Nov. 14, 2006
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AZTECS CONCLUDE REGULAR SEASON AT HOME VS. UNLV
*** San Diego State finishes up its 2006 regular season with a match against MWC rival UNLV on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym.
*** The match has been designated as Aztec Senior Night, with SDSU honoring a pair of players (Melanie Greene and Audra Dent) making the final home appearances of their respective careers at San Diego State.
SERIES RECORD
*** San Diego State is 14-9 in the series against UNLV including a 3-1 loss to the Rebels in Las Vegas in mid-September. The teams first met in 1985 when both were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA). They did not meet again until 11 years later (1996) when both were in the Western Athletic Conference.
*** Since both schools became members of the Mountain West Conference in 1999, SDSU has won 10 of 18 meetings. UNLV has won its last six matches with the Aztecs.
SCOUTING THE REBELS
*** UNLV enters the week with a mark of 18-9 overall and 9-6 in the Mountain West Conference. The Rebels have won four of their last five matches including a victory over Colorado State last weekend. They have clinched fourth place in the league standings.
*** Outside hitter Maria Aladjova leads the Rebel offense with averages of 3.90 kills per game and 2.71 digs per game. OH Brittani Lumsden is averaging 3.07 kpg and 2.12 dpg while middle blocker Lauren Miramontes is at 2.87 kpg. UNLV leads the league in digs as a team and has five regulars averaging two or more 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 188-177 (.515).
*** 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.
TOURNAMENT PICTURE
*** San Diego State can finish anywhere from sixth to eighth in the final MWC standings depending on this week's results.
*** The Aztecs are currently tied for sixth with New Mexico and TCU with a league record of 5-10. Both UNM and TCU will visit Wyoming this weekend for their regular-season finales.
*** The team's placing in the final standings determines its seeding in next week's conference championship tournament.
*** If there is a three-way tie, the order of seeding would be TCU, SDSU, UNM. TCU holds the tiebreaker over both UNM and SDSU. A two-way tie would be resolved in the same order.
*** The eighth and ninth-place teams will play a preliminary match to enter the tourney draw as the number-eight seed.
MOST RECENTLY
*** SDSU split a pair of MWC matches at home last weekend, falling to Colorado State in five games (21-30, 31-29, 20-30, 30-26, 13-15) and defeating Air Force in three (30-16, 30-8, 30-12).
*** Against the Rams, Melanie Greene led all players with 22 kills and also had 14 digs. Audra Dent added 11 kills while Stephanie Darnall and Lindsey Mahan had 10 apiece.
*** In the match against Air Force, Dent was the lone player on either team in double figures in kills with 15. She also had eight blocks while Darnall was the number-two kill leader with eight.
GREENE SETS PERSONAL BEST
*** Senior outside hitter Melanie Greene established a new career high with 22 kills in last Friday's match vs. Colorado State, eclipsing her previous best of 20, which she set last season at Cleveland State.
*** The 22 kills are the most by an Aztec in a match in 2006.
*** She has now reached double figures in kills in 23 of SDSU's 27 matches this fall.
*** In last weekend's two matches, she had a .353 hitting percentage.
*** She continues to lead SDSU in kills (3.74 kpg) and is third in digs (2.61 dpg).
*** Greene has led San Diego State in kills in 16 matches this season including 10 of the last 13.
*** Her 3.74 kpg average overall ranks fifth in the Mountain West Conference this week, and her 3.76 kpg mark in league play is fourth.
*** Greene has a team-leading 10 double-doubles (kills-digs) this season.
DENT SOLID ALL-AROUND
*** Audra Dent has been in double figures in kills in six straight matches and nine of SDSU's last 10 contests.
*** In addition to a match-high 15 kills vs. Air Force last weekend, she also had six blocks, two digs and a service ace while hitting .619. Her attack percentage in that match was the best for an Aztec this season.
*** Dent's average of 4.06 points per game in all matches is the eighth-best mark in the league entering the week.
*** She recorded a personal season-best 18 kills vs. Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 16 and followed that with 15 vs. BYU on Sept. 21.
*** She is averaging over three (3.24) kills per game in all matches as well as in MWC contests to rank 10th and ninth respectively in the conference this week.
*** Dent's 117 digs this fall surpasses her previous three-year total of 72. She is averaging 1.19 dpg after coming into the season with a 0.35 dpg career mark.
*** Her 15 digs in the match at Colorado State on Oct. 14 was a career best.
CASTILLO MOVIN' UP
*** Setter Kristen Castillo enters the week with a total of 2,002 assists in her three seasons as an Aztec and has moved into the number-six spot on the San Diego State career list.
