Sept. 30, 2009
AZTECS VIST NEW MEXICO, TCU IN CONFERENCE ACTION THIS WEEKEND
San Diego State returns to road action this week for a pair of Mountain West Conference matches. On Thursday, Oct. 1, the Aztecs will visit Albuquerque for a contest against league foe New Mexico scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. (MT) start at the Lobos' Johnson Center scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. start in Peterson Gym. Two days later (Saturday, Oct. 3), SDSU will visit Fort Worth, Texas, to face TCU at 1:00 p.m. (CT).
SERIES RECORDS
San Diego State has won six of its previous 10 matches against TCU, but the Frogs have won four of the most recent six meetings. The Aztecs did upset the Horned Frogs in four sets in Fort Worth last season. The first two contests between the teams came during the 1997 campaign when SDSU and the Horned Frogs were members of the Western Athletic Conference. The Aztecs are 3-2 vs. TCU in Peterson Gym and 3-2 in Fort Worth.
The Aztecs are 27-15 in the series against New Mexico. Although SDSU has recorded wins in 14 of the last 20 meetings between the teams, the Lobos have been victorious in five of the last six after defeating the Aztecs home and away last season. The series goes back to 1976 when the Lobos claimed a 3-1 victory in Peterson Gym. The schools have met annually since 1990 when both were members of the Western Athletic Conference. SDSU has a 9-9 mark against the Lobos in Albuquerque, 13-6 in San Diego and 5-0 on neutral courts.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
New Mexico enters the week with an overall record of 9-5. The Lobos are 1-2 in conference play, tied with SDSU for sixth in the league standings. UNM end a three-match losing streak with a win at Wyoming last Saturday. New Mexico is led by outside hitter Lisa Meeter (2.47 k/s, 2.45 d/s) and middle blocker Taylor Hadfield (2.50 k/s, 0.63 b/s). Libero Allison Buck is averaging 4.13 digs per set to tanked second in the MWC this week.
TCU's record stands at 13-4 (2-1 MWC) as it prepares to face Air Force Thursday evening prior to SDSU's visit to Fort Worth. The Horned Frogs had an eight-match win streak halted with a three-set loss at Colorado State last Saturday. TCU's top players include Kourtney Edwards (3.32 k/s, 1.10 b/s) and Christy Hudson (2.37 k/s, 1.08 d/s, 0.92 b/s). Edwards' .394 attack percentage leads the MWC while Hudson's mark of .297 ranks eighth.
JACKELS DIGGIN' IT
Kristi Jackels, a walk-on who redshirted as a true freshman in 2008, has settled in at the role of starting libero. She enters the week averaging 4.23 digs per set in all matches, a mark that ranks first in the Mountain West Conference. She also leads the league in MWC matches with an average of 4.69 digs per set. Jackels set a career high with 27 digs against Rice on Sept. 4. She has recorded 20 or more in a match four times in 2009. Jackels has been in double figures in digs in 12 of SDSU's 13 matches.
MANASCO MAKES GOOD
Junior outside hitter Kelsey Manasco had one of the finest matches of her SDSU career in the five-set victory over UNLV last Saturday (Sept. 26). In that contest, she recorded a career-highs with 24 kills and 51 attempts. Her .314 hitting percentage was a personal season-high as well. Her 26.5 points was also her best in three seasons as an Aztec. In addition, she equaled her career best with a pair of service aces in that match. Manasco's previous high in kills and attempts (19 and 47) came against St. Mary's on. Sept. 13. She also finished that match with 11 digs. It marked the first double-double of her collegiate career. She set a career best with 14 digs vs. Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 23 as she notched her second double-double of the season by adding 11 kills. Over the last three matches she is averaging 3.38 kills per set.
EVANS EXCELS
Outside hitter Hannah Evans turned in her second double-double of the year with 16 kills and a dozen digs vs. UNLV last weekend. The 16 kills matched her SDSU career high which she reached on two other occasions. Her .355 hitting percentage against Rebels was a season high for the junior from Kingwood, Texas.
