Oct. 28, 2015
This Week:
Thurs., Oct. 29 New Mexico (13-10, 6-4) Albuquerque, N.M. 7:00 p.m. MDT
Sat., Oct. 31 Air Force (10-15, 3-7) Colorado Springs, Colo. 2:00 p.m. MDT
BACK TO THE ROAD: The San José State volleyball team is back on the road this week with Mountain West matches at New Mexico Thursday night and at Air Force Saturday afternoon. The Spartans will face the two teams for the second time in a month, beginning and ending the month with Air Force (Oct. 1 & 31).
The Spartans begin the week with an 12-11 overall record and a 4-6 MW mark. The team split two home matches last week, falling 3-1 to UNLV last Thursday before rallying to beat Fresno State 3-1 last Saturday. San José State is tied for seventh in the MW standings with San Diego State and Nevada.
MOUNTAIN WEST DIGITAL NETWORK: This week's matches will be streamed live on the Mountain West Digital Network at www.SJSUSpartans.com/videos and http://campusinsiders.com/network/mw/live.
LIVE STATS: Live stat links for the matches are available on the San José State website at www.SJSUSpartans.com.
ABOUT NEW MEXICO: The Lobos enter the match with a 13-10 overall record and a 6-4 MW mark. The team is currently tied for third in the conference standings. Head coach Jeff Nelson is in his ninth year at the school with a 168-97 record and a 410-243 coaching record in 21 seasons. Devanne Sours leads the team with 261 kills, 3.03 per set, and aces at 25, while Simone Henderson is hitting .353 for the season.
New Mexico leads the overall series, 11-3, and won 3-0 in Spartan Gym on October 3. The Spartans have not won a match in the series since a 3-1 win in Albuquerque in 1998.
ABOUT AIR FORCE: The Falcons enter Saturday's match with a 10-15 overall record and a 3-7 Mountain West mark. The team lost 3-0 at New Mexico Tuesday night. Head coach Matt McShane is in his sixth year at the school with a 47-131 coaching record Akokwe Clement leads the team and is second in the MW in kills with 364, 3.83 ps, while Rachael Bradley Powers is the team leader second in the conference in service aces at 38, 0.41 ps.
San José State holds a slim 45-3 advantage in the all-time series and won the earlier meeting this month, 3-0, in Spartan Gym. Hana Tresnáková and Giulia Gávio each recorded 11 kills in the win.
HEAD COACH Jolene Shepardson: San José State head coach Jolene Shepardson is in her second season at the helm of the program. She has a 16-38 record in two seasons at SJSU, and a 59-85 coaching record in five seasons.
FRESNO STATE SERIES SWEEP: For the first time since the 2008 season, the San Jose State volleyball team swept a season series from Fresno State. The Spartans won 3-2 in Fresno on September 24, and 3-1 in Spartan Gym on October 24.
FIVE-SET WIN OVER WYOMING: Five Spartan volleyball players recorded double-digit kills, one recorded a double-double and another had 30 digs, the San José State volleyball team used a total-team effort to upset Wyoming, 3-2 (18-25, 25-22, 26-28, 25-14, 16-14) on October 15 at Spartan Gym.
Giulia Gávio led all hitters with 16 kills and hit .389 for the match (16-2-36). Tyanna Roy had 14 kills including the match winner. Hana Tresnáková recorded a season-best 13 kills, while Sara Hibbs and Nandayala Gama each had 11 kills.
Allison Meehan recorded her fourth double-double of the season and ninth of her career with a season-high 49 assists and a career-high 18 digs.
Yavianliz Rosado recorded a career-best 30 digs in the match and was just three assists shy of a rare double-double for a libero with her seven assists.
SPARTANS STOP RAMS 17-SET STREAK: With a 25-23 set-one win over #21 Colorado State on October 17, San José State broke the Rams streak of 17 consecutive sets won. CSU had not lost a set since a 3-2 win over Boise State on September 26. The two teams battled back-and-forth in the set with five lead changes and 14 tied scores. The Spartans took the final lead at 23-22 on a Sara Hibbs kill and won on a Ram service error.
