Sep 4, 2013
This Week:
Fri. September 6 Sacramento State Invitational Sacramento, Calif.
at Sacramento State 6:00 p.m. PDT
Sat. September 7 Sacramento State Invitational Sacramento, Calif.
vs. Cal Poly 10:00 a.m. PDT
vs. Central Connecticut 3:00 p.m. PDT
SPARTANS TRAVEL TO THE CAPITAL CITY: The San José State Spartan volleyball team begins a stretch of nine matches played in the state of California during September. This weekend, the team plays at the Sacramento State Invitational against Sacramento State (Friday), Cal Poly and Central Connecticut (Saturday). The Spartans enter the weekend look for its first win of the season after going 0-3 last weekend at the Tribe Invitational.
LIVE STATS: All three matches this weekend will have live stats with links available on the Spartan website at www.SJSUSpartans.com.
LIVE VIDEO: Free video will be available for the San José State-Sacramento State match is available at http://www.americaonesports.com/partner_members.asp?id=270
ABOUT SACRAMENTO STATE: The Hornets enter the weekend with a 4-0 record after winning the La Salle Invitational last weekend. Head coach Ruben Volta is in his sixth season at the helm of the program and 13th as a member of the Hornet coaching staff. Sophomore outside hitter Sloan Lovett is the reigning Big Sky Conference Player of the Week after averaging 4.07 kills, 2.43 digs and 0.36 aces per set last weekend.
Sacramento State leads the overall series 8-6, and have won the past three meetings, 3-1 in 2001; 3-0 in 2010; and 3-2 in 2009. The Spartans won 3-1 in 2008.
ABOUT CAL POLY: The Mustangs are 1-2 on the season after defeating Baylor, 3-2, but falling to Northern Colorado, 3-1, and Colorado State, 3-0. Head coach Sam Crosson is in his second season at the helm of the program. Megan McConnell leads the team with 44 kills, 3.67 per set, while Taylor Grunenwald has a team-best nine blocks, 0.75 ps.
San José State leads the all-time series 18-15. The two teams have not played each other since the 2005 season when Cal Poly won 3-1. The Spartans last won in the series in 2004 with a 3-0 sweep at home.
ABOUT CENTRAL CONNECTICUT: The Blue Devils enter the weekend with a 1-2 record after defeating Binghamton (3-0) but falling to St. John's (3-1) and Colgate (3-0) at the Colgate Classic. Head coach Linda Dagnellis is in her 14th season at the school. Heather Trueman leads the team in kills at 24, 2.67 ps, while Brittany Schumacher has a team-best 37 digs, 3.70 ps.
This is the first meeting between the two schools.
SAN JOSÉ STATE HEAD COACH: Oscar Crespo is in his seventh season as head coach with a 62-118 coaching record. A 1990 San José State graduate, Crespo was named head coach in March of 2007 as the program's sixth head coach.
A NEW YEAR, A NEW ERA BEGINS: The 2013-14 school year begins a new era in San José State Athletics history as the school begins play in the Mountain West after spending the past 17 years in the Western Athletic Conference. The Spartans are part of the 11-team league that features Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming and the Spartans. The volleyball team will be the first San José State team to play in a Mountain West contest when the Spartans host Boise State on September 26, in The Event Center.
NEW HOME COURT: This year will also mark the first time since 2004 that volleyball team has called The Event Center home. All 11 matches will be played in the 5,000-seat venue, located on the corner of 7th and San Carlos Streets. Parking for all spectators is available in the Seventh Street Garage. The move was necessitated by the construction surrounding Spartan Gym and Yosh Uchida Hall.
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN': After opening the season on the road last weekend, the Spartans return to the state of California for the entire month of September. The team will play in tournaments hosted by Sacramento State and the University of the Pacific. San José State will play Eastern Washington in the team's home opener. The volleyball team is also the first San José State team to participate in a Mountain West contest when SJSU hosts Boise State on September 26.
The Spartans make a trip to the state of Nevada for an October 3 match at UNLV. After that, the team remains in California until a match at Wyoming on October 24. In that time period, the Spartans will play 15 of its 16 matches in the state of California.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM SELECTION: Hanah Blume was named to the Tribe Invitational All-Tournament team. She recored two double-doubles in three matches played over the weekend - 12 kills and 22 digs against William & Mary and 13 kills and 35 digs against Campbell.
FRESHMAN MAKING IMMEDIATE IMPACT: Lauren Jacobsen made an immediate impact on the Spartan team last weekend. She led the team in kills in her first match in a Spartan uniform with 19 kills at William & Mary and hit .311 for the match (19-5-45). Jacobsen also led team in kills against Campbell as she recorded her first collegiate double-double with 17 kills and 12 digs. She currently leads the team in kills with 42, 3.50 ps.
DIGGIN' THE BALL: Hanah Blume recorded 35 digs in a five-set loss to Campbell. Blume's 35 digs is just the fourth time in school history that a player has dug that many balls in a match and is the sixth-highest number of digs in a match in school history. The last Spartan player to record 30 or more digs in a match was Courtney Zellmer who had 35 against Gonzaga on August 28, 2010.
DIGGIN' THE BALL, PART 2: Against Campbell, San José State recorded 107 digs as a team. It was the most digs by a Spartan team since the 2007 season when the team had 111 against Boise State (10-25-07). The team recorded 100 or more digs in one other match during that time - 106 against Sacramento State on October 13, 2009.
The 107 digs is the fourth-highest total in Mountain West history. Only four other times has a team recorded more than 107 digs in a match.
115 Fresno State vs. Sacramento State 9/7/12
113 UNLV at Washington State 9/1/06
108 San Diego State vs. UC Irvine 9/11/10
108 Utah at Wyoming 10/14/06
107 San Jose State vs. Campbell 8/31/13
107 San Diego State vs. UNLV 9/21/07
DEBUT IN A SPARTAN UNIFORM: Five players made their debut in a San José State uniform last weekend at the Tribe Invitational. Lauren Jacobsen, Cori O'Donoghue, Megan Powers, Tyanna Roy and Lindsay Skadeland all saw action at the tournament. Jacobsen leads the team in kills and O'Donoghue saw time at defensive specialist and libero.
UP NEXT: The Spartans open the home portion of the 2013 season with a non-conference match against Eastern Washington on Wednesday, September 11, at 7 p.m. The Spartans will play their home matches at The Event Center this season. The team then travels to Stockton to play at the Banker's Classic. On Friday, the team plays Winthrop at 5 p.m. On Saturday, the Spartans face UC Riverside at 10 a.m., and host Pacific at 7 p.m. All matches will be played at the Spanos Center.