Nov. 1, 2005
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AZTECS RETURN HOME TO HOST NEW MEXICO AND AIR FORCE THIS WEEK
*San Diego State will travel to the Rockies this coming weekend for a pair of Mountain West Conference matches.
*The road swing begins with a contest at Wyoming on Friday, Nov. 4, at 7:00 p.m. (MST) in UniWyo Sports Complex.
*Action continues the next night (Saturday, Nov. 5) when the Aztecs visit Colorado State, also at 7:00 p.m. (MST).
SERIES RECORD
*SDSU has lost four times in its previous 29 meetings with the University of Wyoming to lead the series, 25-4. The teams first played each other 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 nine of the most recent 10 encounters between the teams. Included in that total is a 3-0 win over Wyoming in Peterson Gym in late September.
*San Diego State is 14-17 in its series vs. Colorado State. The teams first met at the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national championship tournament in Santa Barbara in 1980. Three years later they faced off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Aztecs ended an eight-match losing streak at the hands of the Rams when they defeated CSU, 3-0, in Peterson Gym in November 2002. SDSU has dropped its last six matches against the Rams including a 3-0 loss when the teams met in San Diego earlier this season.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
*Wyoming enters the week with an overall mark of 7-13 and 2-7 in the Mountain West Conference. The Cowgirls ended a 10-match losing streak with a pair of road wins at New Mexico and Air Force on Oct. 20 and 22. UW is 1-8 at home and 6-5 in matches away from Laramie. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Smith leads the Cowgirl offense, averaging 3.58 kills and 2.31 digs per game while Kelsey Loop averages 2.34 kpg. Samantha Eley is fourth in the MWC in service aces at 0.44 per game.
*Colorado State (4-21 overall, 0-10 MWC) and will host UNLV on Friday (Nov. 4) prior to facing San Diego State on Saturday. As a team, the Rams lead the league in both kills and assists. Top players include Casey Bauer (3.71 kpg) and Tess Rogers (3.57 kpg). Dre Downs leads the league in blocking both overall (1.56 bpg) and in league matches (1.79 bpg). Freshman Mekana Barnes is also among the MWC's top blockers with an average of 1.18 per contest.
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 176-156 (.530).
*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 picked up a pair of Mountain West Conference victories at home last weekend to improve its league record to 6-4.
*Against New Mexico last Friday, the Aztecs turned a tight contest into a one-sided affair as they downed the Lobos in three games (30-28, 30-13, 30-17). Three players reached double figure in kills for SDSU including Audra Dent (12), Lindsey Noll (12) and Melanie Greene (11). SDSU hit .324 for the match as a team.
*In the win over Air Force on Saturday, SDSU dominated from start to finish in 30-19, 30-22, 30-13 victory over the Falcons. Noll led the Aztecs with eight kills while Dent and Greene had seven apiece. Freshman Alicia Waller hit .857 on six kills and also had four service aces. SDSU hit a season-best .444 while holding Air Force to a -.038 attack percentage.
WALLER SERVES IT UP
*Freshman outside hitter Alicia Waller had seven aces in SDSU's two matches last weekend to move the top of the list in the MWC in that stat category.
*She ranks first in the conference in league-game stats at 0.73 sapg. In all contests, she is also first at 0.53 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).
NOLL ON THE OFFENSIVE
*In last weekend's two matches, Lindsey Noll compiled a .364 hitting percentage. In 2005, she has hit .333 or higher in 14 of SDSU's 23 contests.
*The senior middle blocker, a 6-5 transfer from Missouri, is hitting .346 in all matches and .392 in league contests to lead San Diego State. Those attack percentages rank third and second respectively in the Mountain West Conference this week.
*Over SDSU's last seven matches, Noll is averaging 3.11 kills per game.
*In Mountain West Conference matches, she leads the Aztecs with an average of 4.28 points per game.
*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 1.58 bpg in league games ranks second in the MWC stats while her overall average of 1.35 is fifth-best in the league this week.
GREENE DOUBLES UP
*Junior outside hitter Melanie Greene recorded her 10th double-double (kills and digs) of the season with 11 kills and 13 digs against New Mexico last Friday.
*She has notched three double-doubles in SDSU's most recent five matches.
*Greene's 10 double-doubles this fall is the third-highest total by a Mountain West Conference player in 2005.
*In 2005, she is accounting for an average of 3.76 points per game (all matches) to lead the squad.
*Her overall dig average of 2.89 ranks seventh in the league while her MWC match average of 2.82 dpg is ninth.
*Greene also ranks among the league top 10 in services aces. She is fifth overall (0.53 sapg) and third in league games only (0.49 sapg).
CORDEIRO KEEPS DIGGIN'
*Libero Aime Cordeiro continues to lead the MWC in digs (overall) with an average of 4.87 per game. In Mountain West Conference play, her average of 4.94 dpg also ranks first.
*Aime Cordeiro's 35 digs in the match at UNLV established a new MWC record. The old mark was 34 by Wyoming's Carissa Lee set this season on Sept. 3 vs. Northern Colorado. That 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 had 31 digs in the match at Utah on Oct. 24, 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 has reached the 20-dig plateau in seven matches this season.
DENT CONTINUES SOLID PLAY
*Over SDSU's last seven matches, right side hitter Audra Dent is averaging 3.50 kills per game and 1.04 blocks per game.
*In conference matches, she is second on the squad in kills with an average of 3.06 per contest. She has been in double figures in kills in five of SDSU's last seven 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.
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 80 games, and the two have averaged a total of 12.01 assists, 0.45 service aces and 2.70 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 .414 from her setter position with only three attack errors over 80 games. Last season she finished with a .263 attack percentage.
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.......15.14....12.84Pct.........222......152Asst./G...13.39....11.55Aces/G.....1.69.....1.12Digs......14.44....11.83Blocks.....2.74.....2.47
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 was named an Amateur Star of the Month by the San Diego Hall of Champions for her performance during September.
*During that 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.
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.
AZTEC NOTES
*With six matches left in the regular season and at least one more in the conference tournament, SDSU needs one win to insure at least a .500 finish this season. Two more wins would mean that the Aztecs will have won four times as many games as they did a year ago.
*In the two matches last weekend, the Aztecs hit .375 as a team and averaged 16 kills, 3.5 service aces and 3.75 blocks per game. San Diego State hit .452, .435 and .444 in games one, two and three, respectively, vs. Air Force, marking the first time this season SDSU has recorded three consecutive games over the .400 range.
*The Aztecs have three players among the top 10 in hitting percentage in conference-match statistics: Lindsey Noll (2nd-.392), Lindsey Mahan (8th-.283) and Alicia Waller (10th-.258).
*Four Aztecs have started all 23 matches for SDSU this season: Kristen Castillo, Lindsey Noll, Audra Dent and Lindsey Mahan. *Audra Dent is the lone Aztec to have recorded at least one block in every match this season.
UP NEXT
*San Diego State will have a pair of MWC contests next week, one at home and one on the road.
*The Aztecs will play a rare Wednesday league match on Nov. 9 when UNLV visits Peterson Gym for a 7:00 p.m. meeting.
*Two days later (Friday, Nov. 11), SDSU will travel to Fort Worth to face TCU at 7:00 p.m. (CST).