Oct. 26, 2005
Complete Release and Season Statistics in PDF Format
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AZTECS RETURN HOME TO HOST NEW MEXICO AND AIR FORCE THIS WEEK
* San Diego State will play a pair of Mountain West Conference matches at home this week to begin the second half of their league schedule.
* The weekend begins with a contest against New Mexico on Friday, Oct. 28, at 7:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym.
* Action continues the next night (Saturday, Oct. 29) when the Aztecs host Air Force, also at 7:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym.
SERIES RECORD
* The Aztecs are 25-10 in the series against New Mexico, including wins in 12 of the last 13 meetings between the teams. UNM ended SDSU's series win streak with a 3-0 victory in Albuquerque last November. This season, SDSU defeated the Lobos in five games in Albuquerque on Oct. 1. The series goes back to 1976 when the Lobos claimed a 3-1 victory in Peterson Gym. The schools have met annually since 1990 when both were members of the Western Athletic Conference. SDSU has a record of 10-4 against the Lobos in matches played in Peterson Gym.
* San Diego State holds a 16-1 mark in its previous 17 meetings with Air Force. The teams first met in 1996 while both were members of the Western Athletic Conference. Prior to that season, the Falcons had competed in the Colorado Athletic Conference with 1996 being their first year as a member of Division I. Air Force's lone win over SDSU came in Colorado Springs in 1999. San Diego State has won the last 11 meetings between the teams including pair of wins last season. The Aztecs are 8-0 against the Falcons in San Diego.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
* New Mexico enters the week with an overall mark of 12-8 and 4-6 in the Mountain West Conference. The Lobos ended a three-match losing streak with an upset victory over Colorado State in Albuquerque last Saturday. Nine of UNM's 20 matches this season have gone to five games. New Mexico's offensive attack is led by Nicole Ryan (3.40 kpg, 2.00 dpg) and Kelly Therkelsen (2.48 kpg, 1.17 bpg). Senior Chelsea Sondrup is among the league's leading blockers at 1.34 bpg.
* Air Force (4-21 overall, 0-10 MWC) is in the midst of a 13-match losing streak with its last win coming against Citadel on Sept. 17. The Falcons will visit UNLV for a match on Thursday evening (Oct. 20) prior to arriving in San Diego to face the Aztecs. Air Force's top player is senior middle blocker Kristin Hamlett (3.18 kpg, 1.63 dpg, 0.92 bpg), who hails from nearby Escondido, Calif., and attended San Pasqual High School. Brooke Afers averages 3.06 kills and 0.81 blocks a game for the Falcons.
HEAD COACH Mark Warner
* San Diego State head coach Mark Warner is in his 11th season at the helm of the Aztec women's program. His career record over that span stands at 174-156 (.527).
* Over the past 10 years, Warner has led his teams to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and a Western Athletic Conference championship. His tutelage has produced 15 all-conference players and he was named the Mountain West Conference co-coach of the year in 2002.
MOST RECENTLY
* San Diego State dropped a pair of Mountain West conference matches in the state of Utah last weekend to even its league record at 4-4 at the mid-point of the MWC season.
* Against Brigham Young, the Aztecs fell in three games (30-22, 30-27, 30-25) to the 15th-ranked Cougars. Lindsey Noll was the lone SDSU player to reach double figures in kills with 10, hitting .385 in the process. Audra Dent and Melanie Greene had nine kills apiece while Aime Cordeiro contributed 17 digs.
* In the loss at Utah, Dent led the way for the Aztecs with 13 kills while Greene and Dent had 12 and 10 respectively, but SDSU hit just .089 as a team. Cordeiro had 31 digs in the match while Noll chipped in with four blocks while hitting a team-leading .333.
NOLL LEADS THE OFFENSE
* Lindsey Noll was the lone Aztec to hit doubles figures in kills in each of SDSU's matches last weekend with 10 in each contest. She also hit a team-high .357 during the matches at BYU and Utah.
* Over SDSU's last seven matches, Noll is averaging 3.07 kills per game.
* The senior middle blocker, a 6-5 transfer from Missouri, is hitting .338 in all matches and .384 in league contests to lead San Diego State. Both of those attack percentages rank second in the Mountain West Conference this week.
* Noll set a career high in blocks with 12 against USD on Oct. 11, then tied that mark with a dozen against TCU on Oct. 16.
* Her blocking average of 1.50 bpg in league games ranks third in the MWC stats while her overall average of 1.30 is fourth-best in the league this week.
* Noll's 20 kills in the match against Air Force on Sept. 30 tied her career high which she set vs. Texas A&M in 2003 while playing at Missouri. She leads the Aztecs with an average of 3.20 kpg in conference matches.
GREENE DOUBLES UP
* Junior OH Melanie Greene recorded her ninth double-double (kills and digs) of the season with 12 kills and 12 digs against Utah last Saturday.
* She has notched four double-doubles in SDSU's most recent six matches.
* In 2005, she is accounting for an average of 3.70 points per game to lead the squad.
* Her overall dig average of 2.79 ranks 10th in the league while her MWC match average of 2.83 dpg is eighth.
CORDEIRO KEEPS DIGGIN'
* Sophomore libero Aime Cordeiro had 31 digs in the match at Utah last weekend, her second-highest total of the season and fourth-best by an MWC player in 2005.
* She is only the second Aztecs to have a pair of 30-dig matches during her career. The other is Jackie Mendez who recorded 30 or more digs on four occasions. Only three other Aztecs had at least 30 digs in a match during their careers.