*** She has become only the sixth SDSU player to reach the 2,000 plateau in that stat category.
*** Castillo needs 237 more to take over the number-five spot currently occupied by Melissa Stokes (2,239 from 1986-88).
HELLWIG ON THE ATTACK
*** Over the last four matches, freshman middle blocker Bailee Hellwig is hitting .381 while averaging 1.69 kills per game.
*** She had a personal season best attack percentage of .583 in the match at Wyoming on Nov. 4, the second-highest hitting percentage by an Aztec this fall.
*** Hellwig ranks ninth in the conference overall blocking stats with an average of 1.14 bpg.
MAHAN CONTINUES SURGE
*** Lindsey Mahan recorded 10 kills and five blocks vs. Colorado State last Friday. It was the third match in a row in which she had five blocks.
*** Over SDSU's last four matches, she is averaging 1.06 blocks and just under three kills per game. She is hitting .362 over that span with just seven attack errors over 16 games.
CORDEIRO DIGGIN' IT
*** Aime Cordeiro had 32 digs in last weekend's two matches to bring her career total to 1,247.
*** That number puts her in third place on the SDSU career list in that category.
*** She is only the seventh player in SDSU history to reach the 1,000-dig plateau in her career.
*** She needs to record 122 more digs to reach the number-two spot currently occupied by Juliana Cezar (1,369 digs; 1993-96).
*** Cordeiro's 2006 season total is 504 digs, the second-most ever in a season by an Aztec. With at least two matches remaining, she has a chance to break the school record of 545 digs in a season set by Jackie Mendez in 1988.
*** Cordeiro continues to lead the Mountain West Conference in digs in all matches at 5.36 dpg, and she is second in league-game only statistics (5.04 dpg).
*** She also ranks fifth in service aces in the overall league stats at 0.36 per game. She recorded a career-best seven aces in the match at Oregon in early September.
DARNALL DOUBLES UP
*** Freshman outside hitter Stephanie Darnall recorded her ninth double-double of 2006 with 10 kills and 19 digs against Colorado last weekend.
*** She is second on the squad in kill average (3.22 kpg) and second in digs (2.91 dpg).
*** Her 3.19 kill average in league play ranks 10th in the MWC this week.
*** Darnall's dig average of 3.09 per game in conference matches is 11th-best in the league this week.
LATHROP SETS IT UP
*** Setter Leah Lathrop's average of 0.34 service aces per game in league matches is the ninth-best mark in the MWC this week.
*** The sophomore from Phoenix recorded her third double-double of the year with 51 assists and 15 digs at Wyoming on Nov. 4.
*** Her 15 digs in that match was a career high for the second-year Aztec.
*** Her average of 9.72 assists per game is seventh in the MWC this week.
WAHLIN ON THE BLOCK
*** Over the past six matches, junior Kelley Wahlin is averaging 1.76 bpg (30 blocks in 17 games).
*** She continues to rank among the top 10 blockers in the Mountain West Conference. She is fourth in the MWC overall stats this week (1.39 bpg) as well as fourth in league matches only (1.41 bpg).
*** She set a career high with 15 kills in the win over Wyoming on Oct. 5. Her previous best was eight kills in a match, which she has done on three occasions this season.
*** Her 10 kills against New Mexico on Oct. 27 was her second-best effort as an Aztec.
*** Wahlin's 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.
*** Her current .313 hitting percentage in league contests ranks sixth this week.
AZTEC NOTES
*** SDSU's .407 hitting percentage vs. Air Force last weekend was the highest for the team in 2006.
*** The eight points allowed to Air Force in game two of that match was the second-lowest total in a game by an opponent since rally scoring began in 2001. The fewest points allowed in a game by the Aztecs came in a 30-4 defeat of Louisiana-Monroe in 2001.
*** Redshirt freshman setter Sarah Pon made her SDSU debut last Sunday vs. Air Force, recording two assists and a dig in the one game in which she appeared.
*** Junior middle blocker Vanessa Curtis averaged one kill, one dig and one block per game over six games in last weekend's contests vs. Colorado State and Air Force.
*** The Aztecs had four players finish in double figures in kills for the fifth match in a row vs. Colorado State last Friday. Overall, it was seventh time that has occurred this fall.
*** Seniors Melanie Greene and Audra Dent are the only two Aztecs to start every match this season.
UP NEXT
*** The Aztecs will travel to Las Vegas next week to participate in the 2006 Mountain West Conference tournament being hosted by UNLV.
*** The tourney gets underway on Wednesday, Nov. 22, when the eighth and ninth-place teams square off in the play-in match for the eighth and final seed.
*** SDSU's seeding and tournament match-up will be determined at the conclusion of this weekend's league play.