Sept. 3, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
AZTECS TRAVEL TO WACO FOR BAYLOR TOURNEY
San Diego State makes it first road trip of the 2008 season when it travels to Waco, Texas, this weekend for the Baylor Classic. Tourney participants include Texas-San Antonio, Weber State, Rice and the host school. Rice was a late addition to the event when the LSU Tiger Classic was canceled due to hurricane Gustav. SDSU will not face Rice during the tournament. The Aztecs will play a pair of matches on Friday (Sept. 5) and one on Saturday (Sept. 6) in the five-team event. San Diego State will open against Texas-San Antonio on Friday at 12:30 p.m. (CDT) and then face Baylor at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) that same evening. On Saturday, SDSU will face Weber State at 12:30 p.m. (CDT). Fans can follow the action of every match on the Internet by going to Aztec web site (www.goaztecs.com) and clicking on the GameTracker symbol (GT) next to the appropriate match on the calendar schedule that appears in the middle of the page.
SERIES RECORDS
San Diego State's record against Texas San Antonio is 1-0 with the lone meeting between the squads coming during the 1993 season at the Northern Arizona Classic in Flagstaff, Ariz. SDSU won that match by the score of 3-0. The Aztecs have faced Baylor twice previously at neutral sites and recorded victories in each of those matches. The first meeting was a 3-0 win for SDSU at the 1992 Asics Grand Prix tournament in San Diego. The other contest came three years later (1995) and resulted in a 3-2 victory for San Diego State at the Goff/Michigan State tourney. Saturday's contest against Weber State will be the first-ever meeting between the schools on the volleyball court.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Texas-San Antonio enters the weekend with a record of 1-2 after competing at the Mizuno Invitational at Rice to open the season. Losses to Rice and Michigan were sandwiched around a victory over Louisiana-Lafayette. A majority of the UTSA roster is underclassmen with five sophomores and five freshmen among the 15 players on the team. The Roadrunners are led by outside hitters Kendra Rowland (3.33 kps, 2.44 dps) and Elsie Huskey (2.33 kps, 2.78 dps).
Baylor has started the season with a perfect 3-0 mark after winning its own Baylor Invitational last weekend and recording a road win at Texas State on Tuesday. Setter Taylor Barnes and middle blocker Anna Breyfogle were preseason all-Big 12 selections. Barnes is averaging 1.60 kps and 9.80 ast/s while Breyfogle is at 2.50 kps, 3.00 dps and 1.40 bps. Outside hitter Katie Sanders is averaging a team-best 3.89 kps along with 3.22 dps.
Weber State comes into the Baylor Classic with a record of 3-1, recording three straight victories after a loss at Arizona. The Wildcat offense is led by Brittney Bisaillon (2.87 kps, 1.53 bps, .447) and Chelsea Bair (2.67 kps, 1.87 dps). Bisaillon was a second-team all-Big Sky selection in 2007 while Bair earned honorable mention honors. Micah Folsom (2.33 kps, 2.13 dps) was a first-team all-conference honoree last season as well.
HEAD COACH Mark Warner
San Diego State head coach Mark Warner is in his 14th season at the helm of the Aztec women's program. His career record over that span stands at 203-197 (.508). Over the past 13 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. Warner has announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2008 season after serving Aztec volleyball (men's and women's) for the past 27 years.
LAST WEEKEND
SDSU went 1-2 during its annual Aztec Invitational to begin the 2008 campaign last weekend. A 3-1 win over Albany came between 3-0 losses to UC Irvine and 22nd-ranked San Diego. In the loss to UC Irvine (25-13, 25-23, 25-23), Lauren Salisbury led San Diego State with 12 kills and a .800 hitting percentage while Kelsey Manasco had eight kills while hitting .500. Libero Michelle Ferrer led all players with 12 digs. Against Albany (25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 29-27), three Aztecs finished in double figures in kills including Salisbury (10), Manasco (11) and Stephanie Darnall (10). Ferrer had 25 digs over the four sets while Caitlin McMillan chipped in with 14. Salisbury and Manasco had seven and six blocks respectively. Salisbury was the lone SDSU player to reach double figures in kills against San Diego with 11, a match the Toreros took by set scores of 25-13, 25-23, 25-15. She also contributed three blocks while freshman Kyley Sexton recorded seven kills for the second straight match.
