

Under Hilliard’s tutelage, opposite hitter Taylor Underwood garnered first-team all-Mountain West accolades for the third year in row after leading the Scarlet and Black with 3.47 kills per set, which ranked seventh in the league.

With her 364 overall kills, Underwood surpassed the 1,000-kill plateau in an SDSU uniform after transferring from DePaul in 2023 and became the first Aztec player to record 300 put-aways in three straight seasons since Deja Harris (2016-18).

Not to be outdone, Hilliard oversaw the development of freshman libero Zara Stewart, a prized recruit who earned first-team all-MW honors after ranking fifth in the conference with 3.70 digs per set (455 overall).

Scholastic achievement has been a trademark for the Aztec volleyball program, and the 2025 campaign was no different, as 11 players earned spots on the Mountain West all-academic team following the fall semester, including Underwood and Campbell Hague, who also landed on the College Sports Communicators academic all-district team.