Oct. 16, 2017
HOME SWEET HOME: The San José State volleyball team returns to the confines of Spartan Gym for the rest of October. This week, the team hosts Nevada on Tuesday and Air Force on Thursday. Next week, the Spartans continue the home stand with matches against Fresno State (26th, 6 p.m.) and San Diego State (28th, 2 p.m.).
San José State begins the week with an 12-7 overall record and 4-4 mark in the Mountain West. The Spartans are tied for third in the Mountain West standings at 4-4 with Boise State and Utah State after losing last week at #21 Colorado State (3-0) and Wyoming (3-0).
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. Jess Knaster will be on play-by-play with color commentary by Alli Meehan. The Air Force match will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
ABOUT NEVADA: The Wolf Pack enter Tuesday night's match with a 5-15 overall record and a 3-5 MW mark. The team is one of six MW teams tied for sixth place after losing last week at Wyoming (3-0) and at Colorado State (3-0). Head coach Lee Nelson is in his third year at the school. Shayla Hoeft is the team's kill leader with 176, 3.38 per set, while Peighton De Von has a team-best 68 blocks, 0.92 ps. San Jose native Dalyn Burns is the starting setter with 649 assists, 8.77 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 27-22.
First Meeting - W, 2-0, October 7, 1978, Berkeley, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, September 19, 2017, Virginia Street Gym, Reno, Nev.
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, November 2, 2013, Reno, Nev.
Current Streak - Lost 6
Last 10 Matches: 3-7
ABOUT AIR FORCE: Air Force enters Thursday night's match with a 10-12 overall record and 3-5 MW mark, one of six teams tied for sixth place. Last week, the Falcons got home wins over Utah State (3-1) and Boise State (3-0) and have won three of their past four matches. For their efforts last week, outside hitter Denise Ssozi and middle blocker Kathleen Medill were named the MW Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively. Head coach Marc Swindle is in his second year at the helm of the program. Ssozi has a team-best 283 kills, 3.41 ps, while Piper Heineck is the team blocking leader with 100, 1.22 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 8-4.
First Meeting - W, 3-0, October 12, 1996, The Event Center, San Jose, Calif.
Last Meeting - W, 3-2, September 23, 2017, USAFA
Last SJSU Win - W, 3-2, September 23, 2017, USAFA
Current Streak - Won 3
Last 10 matches: 7-3
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 41-68 record in four seasons at SJSU, and a 84-115 coaching record in seven seasons.
NATIONAL RANKINGS (as of 10/16): Listed below are the Spartans among national leaders as a team and individually.
Team Rankings (Top 100)
Aces Per Set 47th, 1.51 ps
Team Service Aces 48th, 115
Team Kills 87th, 1,011
Team Assists 89th, 940
Kills Per Set 94th, 13.30 ps
Winning Percentage 100th, .632
Individual Rankings (Top 100)
Service Aces Luiza Andrade, 57th 26
Aces Per Set Luiza Andrade, 62nd 0.39 ps
Attacks Per Set Fernanda Vido, 65th 10.69 ps
Total Assists Breann Robinson, 94th 706
Kills Per Set Giulia Gávio, 94th 3.66 ps
Points Per Set Giulia Gavio, 97th 4.14 ps
HOME SWEET OCTOBER: After starting the Mountain West season with four straight road matches in September, San José State plays six of its eight conference matches in the confines of Spartan Gym in October. The month started with home matches against UNLV (L, 3-2) and New Mexico (W, 3-2). After playing last week on the road at #21 Colorado State (L, 3-0) and Wyoming (L, 3-0), the Spartans play the next four matches at home - Nevada (17th), Air Force (19th), Fresno State (26th) and San Diego State (28th).
BEST START SINCE 2001: The Spartans finished September with an 11-4 overall record, the most wins for the program through that month since the 2001 team finished September with an 11-2 record. That team was the last to receive an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round.
2,000 ASSISTS ACHIEVED: Setter Breann Robinson became the 12 Spartan to record 2,000 assists in her career earlier this season. Robinson did it in the fourth set of a 3-1 win at Fresno State on September 30. She has now moved into the top-10 list at San José State for career assists. She begins the week with 2,166 assists, good for 10th on the list. Robinson needs 164 assists to move into ninth place with Susie Laymon.
1,000 MILESTONES REACHED: Two Spartans reached 1,000 career milestones on October 12 when the team played at Colorado State. In set two, Nandyala Gama became the 14th player at San José State to record 1,000 career kills. Just a few points later, Luiza Andrade became the eighth player at San José State to record 1,000 career digs.
ANDRADE DIGGIN' AND SERVIN' THE BALL: Spartan libero Luiza Andrade leads the team with 295 digs, 3.88 ps, and is Mountain West leader in service aces with 30, 0.39 per set. This season, she has recored 20+ digs in four matches - 25 at Drake, 24 versus Santa Clara, 23 against Kansas and 20 at San Diego State. Andrade recorded four service aces against UC Riverside and Howard.
GAMA BLOCKING UP THE CAREER LISTS: Nandyala Gama continues to cement herself on the San José State career block assists and total blocks list. She is fifth in career block assists at 305 and would need 32 more to jump into fourth place. Gama is sixth in total blocks with 345 and needs 12 to move into fifth.
UP NEXT: , San José State welcomes Fresno State to Spartan Gym on the 26th at 6 p.m., and San Diego State on the 28th at 2 p.m.