Oct. 3, 2006
AZTECS HOST MWC FOE WYOMING IN LONE MATCH THIS WEEK
***San Diego State returns home this week where it will face Wyoming in a Mountain West Conference meeting on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) in Peterson Gym. That contest with the Cowgirls will be the SDSU's only match this week.
***Live video of the match can be seen free of charge at www.goaztecs.com.
***After last weekend's pair of road matches, this week's contest will be followed by four consecutive away matches . The Aztecs will then finish the regular season with four of its final five contests at home.
SERIES RECORD
***SDSU has lost just five times in its previous 30 meetings with the University of Wyoming to lead the series, 25-5. All five Aztec losses in the series have come in Laramie.
***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. Over the past three seasons, each team has won on its home floor.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
***Wyoming enters the week with an overall record of 8-6 and a league mark of 2-2. The Cowgirls are 3-3 in their last six matches with one of those victories coming at New Mexico, where the Aztecs were defeated 3-0 last weekend.
***UW's offense is led by outside hitter Rachel Smith, whose average of 4.11 kills per game ranks third in the MWC this week. Outside hitter Annie Meyers is averaging 3.57 kpg and 2.87 blocks per game. Freshman OH Micah Lines averages 3.80 digs per game.
HEAD COACH Mark Warner
***San Diego State head coach Mark Warner is in his 12th season at the helm of the Aztec women's program. His career record over that span stands at 183-171 (.517).
***Over the past 11 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
***Last weekend, San Diego State dropped a pair of Mountain West Conference matches on the road.
***On Friday, the Aztecs fell in three games at New Mexico by scores of 35-33, 30-25 and 30-25. Melanie Greene led all players with 16 kills while teammate Stephanie Darnall had a dozen kills along with 15 digs. Kelley Wahlin added nine block assists in the losing cause.
***The next night, SDSU again lost in three games, this time at TCU (30-19, 30-22, 38-36). Greene was the lone Aztecs to reach double figures in kills with 10. Setter Leah Lathrop had 24 assists and four service aces while Aime Cordeiro recorded 13 digs.
CORDEIRO RETURNS
***After missing a pair of matches due to an ankle injury suffered against Brigham Young on Sept. 22, libero Aime Cordeiro returned to action during last weekend's road trip.
***She recorded 11 digs at New Mexico and followed that up with 13 at TCU the next night.
***Cordeiro continues to lead the Mountain West Conference in digs both overall (5.62 dpg) and in league game only (5.31 dpg).
***She is 31 digs away from notching the 1,000th dig of her Aztec career. She would be only the seventh Aztecs player to ever reach that milestone.
DARNALL DOUBLES UP
***Freshman outside hitter Stephanie Darnall had the Aztecs' lone double-double effort last weekend with a 12-kill, 15-dig performance at New Mexico.
***She has recorded seven double-doubles (kills-digs) this season to lead the team.
***Darnall is second on the squad in kill average (3.35 kpg) and second in digs (2.97 dpg).
***Her overall kill average ranks ninth in the conference this week. Her mark of 3.61 kpg in MWC matches ranks seventh.
WAHLIN ON THE BLOCK
***Junior Kelley Wahlin had a personal-best nine block assists in last Friday's match at New Mexico. It was the highest total for an Aztec in a match this season.
***Wahlin has seen action in 15 matches with an average of 1.32 blocks per game. Her 10 total blocks (2 solo, 8 assists) at Oregon on Sept. 9 was a career high and is also the best for an Aztec in 2006.
***She averaged 1.75 bpg in SDSU's two road matches last weekend.
***She ranks fourth in the MWC overall stats in blocking this week.
GREENE CONTINUES SOLID PLAY
***Senior Melanie Greene continues to lead SDSU in kills (3.76 kpg) and is third in digs (2.71 dpg).
***Last weekend she averaged 4.50 kills per game in the matches at New Mexico and TCU.
***Greene has led San Diego State in kills in 10 matches this season including each of the last three.
***Her 3.76 kpg average ranks seventh in the mountain West conference this week.
***She has six double-doubles this season and has the most career double-doubles among active Mountain West Conference players with 20.
