Sept. 21, 2016
MOUNTAIN WEST ACTION BEGINS THIS WEEK: The San José State volleyball team opens up Mountain West play on the road this week at Wyoming and Colorado State. The Spartans enter conference play with a 7-5 overall record, the second consecutive season of a winning non-conference schedule.
LIVE STATS: Live stat links for the matches are available on the San José State website at www.SJSUSpartans.com.
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.
ABOUT WYOMING: The Cowgirls enter Thursday night's match with 7-6 overall record and went 2-1 last week at the Idaho Volleyball Classic. Laura Beach leads the team in hitting with 101 kill and a .390 hitting percentage. Reed Copeland leads the team with 48 blocks, 1.14 per set.
Series Record - Wyoming leads 6-4.
First Meeting - W, 3-0, October 1, 1983, Berkeley, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-2, November 14, 2015, Laramie, Wyo.
Current Streak - L1
ABOUT COLORADO STATE: The Rams enter the week with a 6-5 overall record and host Fresno State Thursday night before the Spartans come to town. The defending MW champs went 2-1 last weekend at the Omni Invitational, falling to #18 Colorado, 3-1. Sanja Cizmic leads the team with 117 kills, 3.08 per set, while Alexandra Poletto and Kirstie Hillyer are the conference's top-two blockers at 1.50 and 1.47 per set, respectively. Colorado State ranks seventh in the nation in blocking at 3.21 per set.
Series Record - Colorado State leads 11-4.
First Meeting - W, 3-0, September 20, 1984, Spartan Gym
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, November 12, 2015, Fort Collins, Colo.
Current Streak - L5
Last 10 meetings - 1-9
HEAD COACH Jolene Shepardson: San José State head coach Jolene Shepardson is in her third season at the helm of the program. She has a 24-48 record in three seasons at SJSU, and a 67-95 coaching record in six seasons.
GAMA NEARLY BLOCKS HER WAY INTO A MATCH RECORD: Against Cal State Fullerton on September 16, Nandyala Gama recorded 13 block assists, one shy of tying the San José State records for block assists in a match and total blocks in a match. She is also the only Spartan in school history to record 13 blocks in a match. Gama has the top blocking performance this season in the Mountain West.
Top Blocking Performance at San José State
14 Kylie Miraldi (0s14a), vs. UC Riverside, 9/17/11
Brianna Amian (0s14a), vs. San Francisco, 9/12/07
Liz Hudson (0s14a), vs. Idaho, 11/24/01
Mandy McMahon (5s9a), at Fresno State, 10/7/83
13 Nandyala Gama (13a) vs. CS Fullerton, 9/16/16
12 Mary Alice O'Reilly (2s10a), vs. San Diego St., 11/7/13
Keri Anglin (0s12a), vs. San Francisco, 9/12/07
Dyana Thompson (12a), at San Francisco, 9/6/05
Liz Hudson (12a), at Saint Mary's, 10/8/02
Liz Hudson (1s11a), vs. Santa Clara, 11/30/01
Kari Roberson (2s10a), vs. San Diego State, 9/19/87
Kim Hicks (12a), at Wyoming, 11/21/87
Barbara Higgins (1s11a), vs. Hawaii, 12/12/86
Arlene Ringer (6s6a), vs. Stanford, 9/23/83
Jodi Breding (), at California, 11/19/82
ANDRADE MOVES UP SINGLE-MATCH DIGGING LIST: Luiza Andrade keeps moving up the single-match dig list with two 30+ dig matches in September. She joined the 30-dig club on September 3, when she recored 30 digs in a match at Utah Valley. Then, against Cal State Fullerton on September 16, Andrade recorded 37 digs in a match, the fifth-highest total in school history and the only player at SJSU to record 37 digs in a match. She is the 13th Spartan in school history to record 30 or more digs in a match.
Top Dig Performances at San José State
47 Jessie Shull, vs. UC Santa Barbara, 9/2/06
42 Kristal Tsukano, at Idaho, 10/11/07
Jessie Shull, vs. Fresno State, 11/3/04
39 Jessie Shull, at Idaho, 11/19/05
38 Lisa Ice, vs. Hawaii, 11/21/86 Lisa Ice, at Cal Poly, 10/24/86
37 Luiza Andrade, vs. Cal State Fullerton, 9/16/16
36 Jessie Shull, at Fresno State, 10/25/06 Kim Hicks, at California, 10/11/88
GÃVIO KILLS MOVE HER INTO SJSU HISTORY: Giulia Gávio recorded a career-best 32 kills against Southern Utah on September 2, and moved herself into the Spartan record books. She is just one of five Spartan players to record 32 kills in a match. The 32 kills are the third-highest total number of kills in match in San José State history.
Top Kill Performances in San José State History
38 Paola Paz-Soldan, at BYU, 9/10/94
33 Paola Paz-Soldan, vs. Pacific, 10/17/95
Dawnis Wilson, at New Mexico, 10/5/90
32 Giulia Gávio, vs. Southern Utah, 9/2/16
Joslynn Gallop, vs. Boise State, 9/8/00
Dawnis Wilson, at Santa Clara, 10/15/91
Betsy Welsh, vs. UC Irvine, 10/14/90
Linda Fournet, vs. Oregon State, 11/11/83
KEEP THE BLOCKS COMING: Freshman Thaliana Grajeda is making her mark on the San José State blocking lists after her performance against Southern Utah. She recorded 11 blocks assists in the match to become the ninth player in school history to accomplish the feat.
Spartans With 11 Blocks In a Match
11 Thaliana Grajeda (11a), vs. Southern Utah, 9/2/16
Niki Clement (3s,8a), vs. Fresno State, 11/10/05
Joslynn Gallop (5s6a) vs. UTEP, 11/10/00
Cristin Rossman (2s9a), vs. American, 12/2/94
Cristin Rossman (4s7a), vs. Colorado State, 9/12/92
Heather McPherson (2s9a), vs. Long Beach St., 10/12/90
Leslie Page (4s7a), vs. New Mexico St., 9/30/91
Kim Hicks (1s10a), vs. San Diego St., 9/19/87
Christa Cook (11a), vs. Pacific, 10/2/84
Mandy McMahon (9s2a), vs. Utah St., 9/12/83
DOUBLE-DOUBLE BY WHO??!!: In the five-set loss to Long Beach State, libero Luiza Andrade accomplished a rare feat for a libero, recording a double-double. In the first one accomplished at San José State, Andrade had a career-best 11 assists and 13 digs. Twice this season, she was within one assist of a double-double.
UP NEXT: The Spartans return to Spartan Gym for the first time in a month to open the home portion of the Mountain West schedule. The team hosts New Mexico on Thursday, September 29 at 6 p.m., followed by UNLV on Saturday, October 1, at 1 p.m. Admission is free to all San José State volleyball matches at Spartan Gym, located on the corner of 4th and San Carlos Streets in downtown San Jose.