HANNASCH CONTINUES SOLID PLAY
Freshman middle blocker Andrea Hannasch has made an immediate impact on the SDSU volleyball program. She has started every match and played in every set thus far in 2009. In SDSU's three matches last week, She averaged 2.08 kills and 1.31 blocks per set while hitting at a .316 clip. Her eight block assists in the win over Cal State Fullerton was a season high. In her collegiate debut at Seattle on Aug, 28, Hannasch led the Aztecs with 12 kills with a .625 hitting percentage. She also recorded a service ace along with two digs and two blocks. Hannasch had a season-high 15 kills in the match against Rice on Sept. 4 and a personal best seven blocks in the win over Cal State Northridge on Sept. 5. Entering this week's matches she ranks among the conference top 10 individuals in hitting percentage, blocks, service aces and points.
VAN ORDEN AT SETTER
Setter Lauren Van Orden set her SDSU career high with 61 assists in the win over UNLV last Saturday. Her previous best was 54 assists at St. Mary's on Sept. 7. She has recorded at least 40 assists in 11 of the team's 13 matches. She is averaging 10.77 assists per set to lead the conference (all matches) entering the week. In league matches, her average of 10.85 assists per set ranks second this week. With a season-best 12 digs against Fullerton last week she notched her second double-double of the year and 12th of her Aztec career. The 12 digs in that contest represented her career high. Over SDSU's last five matches, Van Orden is hitting .467 with averages of 0.76 kills and 1.71 digs per set. She has recorded at least one block in all but one of the Aztecs' matches with a high of five against San Jose State on Aug. 29.
PEARSON OFF TO GOOD START
Paije Pearson has started 12 of SDSU's 13 matches this season after having a pair of starts as a freshman in 2008. Last week she recorded double figures in kills in two of the Aztecs' three contests including a season-high 14 against Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 23. She has also recorded her Aztec career bests this season in block assists (5 vs. both San Francisco and Rice), total blocks (6 vs. Rice) and digs (5 vs. San Francisco). She opened the season with a 10-kill, four-block effort at Seattle along with a .562 attack percentage.
SALISBURY CONSISTENT
Junior middle blocker Lauren Salisbury has been a model of consistency through SDSU's first 13 matches. She is the only Aztec to have recorded a hitting percentage higher than the team hitting percentage in every match in 2009. She has reached double figures in kills in nine of SDSU's 13 matches and hit .333 or better on 10 occasions. Salisbury had a season-high eight blocks in the win at San Francisco on Sept. 4. She was a member of the 2008 all-Mountain West Conference team and a 2009 preseason all-MWC team selection. She enters the week with a .323 career hitting percentage, a mark that ranks sixth-best all-time for an Aztec player.
AMONG THE MWC STAT LEADERS
After the opening four weeks of play, San Diego State leads the Mountain West Conference team stats in assists (11.98/set) and is third in kills (12.73/set). SDSU is also fifth in both blocks (2.33/set). Individually, Lauren Van Orden's 10.77 assists/set is the best average the MWC. Libero Kristi Jackels is the conference leader in digs with a mark of 4.23 per set. Andrea Hannasch is fourth in service aces (0.33/set) as well as ninth in hitting percentage (.295), fifth in blocking (1.13 per set) and 10th in points (3.11/set). Lauren Salisbury ranks fourth in hitting percentage (.333).
AZTEC NOTES
Redshirt freshman Kasey Klein made her Aztec debut in the match vs. UNLV on Sept. 26. In that contest she recorded three digs in the three games in which she played ... Bailee Hellwig made her first appearance of the season at Utah on Sept. 19. She played in one game and had one hitting attempt ... Lauren Salisbury and Andrea Hannasch have recorded at least one block in every match ... Salisbury, Hannasch and Lauren Van Orden are the only players to have started every match this season. Those three, in addition to Kristi Jackels and Paije Pearson, have appeared in every set ... SDSU has gone five sets in two of its last three outings and recoded a pair of victories. On the year they are 2-2 when playing five sets ... The team's .355 attack percentage vs. UNLV on Sept. 26 was its best of the season. SDSU recorded a season-best 75 kills against the Rebels as well.