SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State volleyball team continues its 2021 spring slate this weekend when it plays host to New Mexico, Feb. 19-20, inside Aztec Court at Peterson Gym. Friday's matchup is set to commence at 6 p.m. PT, while Saturday's clash is pegged for an 11 a.m. start. Both contests will be streamed live via the Aztec volleyball team's YouTube channel, with a link available on GoAztecs.com.
This weekend's matches were slated as a home series for the Lobos when the Mountain West initially released its 2021 spring schedule. However, the conference officially announced the switch in venues earlier this week. As a result, San Diego State will play 10 of its 16 matches this spring on its home floor.
QUICK HITS
> The Aztecs (1-3, 1-3 MW) are coming off a home sweep of Fresno State (25-19, 26-24, 25-20) in their last outing on Feb. 13 to even the series at one match apiece after dropping the opener in four sets (25-22, 16-25, 18-25, 18-25).
> With the victory, the Scarlet and Black gave head coach Brent Hilliard his first win patrolling the San Diego State sidelines.
> Hilliard arrived on The Mesa in January 2020 after a successful 19-year tenure as an assistant at the University of San Diego, where he served as the Toreros' associate head coach from 2007-19.
> Hilliard hired the legendary Steve Timmons to his staff as an assistant coach. Timmons was the first American male to win three Olympic medals in indoor volleyball, leading the U.S. national team to gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Games, as well as a bronze in 1992.
> New Mexico (2-2, 2-2 MW) is coming off a pair of three-set defeats on the road last weekend at Wyoming.
SERIES RECORD VS. NEW MEXICO
> The Aztecs have won the last six meetings against the Lobos, raising their record to 42-21 in the all-time series.
> San Diego State posted four-set victories in both matches last year, capturing the first encounter by scores of 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 25-21 at Aztec Court, before completing the season sweep in the same sequence by totals of 25-20, 15-25, 25-21, 25-14.
> In that latter meeting in Albuquerque, SDSU snapped an eight-match slide in true road contests, as four Aztecs produced double-digit kill totals, including Victoria O'Sullivan, who led all players with 16 kills and hit .464 for the night, committed just three errors in 28 attempts. In addition, Erin Gillcrist launched 10 non-returnables of her own and racked up three block assists, while Lauren Lee tied her season-best with 11 digs to go with a match-high three service aces.
> In the first meeting of the 2019 campaign in San Diego, the Scarlet and Black out-hit the Lobos .308 to . 207 and maintained the statistical advantage in kills (56-54), digs (56-39) and team blocks (11.0-8.0) to help fuel the win.
> O'Sullivan (12 kills, 2 solo blocks) and Gillcrist (11 kills, 4 block assists) also figured prominently in the Aztec fortunes, while Andrea Walker (.400, 5 kills) contributed five total blocks.
> Since the Mountain West's inception in 1999, the Aztecs are 26-14 against UNM overall, including a 15-4 mark at home.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
> On the road since the beginning of the season, New Mexico (2-2, 2-2 MW) opened with a pair of four-set victories over Nevada before suffering back-to-back sweeps at Wyoming. Following their two wins over the Wolf Pack, the Lobos claimed the year's first pair of Mountain West Player of the Week honors, with freshman Kali Wolf (38 kills, 2 double-doubles) garnering offensive accolades, while fellow classmate Uxue Guereca (33 digs) merited defensive recognition. The Lobos, who were picked 10th in the Mountain West preseason coaches poll, finished the 2019 campaign with an 11-19 overall record and an eighth-place mark of 6-12 in conference play. Individually, UNM has been paced this season by sophomore Kaitlynn Biassou, who shares the team lead with an average of 3.00 kills per set (42 overall), joining Guereca (24 kills), who sat out the Wyoming series. In addition, the Lobos feature setter Kara Erfurth, who ranks second in the MW entering the weekend with 10.50 assists per set, while Guereca (3rd, 4.00) and Alena Molden (4th, 3.79) find themselves among the league leaders in digs. At the net, Biassou and Avital Jaloba have posted a team-high 10 blocks apiece. As a team, UNM leads the Mountain West in digs (15.21/set), but ranks just seventh in both kills (11.86/set) and services (1.57/set). In addition, the Lobos occupy the lower half of the conference in blocks (9th, 1.79/set) and hitting percentage (10th - .151) and opponents hitting percentage (10th - (.241). New Mexico is guided by second-year head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar, who arrived on the Albuquerque campus after serving a three-year stint at Arkansas as associate head coach. Newman-Gonchar has also had stops as an assistant coach at Iowa State (2013-15), Loyola Marymount (2010-12), as well as UC San Diego with both the men's and women's squads (2007-09).
NOTHIN' LIKE HOME COOKIN'
> Since the beginning of the 2009 campaign, the Aztecs have amassed a 105-52 (.650) record at home, highlighted by a 14-0 mark during the 2012 season when SDSU captured the Mountain West championship.
AZTECS AMONG MW LEADERS
> Entering this weekend, Victoria O'Sullivan ranks seventh in the Mountain West with an average of 3.29 kills per set (46 overall), while Kennedy Feuerborn (5.36/set) and Lauren Lee (3.50/set) occupy the ninth spot in assists and digs, respectively.
> O'Sullivan is the lone SDSU player to record double-digit kills in all four matches this season and has logged 10 or more put-aways in 25 of her last 33 starts.
> Last weekend, Lee averaged a team-high 4.00 digs in seven sets, helping the Aztecs to a home split vs. Fresno State. In two matches vs. the Bulldogs, she totaled 28 digs, including a season-high 15 scoops in the series opener.
> Despite missing the series finale against Fresno State, Feuerborn still leads the team with a .308 hitting percentage (12-4-26). She dished out a season-high 27 assists at UNLV (Feb. 5) before adding 26 helpers in the opener vs. the Bulldogs (Feb. 12).
DOUBLE TROUBLE
> Setter Ashley Vanderpan recorded her first career double-double after totaling 30 assists and 11 digs in the Aztecs' 3-0 sweep over Fresno State on Feb. 13.
> For the weekend against the Bulldogs, the Elk Grove, California, native handed out 43 assists (6.14/set) and scooped up 12 digs (1.71/set) while finishing with two kills and a pair of block assists.
> Vanderpan, who was inactive the last two years at Syracuse and SDSU, respectively, finally saw her first collegiate action in the opening series at UNLV, totaling 19 assists (3.80/set), three digs, two kills and a block assist in five sets played.
Aztecs Gearing Up for Home Series vs. New Mexico
