Sept. 11, 2008
Complete Release and Season Statistics in PDF Format
AZTECS VISIT SPOKANE FOR GONZAGA TOURNAMENT
San Diego State volleyball remains on the road as it travels to Spokane, Wash., this weekend for the Gonzaga Invitational. Tourney participants include Weber State, Texas-El Paso and the host school. The Aztecs will open play with a match on Friday (Sept. 12) against Weber State at 5:00 p.m. (PDT). It will be a re-match of SDSU's final contest at last weekend's Baylor Classic. On Saturday, SDSU will have back-to-back matches to conclude tourney play. The Aztecs will face Gonzaga at 1:00 p.m. followed by a contest vs. Texas-El Paso at 5:00 p.m. 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
Friday's contest vs. Weber State will be the second-ever meeting between the schools and second in a seven-day period. The team's only other contest against each other came last weekend (Sept. 6) at the Baylor Classic in Waco, Texas. The Wildcats won that match by the score of 3-1 (25-18, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19).
San Diego State's record against Gonzaga is 1-0 with the lone contest between the teams coming during the 1993 season in Spokane. SDSU won that match, 3-2 (15-11, 12-15, 10-15, 15-9, 15-12).
The Aztecs have faced Texas-El Paso a dozen times and hold an 11-1 mark against the Miners. The teams met twice annually while both were members of the Western Athletic Conference from 1991-95 and in 1998. UTEP's lone victory in the series came in San Diego during the 1998 season, the year the team's last faced each other.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Weber State comes into the Gonzaga Invitational with a record of 5-3 after splitting four matches at last weekend's Baylor Classic including a win over SDSU. The Wildcat offense is led by Chelsea Bair (3.43 kps, 2.27 bps) and Brittney Bisaillon (2.70 kps, 1.43 bps). Bisaillon was a second-team all-Big Sky selection in 2007 while Bair earned honorable mention honors. Micah Folsom (2.07 kps, 2.29 dps) was a first-team all-conference honoree last season as well.
Gonzaga enters the weekend with a mark of 2-6 after suffering a five-set loss at the hands of Washington State on Wednesday. The Bulldogs are led by senior middle blocker Elaina Renius (3.73 kps, 1.57 bps) and junior outside hitter Michelle Boevers (2.70 kps, 0.37 dps). Freshman setter Denise Van de Mortel is averaging 10.40 assists per set along with 2.37 dps and a .333 attack percentage.
Texas-El Paso's record stands at 2-5 after the first two weeks of the season. Top offensive players for the Miners include outside hitter Catherine Chavez (3.72 kps, 2.92 dps) and middle blocker Daidre Mendenhall (2.23 kps, 0.86 bps). Middle blocker Keisha Hyman-Gifth leads UTEP with a .333 attack percentage while libero KeAnne Langford averages four dig per set.
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 204-199 (.506). 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.
ALL-TOURNEY AZTEC
Middle blocker Lauren Salisbury was named to the all-tournament team at last weekend's Baylor Classic. During SDSU's three matches, she averaged 2.00 kills, 0.58 digs and 1.00 block per set while hitting .245. It marked the second straight weekend in which she received all-tourney recognition. Salisbury and right side hitter Kelsey Manasco, both sophomores, were named to the all-tournament team at the Aztec Invitational Aug. 29-30. 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.
DARNALL COMING ON
Junior Stephanie Darnall reached double figures in kills twice last weekend with 14 in the matches against both Texas-San Antonio and Weber State. Against Weber State, she also had season-high marks in hitting percentage (.323) and blocks (three). During the Baylor tourney, she averaged 2.67 kills, 1.50 digs and 0.42 blocks a set. Darnall enters the weekend second on the team in kills at 2.52 kps and service aces with four.
SALISBURY HITS AWAY
Lauren Salisbury has been SDSU's offensive leader in the early going. She leads the squad in kill average (3.00 kps), hitting percentage (.382) and blocking (1.00 bpg). She ranks sixth in the MWC in hitting percentage and ninth in kill average. 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).
VAN ORDEN DOUBLES UP
Setter Lauren Van Orden, who doubled as an outside hitter in high school, recorded San Diego State's first double-double of the season with 23 assists and 11 digs vs. UTSA last Friday. She also finished with nine kills, ending up one kill shy of a triple double. SDSU's last triple double was turned in by Aspen McPartland against Santa Clara on Sept, 5, 2003. Van Orden's three aces vs. Baylor is a team high this season and her average of 0.32 aces per game ranks 11th in the MWC.
FERRER GETS DEFENSIVE
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 against Albany. Through six matches, she is averaging 3.27 dps, a mark that ranks seventh in the Mountain West Conference this week.
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 22 sets and have almost identical setting stats. Lathrop has had 110 sets for an average of 5.00 per set while Van Orden has 102 for a mark of 4.64 per contest. Lathrop has been in double figures in assists in all six matches in 2008 while Van Orden has done so in five.
MOVIN' UP THE CHARTS
With 2,210 career assists over the previous three seasons, senior Leah Lathrop sits seventh on the SDSU career list. She needs 29 assists to move into a tie for sixth with Melissa Stokes (1986-88) and 446 to climb into a fifth-place tie with Kristen Castillo, who finished her four-year Aztec career in 2007.
AZTEC NOTES
Stephanie Darnall and Lauren Salisbury are the only players to have started all six of SDSU's matches. Bailee Hellwig, Leah Lathrop and Lauren Van Orden have started five times each ... Freshman Kyley Sexton tied her season high with seven digs in the match against Baylor ... Caitlin McMillan's 14 digs against Albany on Aug. 30 was one shy of her Aztec career best of 15 vs. TCU last October. She ranks second on the squad at 2.12 digs per set ... Bailee Hellwig, who sat out last season due to injury after averaging 1.08 blocks in 2006, had 1.10 blocks per set during the Baylor Classic and has improved her season average to 0.90 bps ... Hellwig and Kelsey Manasco are the only Aztecs to have recorded at least one block in each of SDSU's six matches.
UP NEXT
Up next for San Diego State is a mid-week away match before it returns home for its 2008 conference opener. On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the Aztecs will travel north to face Cal State Fullerton at 6:00 p.m. (PDT). SDSU will then return to Peterson Gym for a match against Air Force on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) in the Mountain West Conference season debut for both squads.