MOST NON-CONFERENCE WINS SINCE 2006: San José State finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with an 8-5 record, the most wins in the non-conference season since 2006 when the team won 10 non-conference matches. The Spartans are also 6-0 in neutral-site matches played this season.
FOUR-MATCH WINNING STREAK LONGEST SINCE 2007: San José State won four consecutive matches for the first time since the 2007 season. The team defeated UMass Lowell, Quinnipiac, Holy Cross and Omaha from September 11-18. The Spartans have not won five consecutive matches since the 2004 season.
MOST WINS SINCE 2012: With 12 wins this season, the Spartans are in double-digit wins for the first time since 2012. That team finished the season with a 14-16 record.
CONFERENCE MATCH SWEEP: With a 3-0 win over Air Force on October 1, San José State swept a conference opponent for the first time since the 2013 season when the team won 3-0 at Nevada on November 2, 2013. The home sweep of a conference opponent is the first since the 2012 season when SJSU was in the Western Athletic Conference. That team swept Utah State in Spartan Gym on November 12, 2012.
GAMA BLOCKS 10: Nandyala Gama recorded a career-best 10 block assists against Holy Cross on September 12. She is the first Spartan to record 10 or more block assists in a match since Mary Alice O'Reilly had 10 block assists in a home match against San Diego State on November 7, 2013.
HIBBS TOP HITTER FOR SPARTANS: Sara Hibbs is hitting .268 for the season with 199 kills, 2.43 ps. She had her best hitting match of career against Evansville at .591 (14-1-22) and hit .565 versus Holy Cross (15-2-23).
DIGGIN' THE BALL: Yavianliz Rosado leads the team with 306 digs, 3.48 ps. She has recorded a career high 30 digs in a 3-2 win over Wyoming and has double-digit digs in 17 matches.
TOURNAMENT TITLE: For the first time since the 2011 season, the San José State won its first tournament title at the UMass Lowell Invitational. The team defeated UMass Lowell (3-), Quinnipiac (3-1) and Holy Cross (3-1). The Spartans last won a tournament title at the Hilton Stockton Invitational where the team was 3-1 on September 9 & 10, 2011.
ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS: Seven Spartan players were named to four all-tournament teams during the first four weeks of action. Sara Hibbs was named the Most Valuable Player of the UMass Lowell Invitational and was named to the San José State Invitational team. Nandyala Gama was named to the last two tournament teams - UMass Lowell Invitational and Chippewa Challenge.
SEPTEMBER ON THE ROAD: The Spartans went 8-3 in the month of September after spending entire month on the road. The team started the month in Texas at the UTRGV Tournament before traveling to Massachusetts for the UMass Lowell Tournament and to Michigan for the Chippewa Challenge. The Spartans then started MW play with matches at Fresno State and UNLV.
HOME SWEET OCTOBER: After spending September on the road, the Spartans play six of its 10 matches in October in Spartan Gym. The team started the month with home matches against Air Force (1st) and New Mexico (3rd), then has for four consecutive home matches in the middle of the month- Wyoming (15th), Colorado State (17th), UNLV (22nd) and Fresno State (24th).
FIVE HITTERS, 10+ KILLS IN ONE MATCH, TIMES TWO: Five San José State hitters have recorded 10 or more kills in the same match twice this season. In a 3-1 win over Omaha, Hana Tresnáková and Tyanna Roy led the team with 12 kills a piece. Sara Hibbs, Giulia Gávio and Nandyala Gama each had 10 kills.
In a 3-2 win over Wyoming, Gávio led all hitters with 16 kills and hit .389 for the match (16-2-36). Roy had 14 kills including the match winner. Tresnáková recorded a season-best 13 kills, while Hibbs and Nandayala Gama each had 11 kills.
BEST HITTING MATCHES OF SEASON: San José State recorded the top-three hitting matches of the season in the middle of September. The team hit .298 (55-18-124) in a 3-1 win over Omaha on September 18, .284 (43-18-88) in a 3-0 win at UMass Lowell on September 11, and .281 (40-13-96) at Central Michigan on September 19.
UP NEXT: San José State returns home for the final home Thursday match of the season on November 5 against Utah State at 6 p.m. The Spartans have two remaining home Saturday matches - the 7th against Boise State at 1 p.m., and the 21st against San Diego State at 1 p.m.