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MWC Weekly Court Notes CSU two wins shy of (conference) perfection.
Nov. 10, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - This year's Colorado State squad could be the first to go unbeaten in the MWC regular season. The Rams close out conference play with home matches vs. Air Force and New Mexico this week. Three of the last four years, the league champion was 13-1 in MWC matches (1999-BYU, 2000-CSU, 2001-CSU). CSU was 12-2 last season. CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP DRAWS NEAR, ALL MATCHES TO BE TELEVISED The 2003 Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship will make its debut in San Diego this season. The event will be held Nov. 20-22 at Peterson Gym with San Diego State University serving as host. All eight MWC teams will qualify for the single-elimination tournament. For the fourth straight year, all seven matches of the championship will be televised with the MWC-TV Network handling production again this year. Matches will be cleared on several affiliates in the Mountain West region, plus national clearances on CSTV and Fox Sports Net (RM). The championship match will be aired live Saturday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. MT (7 p.m. PT) on FSN, marking the second straight year FSN is carrying the title match live. CSTV will air the MWC Championship semifinals and finals on a tape delayed basis. A complete schedule and bracket can be found on page five of this release. MWC POSTS 66-44 MARK IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
The MWC is 66-44 in non-conference play, including victories over four ranked opponents. This season, San Diego State defeated then-No. 10 Arizona and then-No. 18 San Diego, Utah defeated then-No. 18 Missouri and BYU defeated then-No. 8 Penn State. The Mountain West Conference has a four-year record of 333-242 (.579) vs. non-conference opponents.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE MWC teams posted a 28-9 home record this season vs. non-conference opponents, but the MWC is just 28-20 on the home court in league matches. "A" FOR ATTENDANCE Seven MWC schools have topped 1,000 fans for a single match this season: Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming. The Utes were recently added to the list with 1,320 on hand for the BYU match Nov. 7. BYU and Colorado State are among the top 25 nationally for attendance. DIAZ SETS NEW KILL RECORD Air Force senior Delavane Diaz set the Air Force and MWC all-time single-match records for kills with 41 vs. Southern Miss (9/13/03). Her mark broke Nina Puikkonen's MWC record of 32 set in 2001 and the Falcon mark of 38 set by Linda Samuelson in 1982. QUICK HITS Air Force -- The Falcons started MWC play at 3-5, but have dropped four straight since a 3-0 win at New Mexico Oct. 24. AFA fell to San Diego State and UNLV last week. Despite 30 kills from senior Delavane Diaz and a double-double from junior Lamecca Jefferson, the Falcons were unable to win a game vs. the Aztecs. AFA hit .179 and had a 14-kill advantage in the match vs. SDSU, but the Aztecs controlled the net, outblocking the Falcons 12-0. Diaz has led the MWC in kills 11 straight weeks and her current averages of 5.0 kills per game in all matches and 4.87 in MWC contests are on pace to break the MWC records for single season kills per game. Air Force travels to Colorado State and Wyoming this week. BYU -- The Cougars dropped their second match this season and seventh straight in the series to Utah last week. Junior April Varner hit over .400 in her second straight match as she led the Cougars with 16 kills and a .429 efficiency vs. the Utes. As a team, the Cougars have outblocked their last six opponents by a combined 77-39, including a 12-8 advantage over Utah last week. BYU has a league-high 3.24 blocks per game in MWC matches. BYU is the only team in the MWC with five players averaging at least 1.0 blocks per game in league matches. BYU travels to UNLV and San Diego State this week. Colorado State -- The Rams have now won 14 straight matches after defeating Wyoming last week. CSU became the first team in MWC history to go unbeaten in conference road matches (7-0) this season and could also be the first to go unbeaten in the grueling 14-match MWC schedule. The Rams close out the MWC season with Air Force and New Mexico at home this week. Junior Katie Jo Shirley hit .548 with 19 kills and eight blocks vs. the Cowgirls last week and maintained her hold on the top spot in the MWC with a .410 efficiency (all matches) this season. Shirley has also recorded at least one block in 57 straight matches. Colorado State will enter the MWC Championship with a No. 1 seed for the fourth straight year. New Mexico -- The Lobos split a pair of MWC matches last week, upsetting UNLV in four games and falling to San Diego State in three games. Senior Anna Reines has reached double figure kills in her last 10 matches after leading UNM with 26 kills in the victory over UNLV and adding 13 vs. SDSU. The Lobos set an MWC season high with 16 aces vs. the Rebels. UNM outblocked UNLV 9.5 -6.0, but were outblocked 12-5.5 vs. SDSU. UNM closes out MWC play at Wyoming and Colorado State this week. San Diego State -- The Aztecs have won four straight and five of their last six after defeating No. 18 San Diego, Air Force and New Mexico last week. SDSU hit .226 and outblocked those three opponents by a combined 44-10.5. Senior Megan Schauermann recorded a season- and career-high 13 blocks in the win over San Diego and averaged 1.91 blocks per game last week. Schauermann leads the MWC in blocks (all matches) with 1.60 per game. Senior Aspen McPartland is one of only three players (Katie Jo Shirley-CSU, Kim Turner-Utah) to rank among MWC leaders for kills, hitting percentage and blocks. The Aztecs host Utah and BYU to close out regular season play this week. UNLV -- The Rebels split a pair of MWC matches last week, defeating Air Force and falling to New Mexico. Senior Leiana Oswald led UNLV with 28 kills and a .333 hitting efficiency in the two matches, while senior Sheila Ocasio-Clemente hit .425 with 22 kills and 11 blocks. Oswald is one of only three MWC players averaging over 4.0 kills per game this season, while Ocasio-Clemente is ninth in the MWC with 1.13 blocks per game. The Rebels are hitting .317 over their last four matches. UNLV hosts BYU and Utah this week. Utah -- Utah, 10-2 in the MWC, won its seventh straight in series play over BYU with a 3-1 victory last week. Senior Kim Turner stretched her block streak to 117 straight matches with a block and tallied a match-high 22 kills vs. the Cougars, marking her 12th straight match with double figure kills. The Utes have held six of their last seven opponents under a .181 hitting percentage, while hitting .255 in that span, including a team-high .448 by Turner in the last seven matches. Utah, which will enter the MWC Championship as a No. 2 seed, travels to San Diego State and UNLV this week. Wyoming -- The Cowgirls dropped to 3-9 in MWC play after falling to 15th-ranked Colorado State last week in four games. Wyoming also lost a non-league match at Boise State on Sunday. Freshman Andrea Seele recorded 10 kills vs. the Rams, while senior Leah Powers totaled 10 kills vs. Boise State. Junior Sara Maytorena extended her streak to 58 straight matches with at least one block after picking up a team-high seven blocks vs. CSU before missing the BSU match. Wyoming hosts New Mexico and Air Force this week. |
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