* She continues to lead the MWC in digs (overall) with an average of 4.99 per game. In MWC play, her average of 5.28 dpg also ranks first.
* Aime Cordeiro's 35 digs in the match at UNLV established a new Mountain West Conference record. The old mark was 34 by Wyoming's Carissa Lee (in five games) set this season on Sept. 3 vs. Northern Colorado. * Her dig total is also an MWC record for a league match, besting the previous record of 33 by Lindsey Evans (BYU) at UNLV in 2004.
* Cordeiro's effort was the second-most digs in a match ever by an Aztec, tying the total turned in by Angela Rock vs. Texas during the 1984 season. It was the most digs in a match by an Aztec since 1997 and only the eighth time that an SDSU player surpassed the 30-dig mark.
* She has reached the 20-dig plateau in seven matches this season.
DENT CONTINUES SOLID PLAY
* Over SDSU's last three matches, right side hitter Audra Dent is averaging 3.10 kills per game and 1.00 blocks per game.
* In conference matches, she is second on the squad in kills with an average of 3.03 per contest. She has been in double figures in kills in four of SDSU's last five outings.
* Her eight blocks vs. USD on Oct. 11 was a personal season best and her seven block assists tied her career high in a match.
* In the contest at UNLV on Oct. 7, she led the Aztecs with a career-high 22 kills. That total surpassed her previous personal best of 14 set last season vs. James Madison.
BOWKER COMES BACK
* Senior middle blocker Ashley Bowker made just her third appearance of the season in last Saturday's match at Utah. She has been slowed all season while recovering from an injury (back) and had not seen action since the match on Sept. 17.
* At Utah, she had four kills and three blocks while playing in three games.
* In limited action this fall, she is averaging 1.40 kills and 1.00 blocks per game.
DUAL SETTERS
* San Diego State is using a two-setter rotation this season, alternating sophomore Kristen Castillo and freshman Leah Lathrop.
* Each setter has appeared in all 74 games, and the two have averaged a total of 12.01 assists, 0.39 service aces and 2.69 dpg.
* Lathrop recorded the first double-double of her collegiate career with 24 assists and 10 digs in the win at Air Force on Sept. 30.
* Castillo is hitting .389 from her setter position with only three attack errors over 58 games. Last season she finished with a .263 attack percentage.
WALLER SERVES IT UP
* Freshman outside hitter Alicia Waller ranks second in the Mountain West Conference this week in the league-game stats at 0.57 sapg. In all contests, she is also second at 0.45 sapg.
* She recorded seven service aces in the win over Wyoming on Sept. 24, the most in a match by an Aztec since Robyn Gregg had nine against Air Force on October 18, 2002.
* Those seven aces in the Wyoming match ties for the most in any match by an MWC player this season and are the most in a league contest in 2005. Waller also had six aces in a match earlier this year (vs. Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 7).
* She also had four blocks vs. TCU (Oct. 16) to tie her best as an Aztec.
* Waller has been hampered by injury in recent matches and did not play last Saturday at Utah. She is expected to be available this weekend.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
* San Diego State middle blocker Lindsey Noll was named the Mountain West Conference Volleyball Player of the Week on Oct. 17 for her efforts in the previous week's two matches. She is the first Aztec to win the honor since Aspen McPartland did it in back-to-back weeks in Sept. 2003.
* Against the 15th-ranked University of San Diego (Oct. 11), Noll notched a career-high 12 total blocks to go along with seven kills, three digs and a service ace. Her four solo blocks vs. USD were a career-high as well and she is currently tied for the second most solo blocks by an MWC player this season.
* She followed that with her first career double-double vs. TCU (Oct. 16), tallying 11 kills and tying her career high with 12 blocks (1 solo and a career-best 11 assists). She also had three digs, an assist and a service ace, while hitting .391 vs. TCU.
* Over those two matches, Noll averaged two kills per game on .341 hitting, 2.67 blocks, 0.67 digs, 0.22 service aces and 0.11 assists per game. She is currently second in the MWC in hitting percentage (.335) and third in blocks per game (1.38).
GREENE EARNS LOCAL HONOR
* Melanie Greene has been named an Amateur Star of the Month by the San Diego Hall of Champions for her performance during September.
* Last month, she was named to the all-tournament teams at both the Red Raider Round-Up at Texas Tech and the Medical Mutual CSU Invitational at Cleveland State. She was selected the MVP of the latter tourney as well.
* In September, she led the Aztecs with averages of 3.46 kills and 2.88 digs per game while hitting .242. 2004
MUCH IMPROVED
* Statistical comparisons to last season indicate that the Aztecs are a much improved team in 2005.
* Here are stat averages from the 2004 season and after the first 14 matches of the current campaign:
2005 2004KPG.......15.07....12.84Pct.........212......152Asst/G....13.42....11.55Aces/G.....1.54.....1.12Digs......14.55....11.83Blocks.....2.66.....2.47
ALL-TOURNEY AZTECS
* Four different Aztecs earned all-tournament honors during the three tournaments that SDSU competed in earlier this season.
* Sophomore libero Aime Cordeiro was a three-time all-tourney selection (Aztec Invitational, Red Raider round-UP, Medial Mutual CSU Invitational).
* Junior outside hitter Melanie Greene earned the honor at both the Red Raider Round-Up and the Medial Mutual CSU Invitational. She was also named the MVP of the latter event.
* Junior Audra Dent and freshman Alicia Waller were named all-tourney at the Aztec Invitational.