Sept. 18, 2017
MATCHES 12 & 13San José State at NevadaVirginia Street Gym, Reno, Nev.Tuesday, September 196:30 p.m. PDTStadium/Mountain West NetworkSan José State at Air ForceCadet Gym, Colorado Springs, Colo.Saturday, September 2312:00 p.m. MDT/11:00 a.m. PDTMountain West NetworkLive stats - www.sjsuspartans.comLive video - Links available at www.sjsuspartans.com/videos
VOLLEYBALL OPENS MW SCHEDULE ON THE ROAD: The San José State volleyball team goes on the road this week to open the Mountain West portion of the 2017 schedule. The Spartans play at Nevada on Tuesday and at Air Force on Saturday.
San José State enters the conference portion of the schedule with an 8-3 overall record, the third consecutive season the program has posted a winning non-conference record. San José State defeated Santa Clara, 3-1, Saturday night to finish 1-2 at the SCU/SJSU Tournament.
LIVE STATS: Live stat links for the matches are available on the San José State website at www.SJSUSpartans.com.
LIVE VIDEO: The San José State-Nevada match will be broadcast on Stadium and the Mountain West Network. Jordan Dynes will be on play-by-play with color commentary by Randy Levine. The Air Force match will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
ABOUT NEVADA: The Wolf Pack enter Tuesday night's match with a 2-10 overall record. The team's wins came against Utah Valley (3-1) and San Francisco (3-1). Head coach Lee Nelson is in his third year at the school. Shayla Hoeft is the team's kill leader with 154, 3.42 per set, while Peighton De Von has a team-best 45 blocks, 1.00 ps. San Jose native Dalyn Burns is the starting setter with 452 assists, 10.04 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 27-21.
First Meeting - W, 2-0, October 7, 1978, Berkeley, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, November 5, 2016, Spartan Gym
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, November 2, 2013, Reno, Nev.
Current Streak - Lost 5
Last 10 Matches: 4-6
ABOUT AIR FORCE: The Falcons begin the week with a 7-7 overall record and host Nevada Thursday night before the Spartans come to town. The team went 1-2 last week, defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-0), but falling to Northern Colorado (3-0) and South Dakota (3-2). Head coach Marc Swindle is in his second year at the helm of the program. Denise Ssozi has a team-best 209 kills, 3.94 ps, while Piper is the team blocking leader with 63, 1.21 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 7-4.
First Meeting - W, 3-0, October 12, 1996, The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.
Last Meeting - W, 3-2, November 10,2016, USAFA
Last SJSU Win - W, 3-2, November 10,2016, USAFA
Current Streak - Won 2
Last 10 matches: 6-4
HEAD COACH Jolene Shepardson: San José State head coach Jolene Shepardson is in her fourth season at the helm of the program. She has a 37-64 record in four seasons at SJSU, and a 80-111 coaching record in seven seasons.
NATIONAL RANKINGS (as of 9/18): Listed below are the Spartans among national leaders as a team and individually.
Team Rankings (Top 75)
Kills Per Set 38th, 13.98 ps
Assists Per Set 49th, 12.95 ps
Winning Percentage 66th, .727
Aces Per Set 71st, 1.50 ps
Individual Rankings (Top 100)
Attacks Per Set Fernanda Vido, 51st 11.17 ps
Aces Per Set Luiza Andrade, 63rd 0.43 ps
Service Aces Luiza Andrade, 74th 18
Assists Per Set Breann Robinson, 78th 10.16 ps
Kills Per Set Fernanda Vido, 85th 3.69 ps
Points Per Set Nandyala Gama, 94th 4.15 ps
Total Attacks Fernanda Vido, 99th 469
MOUNTAIN WEST OPENERS: Since joining the Mountain West in 2013, San Jose State is 1-3 in MW-opening matches. This is the third consecutive year that the Spartans have started the conference schedule on the road.
2016 L, at Wyoming 3-0
2015 W, at Fresno State 3-2
2014 L, vs. New Mexico 3-0
2013 L, vs. Boise State 3-2
1,000 COUNTDOWN: Two Spartans are nearing the 1,000 career milestone while at San Jose State. Nandyala Gama begins the week with 905 kills, needing 95 to become the 14th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills.
Luiza Andrade currently has 900 career digs and needs 100 digs to become the eighth player in San José State history to record 1,000 career digs.
ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS: The Spartans received two honors at the Drake Invitational. Luiza Andrade was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player, while Breann Robinson was named to the All-Tournament team. At the SCU/SJSU Tournament, Nandyala Gama was the only Spartan selected to the all-tournament team.
VIDO MAKING IMMEDIATE IMPACT: Redshirt sophomore transfer Fernanda Vido has made an immediate impact on the Spartan team after transferring from Eastern Washington. She currently leads the team with 155 kills, 3.69 ps, and is second on the team in digs with 103, 2.45 ps. In the 11 matches played this season, Vido has recorded double-doubles in five of them. She had a season-best 24 kills in the win at San Francisco.
GAMA RANKED IN TWO CAREER SJSU BLOCKING LISTS: Nandyala Gama continues to climb the San José State career blocking categories. She moved up to ninth on the career block assists list and needs 11 to move into eighth place with Kim Hicks. Gama had started the season in 10th place.
Gama also entered the career blocking list to start the season. Last weekend, she moved into a tie for eighth place in total blocks with 308, tying with Colleen Burke. Seventh place is just six blocks away for Gama.
ANDRADE DIGGIN' AND SERVIN' THE BALL: Spartan libero Luiza Andrade leads the team with 185 digs, 4.40 ps, and is Mountain West leader in service aces with 18, 0.43 per set. This season, she has recored 20+ digs in three matches - 25 at Drake, 24 versus Santa Clara and 23 against Kansas. Andrade has recorded four service aces against UC Riverside and Howard.
UP NEXT: The Spartans continue on the road with two Mountain West matches in the state of California. The Spartans play at San Diego State on Thursday, September 28, at 6 p.m. The team then travels to the Central Valley to face Fresno State on Saturday, September 30, at 1 p.m.