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Oct. 1, 2002
AZTECS TRAVEL TO COLORADO STATE, WYOMING
San Diego State continues Mountain West Conference play this week as it makes its first MWC road trip of the year.
The Aztecs will travel to Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday (Oct. 4) to take on the defending regular-season champion, Colorado State, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT).
The following evening (Oct. 5), San Diego State will be in Laramie to square off against Wyoming at 7:00 p.m. (MDT).
SERIES RECORDS
San Diego State leads the series with Colorado State by a 12-10 margin. The teams first met in 1983 with the Aztecs defeating CSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in San Diego. The Rams have won the last seven meetings between the two teams, with the Aztecs last win over CSU coming in Fort Collins in 1996. The Aztecs are 5-6 when facing Colorado State on its home floor.
SDSU has lost only twice in its 22 previous matches against the University of Wyoming, The teams first met during the 1984 season and have met annually (with the exception of 1998) on a home-and-home basis since 1990. The Aztecs have defeated the Cowgirls in the most recent five encounters between the teams. Wyoming last victory over SDSU came in Laramie in 1999. UW's other win in the series came in 1994 on its home floor. San Diego is 8-2 in matches played in Laramie.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Colorado State begins the week with a record of 9-6 overall and 1-0 in league play after defeating Wyoming on Sept. 7. The Rams have won the MWC regular-season title each of the past two years. Only two players on this year's squad are above sophomore in class standing. Offensively, freshman outside hitter Tess Rogers and senior middle blocker Michelle Knox are averaging 3.67 and 3.38 kills per game respectively. Knox is also averaging a team-leading 1.58 blocks per game. Defensively, the Rams are holding opponents to a .170 attack percentage.
Wyoming's record stands at 14-2 overall and 0-1 in league play. The Cowgirls host UNLV on Friday evening prior to facing San Diego State on Saturday. UW has won 10 consecutive matches and will be looking to extend that streak this weekend. The Cowgirls' last loss was to Colorado State on Sept. 7. The team's kill and dig leader is senior outside hitter Michele Rauter, who averages 4.24 kpg and 3.07 dpg. The squad's top hitting percentages belong to sophomores Sara Maytorena (.350) and Jill Roslund (.344). Wyoming's .279 team hitting percentage leads the conference
LAST WEEK
San Diego State saw a big comeback effort fall just short in a 3-2 loss (28-30, 19-30, 30-26, 30-24, 14-16) to Loyola Marymount in Peterson Gym on Wednesday (Sept. 25). After dropping the first two games, SDSU rallied two knot the match at 2-2. In the fifth game, the Aztecs had match point at 14-13, but were unable to convert and went on to fall 14-16. Zlatina Anguelova led SDSU with 16 kills.
The Aztecs opened Mountain West Conference play on Friday (Sept. 27) with an impressive 3-0 win (30-16, 30-17, 30-15) over Brigham Young. The 48 total points allowed by SDSU was the fewest this season. The Aztecs recorded 16 team blocks compared to two by the Cougars and also had 12 service aces to just three for BYU. Anguelova again led San Diego State in kills with 10.
On Sunday (Sept. 29), the Aztecs upset 16th-ranked Utah, 302 (30-21, 30-23, 23-30, 26-30, 15-8). SDSU appeared in control of the match after winning the first two games, but Utah stormed back to claim games three and four to knot the match at 2-2. In the deciding fifth game, SDSU ran out to a 10-4 lead before putting it away on a pair of service aces by Rochelle Currier and a match-winning kill by Anguelova.
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 128-103 (.554).
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.
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
For the second straight week, junior middle blocker Aspen McPartland was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week. She is the first Aztec to win the MWC award more than once during her SDSU volleyball career.
McPartland is the first player to win the honor in back-to-back weeks since the Mountain West Conference was formed in 1999.
The junior from nearby La Mesa had double-doubles in two of SDSU's three matches, bringing her career double-double total to 19. She was particularly impressive in the win over Utah , hitting .577 with 17 kills, 12 digs and six blocks. She recorded just four errors in 48 attempts in SDSU's two conference wins this past weekend.
In last week's three matches, McPartland totaled 37 kills (2.83 kpg), 34 digs (2.62 dpg) and 15 blocks (1.15 bpg) while hitting .338.
THE WRIGHT STUFF
Setter Melissa Wright has moved up to third on the SDSU career assist list with 3,161 since arriving from the Washington State as a sophomore for the 2000 season.
She is just 30 assists shy of moving into the number-two spot currently occupied by Pam Hope (3,190 kills from 1990 to 1992)).
