Mountain West Conference Volleyball Weekly News – Oct. 19, 2010
This Week's Schedule
OCTOBER 19 (TUESDAY)
Colorado Christian at WYOMING, 7 p.m.
OCTOBER 20 (WEDNESDAY)
Denver at #15 COLORADO STATE, 7 p.m.
OCTOBER 21 (THURSDAY)
*UTAH at TCU, 6:30 p.m. - The Mtn./TCU
*BYU at NEW MEXICO, 7 p.m.
*SAN DIEGO STATE at AIR FORCE, 7:30 p.m. - The Mtn.
OCTOBER 22 (FRIDAY)
*WYOMING at #15 COLORADO STATE, 7 p.m.
OCTOBER 23 (SATURDAY)
*BYU at TCU, 1 p.m.
*SAN DIEGO STATE at UNLV, 1 p.m.
*UTAH at NEW MEXICO, 2 p.m.
OCTOBER 24 (SUNDAY)
UMKC at UNLV, 1 p.m.
• Week 9 Preview ... A full week of volleyball is on the Mountain West Conference slate this week with seven conference and three non-conference matches spread out over six days. There will be two nationally-televised matches on Thursday night on The Mtn. The first features second-place Utah at fourth-place TCU at 6:30 p.m. (CT), followed by San Diego State at Air Force at 7:30 p.m. (MT). AnneMarie Anderson and Amy Gant will call the action in the second match for The Mtn. from Falcon Court at East Gym. ... TCU and New Mexico host Utah and BYU in MWC matches on Thursday and Saturday, while Colorado State hosts Wyoming on Friday and Air Force and UNLV host San Diego State on Thursday and Saturday, respectively ... Wyoming will host Colorado Christian on Tuesday for the Cowgirls Pink Night, while the Rams will host Denver on Wednesday night and UNLV hosts UMKC on Sunday in non-conference action.
• Week 8 Review ... No. 17 Colorado State (7-0) picked up two more wins to add to its league lead, TCU (3-2) and New Mexico (3-0) ... Utah moved into second place (4-2) with a pair of home wins over UNLV and Air Force ... Wyoming is sitting at 4-3 with a loss to New Mexico and a win over TCU ... There is a four-way tie for fourth as TCU, New Mexico, San Diego State and BYU have matching 3-3 MWC records.
• 1,000-Kill Club ... Colorado State's Danielle Minch and New Mexico's Lisa Meeter joined an elite group on Thursday, Oct. 14. The seniors became the 33rd and 34th Mountain West Conference volleyball student-athletes to record 1,000 kills in their careers. Minch recorded 20 kills against TCU, with the last being her 1,000th, to join the list, while Meeter did it in the third set against Wyoming and added three more for good measure.
• And 1,000 Digs and 100 Aces ... New Mexico senior Lisa Meeter also earned her 1,000th career dig in the Oct. 14 match at Wyoming. She finished the night with 1,003 kills, 1,007 digs and 101 service aces. Meeter is the third MWC player to record 1,000 kills, 1,000 digs and 100 aces in a career and the first since 2003.
Aspen McPartland, San Diego State (2000-03)
1,493 kills - 1,076 digs - 110 aces
Michelle Rauter, Wyoming (2000-03)
1,377 kills - 1,072 digs - 113 aces
Lisa Meeter, New Mexico (2007-thru Oct. 16, 2010)
1,006 kills - 1,016 digs - 101 aces
• Break out the Pink jerseys this week ... four Mountain West Conference teams will host Breast Cancer Awareness matches this week to honor survivors of the disease and raise awareness for a cure --- Wyoming (Oct. 19), Colorado State (Oct. 20), Air Force (Oct. 21) and New Mexico (Oct. 23).
•
The Mountain West Conference is on track to set new volleyball attendance records. Just over 10,000 fans went through the MWC turnstiles last week. MWC volleyball fans are coming through the turnstiles at an average of 1,008 per home match with a total of 86,730 watching 86 home matches across the league. The first season over 100,000 fans watched MWC volleyball was in 2009 (114,357) with a final average of 953. The last time the league had averaged over 900 fans per match previous to the 2009 season was in the 2001 season (925). With 50 home matches remaining on the schedule, the opportunity is there to greatly surpass last year's total.
• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn. , CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. Thursday, Oct. 21 is a doubleheader on The Mtn. with Utah at TCU at 6:30 p.m. (CT), followed by San Diego State at Air Force at 7:30 p.m. (MT) ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.
• Three MWC student-athletes were among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!
• Air Force will have just one match this week, a nationally-televised event with San Diego State on Thursday in Colorado Springs ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.49 kills per set and sixth in points at 3.77 ... Senior Kelly Spencer ranks in the MWC top 10 in digs per set with 3.42.
• BYU heads out on the road for the southeastern portion of MWC action at New Mexico and TCU ... Sophomore Nicole Warner ranks 32nd in the nation with 1.25 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.32 assists and 0.30 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.50.
• No. 15 Colorado State (17-2) sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 7-0 as the Rams stay home for the second week in a row to host Denver and Wyoming at Moby Arena ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is third in the nation with 1.54 blocks per set and is second in the MWC in hitting percentage at a .367 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is second in the league in assists with 10.25 per set ... Danielle Minch became the 34th MWC player to reach 1,000 career kills on Oct. 14 against TCU.
• New Mexico returns home for matches against BYU and Utah ... Senior Lisa Meeter earned her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th career dig on Oct. 14 at Wyoming, becoming the 33rd player to reach the 1,000 kills mark and 17th in digs in MWC history.
• San Diego State heads out on the road this week for matches at Air Force and UNLV ... Freshman Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists with 10.41 per set ... Andrea Hannasch ranks 21st in the nation in blocks with 1.32 per set.
• TCU returns home to face Utah and BYU this week ... Thursday's match with the Utes will be televised nationally on The Mtn. ... Irene Hester leads the league in kills (3.63), points (4.28) and aces (0.41) per set, while sister Kristen ranks third in hitting percentage at . 334.
• UNLV stays home this week to host San Diego State and UMKC ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks among the top 10 in kills per set at 3.14.
• Utah travels to TCU and New Mexico this week ... Freshman Erin Redd leads the league in attack percentage at .379 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is third in kills per set with 3.43 and in points at 4.04 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,399 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.07 average per set.
• Wyoming continues to add to its best season in program history at 18-4. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run and are currently in third in the MWC standings ... Wyoming hosts Colorado Christian before the border match with Colorado State on Friday in Fort Collins ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy leads the MWC in service aces with 31 and is second in points per set (4.15) and fourth in kills per set (3.35) ... JennaRae Jester is eighth in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.45 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.44.
Follow Mountain West Conference Olympic Sports on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TheMWCOlySports or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/MountainWestConference.
