Sept. 10, 2002
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AZTECS HOST IRVINE, TRAVEL TO THE MIDWEST
Following a mid-week home match against UC Irvine on Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Aztecs will depart for Columbia, Mo., to participate in the Tiger Invitational hosted by the University of Missouri.
SDSU will open tourney play against Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday (Sept. 14) at 2:00 p.m. (MDT), then square off against the host Missouri Tigers at 7:00 p.m. that night.
The following day, the Aztecs will play Eastern Illinois at 11:30 a.m., then wrap up play with a 4:30 p.m. contest against North Carolina State.
The Tiger Invitational is the second of three consecutive weekend tournaments that will see San Diego State travel from Hawai'i (where they competed last weekend) to the east coast (where they will play in Wake Forest's Black and Gold Challenge next weekend).
SERIES RECORDS
The Aztecs will be meeting three of this week's opponents for the first time ever on the volleyball court: Missouri, Arkansas-Little Rock and North Carolina State.
SDSU was victorious in its one previous meeting against Eastern Illinois. That match was the season opener in 1986 when the Aztecs defeated the Panthers, 3-0, in San Diego.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
UCIrvine enters Tuesday's match in Peterson Gym with a record of 3-4. On Monday (Sept. 9), the Anteaters lost at University of San Diego, 3-1. Prior to hat contest, UCIwas hitting .324 as a team, led by Kelly Wing's 4.80 kills per game. Senior Chanda McLeod was averaging just under an ace per game from the service line.
Arkansas-Little Rock enters the Tiger Invitational with a record of 3-2. The Trojans have yet to play a home match this season, having played in tournaments at Arkansas State and Baylor. Two of their three wins have been five-game matches (vs. Nicholls State and Mississippi). UALR was picked to finish second in the Sun Belt Conference this season and has a pair of preseason all-conference picks in Bojana Vulin and Ivana Vracar. The 10-player Trojan roster features three players from Croatia, two from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and one each from Brazil and Yugoslavia.
Missouri enters the week with a record of 5-1 after capturing the title at the Alabama Crimson Tide Invitational last weekend. Their lone loss came at Oregon State two weeks ago. UM is scheduled to play at Missouri-Kansas City on Wednesday (Sept. 11). The Tigers are led by the hitting of Shen Danru (4.65 kills/game) and Lisa Morris (4.50 k/g). Setter Lindsey Hunter is averaging over 15 assists per game and the Tigers are hitting .292.
Eastern Illinois's record stands at 3-3 after the first six matches of the season. EIU returns three starters from last season's NCAA Tournament squad. Like San Diego State, the Panthers went 2-1 in their own tournament to open the season, then went 1-2 at their second tournament of the year. EIU's top offensive threats are outside hitters Karen Liss (3.28 k/g) and Erica Gerth (3.20 k/g). Gerth is a preseason all-Ohio Valley Conference selection this fall.
North Carolina State is winless after its first eight matches this season and is slated to face High Point on Tuesday (Sept. 10). The Wolfpack has won just four games in its eight outings thus far, losing 3-0 in five occasions. Right side hitter Amy Cochran (2.43 k/g) and middle blocker Maya Mapp (2.35 k/g) have led the offense for NCSU. As a team, the Wolfpack is hitting .126 compared to .274 for opponents.
LAST WEEK
San Diego State went 1-2 at the Aston Imua Wahine Challenge in Honolulu.
The Aztecs dropped a three-game match (31-29, 30-23, 30-21) to Washington on opening night of the tourney, then fell to fourth-ranked Hawai'i (30-10, 30-11, 30-23) in their second match.
SDSU came back to defeat San Francisco 3-0 (30-20, 30-25, 30-16) on the tournament's final day.
Junior outside hitter Zlatina Anguelova was named to the all-tournament team.
HEAD COACH MARK WARNER
San Diego State head coach Mark Warner is in his eighth season at the helm of the Aztec women's program. His career record over the past seven seasons at SDSU stands at 120-99 (.548).
Over the past seven years, Warner has led his teams to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and a Western Athletic Conference championship. His tutelage has produced nine all-conference players.
MCPARTLAND PROVIDING OFFENSIVE SPARK
Junior middle blocker Aspen McPartland continues to be SDSU's offensive leader. She is first on the team in kills (3.32 kpg) and is second in both blocks (0.89 bpg) and digs (3.00 dpg).
