Aug. 26, 2015
LET THE SEASON BEGIN
San Diego State will begin its 2015 volleyball season on Friday, Aug. 28, when it faces the University of San Francisco as part of the four-team San Francisco Invitational in San Francisco, Calif. That match gets underway at 6:30 p.m. (PT) in War Memorial Gym on the USF campus. The other tourney participants include Denver and CSU Bakersfield. The complete tourney schedule is as follows:
Friday, August 28 Denver vs. CSU Bakersfield................4:00 p.m. (PT) San Diego State at San Francisco.......6:30 p.m. (PT)Saturday, August 29 San Diego State vs. Denver................10:30 a.m. (PT) CSU Bakersfield at San Francisco.......12:30 p.m. (PT) CSU Bakersfield vs. San Diego State.....4:30 p.m. (PT) Denver at San Francisco.......................7:00 p.m. (PT)Live stats will be available for each of SDSU's matches this weekend with links located at GoAztecs.com. In addition, the match against San Francisco on Friday (Aug. 28) will also have live video streaming available with a link on the SDSU web site.
SERIES RECORDS
San Diego State leads the series against San Francisco, 6-1. The teams last met in 2013 during the Aztec Invitational when SDSU claimed a 3-0 victory. The Aztecs recorded a four-set victory over Denver in their only meeting at the Arizona Tournament at the end of the 2001 campaign. San Diego State's record against Cal State Bakersfield stands at 4-0 with the most recent meeting between the teams coming during the 2010 season in San Diego, 3-0 Aztec win.
HEAD COACH Deitre Collins-Parker
San Diego State Head Coach Deitre Collins-Parker enters her seventh season with the Aztecs after being named the fourth head coach in program history prior to the 2009 campaign. Her six-year record at SDSU is 101-78 (.564). She previously served as head coach at UNLV for eight seasons (1996-2003) and at Cornell for five years (2004-2008). Her 19-year career record stands at 263-269 (.494). A three-time All-American as a player at the University of Hawai'i, she led the Rainbow Wahine to consecutive national titles (1983-84) and was named the national player of the year twice.
FOR OPENERS
San Diego State's record in season openers stands at 21-18 since the sport began at SDSU in 1976. This will mark just the Aztecs' fourth opener away from home since 2000. SDSU has a record of 5-5 when it begins the season on the road.
AZTEC VETERANS
SDSU returns three starters and the libero from a team that compiled a mark of 14-15 overall and 9-9 in Mountain West play (tie-6th). Those starters include outside hitters Alexis Cage and Ciara Brown plus middle blocker Kaja Sandberg and libero Alexa Saba. Cage and Brown finished one-two in kills for the Aztecs at 3.00 and 2.75 per set respectively. Sandberg hit .284 and averaged 1.91 kills and 0.99 blocks per set while Saba had 2.86 digs per set from the back line. Other returnees who saw significant playing time include outside hitter Baylee Little (1.96 kps) and middle blocker Cassie O'Hara (1.35 kps, 0.81 bps) along with defensive specialists Danielle Bolden (1.80 dps) and Devyn Pritchard (2.97 dps).
THE REDSHIRT
Also back is redshirt freshman middle blocker Deja Harris. Harris played briefly in two matches early in the 2014 campaign before missing the remainder of the season due to injury. In the three sets in which she appeared she totaled one kill, one service ace and a block.
FIVE FRESHMEN
Among the eight new players on the roster this season are five true freshmen:
*** Outside hitter Alexandra is a member of the Greek national team who was named Rookie of the Year in the Greek national league's top division.
*** Outside hitter Alexis Harris was a second-team all-state selection in Nevada and is the younger sister of middle blocker Deja Harris.
*** Outsider hitter Bailey Osborn was an all-state selection by MaxPreps and was her league's Player of the Year last season.
*** Setter Lauren Utchen was an all-league honoree and league player of the year as senior in 2014.
*** Outside hitter Alyssa Mathis was an all-area honoree the past two seasons at her high school in Florida.
TRANSFERS ADDED
The Aztecs have also added one four-year transfer and a pair of junior college athletes to their 2015 roster. Emma Fuzie comes to SDSU after two seasons as a middle blocker at Pepperdine. Setter Hailey Jones was a two-time all-state selection at Irvine Valley JC where she led her team to the state championship last season. Middle blocker Jordan Conole arrives at SDSU from Pierce JC where she was a second-team all-Western States Conference honoree as a freshman.
RETURNEES AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS
Junior middle blocker Kaja Sandberg finished among the top 15 in the Mountain West Conference in hitting percentage in 2014. She placed 13th both overall (.284) and in league matches only (.293) Ciara Brown was 15th in overall kill average at 2.75 per set. Danielle Bolden led the Mountain West in service aces in league contests with a mark of 0.43 per set and was third in all matches at 0.35 per set. Alexis Cage finished eighth in kill average in conference matches at 2.93 per set.