Nov. 8, 2016
VOLLEYBALL ON THE ROAD THIS WEEK, FACES TOP MW TEAM: The San José State volleyball team goes back on the road this week for matches at Air Force on Thursday and at Mountain West leader Boise State this Saturday. The Falcons are currently 11th in the conference standings, while the Broncos are tied for first with Colorado State at 11-2. After going 1-1 last week, the Spartans are tied for eighth place at 4-10 with Fresno State and New Mexico. SJSU is 1-1 with New Mexico this year and only faces the Bulldogs once this year - November 22 at Spartan Gym.
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/live.
ABOUT AIR FORCE: The Falcons enter Thursday night's match with a 9-17 overall record and 0-13 mark in the Mountain West. The team is led by Elizabeth Pennington with 348 kills, 3.55 ps, and followed closely by Abigail Miksch with 322 kills, 3.35 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 6-4.
First Meeting - W, 3-0, October 12, 1996, The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.
Last Meeting -3-0, October 15, 2016, Spartan Gym
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, October 15, 2016, Spartan Gym
Current Streak - W1
ABOUT BOISE STATE: The Broncos begin the week with a 20-6 overall record and 11-2 MW mark. The team is tied for first in the conference standings with Colorado State. Sierra Nobley leads the conference in kills with 413 and in kills per set at 4.54. Maddy O'Donnell is the Broncos' best blocker with 119, 1.31 ps, while Maddi Osburn is the conference's leader in digs with 457, 5.02 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 16-15.
First Meeting -L, 3-1, September 20, 1997, Moraga, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, October 13, 2016, Spartan Gym
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, October 9, 2008, Bronco Gym, Boise, Idaho
Current Streak - L12
Last 10 meetings - 0-10
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 28-58 record in three seasons at SJSU, and a 71-105 coaching record in six seasons.
GAMA JOINS ELITE SPARTAN BLOCKING COMPANY: With 114 block assists on the season, Nandyala Gama moved up the San José State single season block assists list this past week. She is now in sixth place by herself and has a chance to move up to third place this week.
Gama is the first player to enter the top-10 in block assists since the 2002 season when Stephanie Pasccuci and Liz Hudson each entered the list. The school record is 134, set by Hudson during the 2001 season.
BLOCK ASSISTS TOTAL YEAR
1. Liz Hudson 134 2001
2. Kim Hicks 128 1988
3. Liz Hudson 119 2002
4. Cristin Rossman 117 1994
5. Cristin Rossman 115 1992
6. Nandyala Gama 114 2016
7. Joslynn Gallop 112 2000
8. Melissa Myers 111 1998
9. Tanya Kamau 110 1998
10. Barbara Higgins 108 1986
ONE OF THE TOP BLOCKING TEAMS IN SCHOOL HISTORY: This Spartan team begins the week with 234.5 total blocks and is one of the top-10 blocking teams in school history. The team is currently eighth on the list and needs just one block to move into seventh and 5.5 blocks to move into sixth place. The school record is 361 blocks in 1983.
Total Blocks Year
1. 361.0 1983
2. 331.5 1988
3. 314.0 1984
4. 222.5 1990
5. 241.5 2013
6. 240.0 1997
7. 235.5 2007
8. 234.5 2016
9. 227.5 2004
10. 227.0 2005