Her .301 attack percentage is the best on the squad among the hitters and blockers.
She has recorded double doubles (kills-digs) in three matches this season (Tulane, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco).
THE WRIGHT STUFF
Setter Melissa Wright currently ranks fourth on the SDSU career assist list with 2,521 since arriving from the Washington State as a sophomore for the 2000 season.
She is 252 assists shy of moving into the number-three spot currently occupied by Liane Sato (1985-86).
Wright ranks fifth in the Mountain West Conference in assists this week with an average of 10.21 per game.
AKPORIAYE CONTINUES SOLID PLAY
With her move to a middle blocker role this season, senior Nicole Akporiaye has emerged as a true threat at the net as a blocker.
Her average of 1.37 blocks per game leads the Aztecs and ranks fifth in the Mountain West Conference this week.
Akporiaye has also recorded six service aces this year after totaling four in her previous three seasons when she was almost strictly a front row player.
She is also second on the team in hitting percentage at .295 and is having her best offensive season as an Aztec thus far in 2002.
AMONG THE MWC LEADERS
San Diego State continues to rank among the top four in the MWC in five categories. Included in that number are digs (1st - 16.00 dpg), kills (3rd - 14.68 kpg), hitting percentage (3rd - .231), blocks (4th - 2.63 bpg) and assists (4th - 12.63 apg).
Individually, McPartland's .301 attack percentage ranks sixth this week. She also ranks fourth in digs with a average of 3.00 per game and 10th in kills at 3.32 per game.
Senior Rochelle Currier is second n the league in digs at 3.46 dpg.
Junior Robyn Gregg is fourth in the conference this week in service aces at 0.47 per game.
LOCAL CONNECTIONS
Five members of the 2002 Aztec squad hail from the San Diego area.
That quintet includes Aspen McPartland (Grossmont HS), Ashley Bowker (Grossmont HS), Robyn Gregg (West Hills HS), Natalie Sande (Torrey Pines HS) and Sara Engstrom (Rancho Bernardo HS).
McPartland and Gregg are juniors in their third seasons at San Diego State, Bowker is a redshirt freshman, and both Sande and Engstrom are juniors who came to SDSU this fall from other four-year schools.
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
For the third year in a row, the Mountain West Conference coaches' poll has predicted the Aztecs to finish fourth in the league. SDSU has finished fourth each of the first two seasons of play in the MWC.
Utah is picked to win the league title this year, followed by Colorado State and Brigham Young. The results of the preseason poll is as follows:
Team (1st-pl. votes) Pts.1. Utah (6)...............482. Colorado State (1).....403. Brigham Young (1)......394. San Diego State........325. UNLV...................286. New Mexico.............187. Wyoming................138. Air Force...............9
TEAM NOTES
San Diego State's three-match losing streak, broken with the win over San Francisco last Saturday, matched the team's longest losing steak of the 2001 season.
The Aztecs -.009 hitting percentage in the three-game loss to Hawai'i last Friday is an SDSU record for lowest hitting percentage in a match. The team came back the next night to hit .379 against San Francisco, their best attack percentage in a match this year.
With the exception of the contest against UC Santa Barbara (a 3-1 loss), SDSU matches have been decided in three games.
San Diego State's 55 kills vs. San Francisco is the most by a Mountain West team in a three-game match this season. Likewise, their 84 digs against UC Santa Barbara earlier this year in the most by any league team in a four-game match.
PLAYER NOTES
Zlatina Anguelova recorded back to back double doubles (kills-digs) in the matches against UC Santa Barbara and Washington.
Melissa Wright's three service aces against San Francisco tied her career best, last set against New Mexico at home in 2001.
Robyn Gregg has had at least one service ace in five of the Aztecs' six matches. Only against Hawai'i did she fail to record an ace.
Rochelle Currier's 18 digs in the match against UC Santa Barbara represents a career best.
Five Aztecs are averaging over two kills per game. That quintet includes McPartland (3.32), Currier (2.85), Anguelova (2.84), Melissa Cansdale (2.38) and Kara Moriarty (2.17),
UP NEXT
After hosting cross-town rival University of San Diego next Tuesday (Sept. 17 at 7:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym), San Diego will travel to the east coast to participate in the Black and Gold Challenge at Wake Forest.
SDSU will face Winthrop at 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on Friday, Sept. 20 followed by Alabama-Birmingham and host Wake Forest on Saturday, Sept. 21.