ALL-TOURNEY AZTECS
Middle blocker Lauren Salisbury and right side hitter Kelsey Manasco, both sophomores, were named to the all-tournament team at alt weekend's Aztec Invitational. Salisbury averaged 4.20 kills and 1.00 blocks per set while hitting .515 over the Aztecs' three matches. Manasco, meanwhile, averaged 2.20 kills and 0.90 blocks with a .405 attack percentage.
FERRER AS LIBERO
Senior Michelle Ferrer has moved into the position of starting libero for the Aztecs in 2008, taking over for four-year starter Aime Cordeiro, the MWC co-libero of the year last fall. Ferrer responded with a dozen digs in the season opener vs. UC Irvine and then set a career high with 25 in the win over Albany. Through three matches, she is averaging 4.10 dps, a mark that ranks third in the Mountain West Conference this week.
SEXTON SHINES
Freshman outside hitter Kyley Sexton made her collegiate debut in the season opener against UC Irvine, recording two kills and a pair of digs in the one set on which she appeared. In each of the ensuing two matches, she had seven kills for an average of 2.67 per game, the second-best average on the squad after three matches. Her mark of 2.33 digs per set ranks third on the team as well.
DUAL SETTERS
With the Aztecs running a 6-2 offensive formation, the job of setter has been divided between senior Leah Lathrop and freshman Lauren Van Orden. After three matches, both players have appeared in all 10 sets and have almost identical setting stats. Lathrop has had 55 sets for an average of 5.50 per set while Van Orden has 52 for a mark of 5.20 per contest.
MANASCO MAKES GOOD
Sophomore Kelsey Manasco set her Aztec career best attack percentage by hitting .500 against UC Irvine last Friday. In doing so, she recorded eight kills on 12 attempts with only two errors. She also had a personal best five block assists and six total blocks in the match against Albany.
SALISBURY HITS AWAY
Lauren Salisbury's .800 attack percentage vs. UC Irvine in the season opener was a career best for the second-year Aztec. During that match, she had 12 kills on 15 attempts with no errors. She then proceeded to hit .529 against the University of San Diego the next evening (11k-2e-17att). Salisbury also tied her SDSU high for digs with three in each of those contests.
MOVIN' UP THE CHARTS
With 2,155 career assists over the previous three seasons, senior Leah Lathrop sits seventh on the SDSU career list. She needs 84 assists to move into a tie for sixth with Melissa Stokes (1986-88) and 501 to climb into a fifth-place tie with Kristen Castillo, who finished her four-year Aztec career in 2007.
AZTEC NOTES
Caitlin McMillan's 14 digs against Albany was one shy of her Aztec career best of 15 vs. TCU last October. She ranks second on the squad at 2.83 digs per set ... Lauren Salisbury's .515 attack percentage entering the week leads the conference. Her 4.20 kills per set ranks fourth while her average of 4.75 points per set is fifth ... Kelsey Manasco's .405 attack percentage is fifth-best in the MWC this week ... SDSU will finish the Baylor Classic with a match vs. Weber State and then face the same squad five days later in the opener of the Gonzaga Invitational
UP NEXT
San Diego State remains on the road next weekend as it travels to Spokane, Wash., to compete in the Gonzaga Invitational. The Aztecs will open play on Friday, Sept. 12, against Weber State at 5:00 p.m. (PDT). The next day SDSU will face Gonzaga at 1:00 p.m. and then conclude tourney play at 5:00 p.m. vs. Texas-El Paso.