***Her .538 hitting percentage in the match vs. Lipscomb is a team best in 2006.
***Greene is also averaging of 0.52 blocks a game, well over her career average of 0.23 bpg.
***She is seventh in the MWC in points with an average of 4.11 per game.
MAKING A DENT
***Senior Audra Dent's average of 3.90 points per game in all matches is the ninth-best mark in the league entering the week.
***She had a streak of six straight matches in double figures in kills ended against Utah on Sept. 23.
***She recorded a personal season-best 18 kills vs. CSU Fullerton on Sept. 16 and followed that with 15 vs. BYU last Friday. She is averaging over three (3.13) kills per game in all matches.
***Her 75 digs this fall surpasses her previous three-year total of 72. She is averaging 1.21 dpg after coming into the season with a 0.35 dpg SDSU career mark.
CASTILLO MOVIN' UP
***With 25 assists last weekend, Kristen Castillo now has a total of 1,861 assists in her two-plus seasons as an Aztec to move into the number-seven spot on the SDSU career list.
***She needs 26 more to take over the number-six spot currently occupied by Erin Tomblin (1,886 from 1988-89).
SERVING IT UP
***SDSU had a team-high 11 service aces in the match at Oregon on Sept. 9.
***In that contest, junior Aime Cordeiro recorded a career-best seven aces.
***The team total of 11 aces matched the best effort by the 2005 squad, which it accomplished in four matches.
***Cordeiro's average of 0.41 aces per game overall ranks sixth in the MWC stats this week.
***In league play, setter Leah Lathrop is averaging 0.56 aces per game to rank fourth in the MWC.
CORDEIRO SETS RECORD
***Junior libero Aime Cordeiro, the returning all-MWC libero, set a new Mountain West Conference and SDSU record with 39 digs in the match against College of Charleston on Aug 30.
***She broke the MWC record of 35 digs that she set last season against UNLV. The previous SDSU mark was 37 by Jackie Mendez against Fresno State in 1988.
***She then had 30 digs at UNLV on Sept. 13 to become the first Aztec player to record five 30-dig matches in her career.
***With 326 digs this season, her career total of 1,069 moves her into sixth on the SDSU career list. She needs seven digs to move into the number-five spot held by Aspen McPartland (1,076 digs; 2000-03).
LATHROP ON THE DOUBLE
***Setter Leah Lathrop set a career-high with four service aces in last weekend's match at TCU. Her previous best was three, which she did on three occasions last season.
***Earlier this year, she recorded the second and third double-doubles of her SDSU career in back-to-back matches during the week of Sept. 11.
***At UNLV (Sept. 13), she had 13 digs along with 28 assists. Her dig total in that match represented a new career high.
***Two days later against Penn at the Fullerton tourney, she had 42 assists and 10 digs.
***Lathrop has seven blocks (1 solo, six assists) this season after totaling just one in 2005.
***She also has 22 kills after recording eight over 105 games during her freshman season.
AZTEC NOTES
***Middle blocker Kelley Wahlin is fifth in the MWC in hitting percentage in conference games with a .357 attack percentage.
***Stephanie Darnall's average of 3.44 digs per game ranks ninth in this week's statistics for conference matches.
***Freshman Bailee Hellwig's average of 1.09 blocks per game is just outside the top ten list of MWC leaders.
***Audra Dent's streak of having at least one block in every match this season ended when she was shut out at TCU on Sept. 30.
***Melanie Greene has hit double figures in kills in 16 of SDSU's 17 matches.
***After not being swept over the first 24 matches of the 2006 campaign, the Aztecs have now lost three in a row by a score of 3-0.
***SDSU is averaging almost two digs more per game this year than it did during the 2005 campaign.
UP NEXT
***The Aztecs begin a string of four straight road matches next week as they travel to Colorado to face Air Force on Friday, Oct. 13, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT).
***The next evening (Saturday, Oct. 14), they will be in Fort Collins to take on Colorado State, also at 7:00 p.m. (MDT).