Wright ranks fourth in the Mountain West Conference in assists this week with an average of 10.97 per game.
She is also averaging 1.21 kills per game from her setter position and is hitting .446 with only 14 attack errors in 66 games.
She has been named to a pair of all-tournament teams this season: the Ramada Inn Invitational at SDSU and the Black and Gold Challenge at Wake Forest.
AKPORIAYE ON THE BLOCK
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 1.35 blocks per game leads the Aztecs and ranks sixth in the Mountain West Conference.
She had a career-best 11 block assists in the three-game win over Brigham Young last week.
Akporiaye is 40 block assists away from cracking the SDSU singe-season top 10. She currently has 80 BA this season, and the number 10 spot on the SDSU chart is 120 by both Angelica Jackson (1987) and Kris Morton (1986). Akporiaye needs to average 2.7 block assists per match over SDSU's remaining 15 matches to break into the Top 10.
ANGUELOVA DOUBLES UP
Junior hitter Zlatina Anguelova has recorded double-doubles in three of her last four matches five of her last seven.
She has reached double figures in kills in seven of her last eight appearances.
Over her last seven matches, she is averaging 11.1 kills and 10.6 digs per match.
With eight double-doubles this fall, Anguelova is the conference co-leader in that category.
She led all SDSU players with a total of 41 kills (3.15 kpg) in last week's three matches and was second with 29 total digs (2.23 dpg).
On the season, the junior from Sofia, Bulgaria, is averaging 2.98 kills and 2.76 digs per game.
CURRIER PROVIDES SPARK
Rochelle Currier came off the bench against Loyola Marymount last week and led SDSU with 18 kills in that match.
For the three matches last week, she averaged 3.17 kpg and 2.08 dpg.
She returned to the starting lineup for the matches against Brigham Young and Utah, hitting .268 with 27 kills and 17 digs in those contests.
Currier hit a personal season best .500 (9k-2e-14ta) in the win over BYU.
AT YOUR SERVICE
Robyn Gregg.
Zlatina Anguelova matched Gregg's output with four aces in the win over Utah on Sunday.
The four aces by each player is an individual best for an Aztec this fall.
San Diego State averaged 2.50 aces per game in those two conference matches. SDSU entered the weekend averaging 1.41 aces per game.
GETTING IT DONE DEFENSIVELY
The Aztecs are averaging a half a block more per game than opponents this fall. Three players are at or near being over a block per game: Nicole Akporiaye (1.35 bpg), Aspen McPartland (1.11 bpg) and Megan Schauermann (0.98 bpg)
Compared to last season, as a team SDSU is averaging 2.67 more digs and .16 more blocks per game.
AMONG THE MWC LEADERS
Individually, Nicole Akporiaye's .338 attack percentage ranks fourth this week. She also ranks sixth in blocking with a average of 1.35 per game.
Aspen McPartland's .310 attack percentage is seventh-best in the MWC this week and her 2.92 dpg average is seventh.
Others in the league top 10s are Robyn Gregg (6th in service aces at 0.42 sapg), Melissa Wright (fourth in assists at 10.97 apg) and Zlatina Anguelova (9th in digs at 2.74 dpg).
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
Utah is picked to win the league title this year, followed by Colorado State and Brigham Young. The results of the preseason poll was 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
The win over Brigham Young last Friday snapped a string of nine losses in a row to the Cougars by San Diego State. It was the first win over BYU since the 1996 season and only the third since 1990.
The win over 16th-ranked Utah marked the third time in three years that the Utes came to San Diego with a top 25 ranking and were defeated by SDSU in five games.
The teams' .378 hitting percentage against BYU was the second-best of the year for the Aztecs, just one point behind the .379 recorded against San Francisco.
The sweep of BYU and Utah was the first for the Aztecs since joining the Mountain West Conference in 1999.
San Diego State has reached double figures in team blocks in 10 matches this season and had nine team blocks on three other occasions.
PLAYER NOTES
Zlatina Anguelova is tied for the Mountain West Conference lead in double-doubles this fall with eight. Teammate Aspen McPartland is right behind her with seven while Rochelle Currier has four.
Megan Schauermann and Nicole Akporiaye are the only two Aztecs to have recorded at least one block in every match this season.
Over San Diego state's last six matches (24 games), Nicole Akporiaye is hitting .392.
McPartland has been in double figures in digs in six of SDSU's last seven matches.
As a setter, senior Melissa Wright is hitting .520 (15k-2e-25ta) over the last three matches.
McPartland's 17 kills vs. Utah was two shy of the career-high of 19 set against Wake Forest on Sept. 21.
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