Nov. 15, 2017
MATCHES 28 & 29San José State at Boise StateSpartan Gym, San Jose, Calif.Wednesday, November 157:30 p.m. MT/6:30 p.m. PTMountain West NetworkUtah State at San José StateSpartan Gym, San Jose, Calif.Saturday, November 182:00 p.m. PTMountain West NetworkLive stats - www.sjsuspartans.comLive video - Links available at www.sjsuspartans.com/videos
SPARTANS PLAY FINAL CONFERENCE MATCHES: The San José State volleyball team plays the final two Mountain West matches of 2017 season this week and faces two teams for the first time this season. The team travels to Boise State to face the fifth-place team in the Mountain West on Wednesday night. The Spartans then finish the conference schedule with a home match against Utah State on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.
San José State begins the week with a 17-10 overall record and 9-7 mark in the Mountain West. The Spartans are currently in fourth place, one match behind San Diego State and one ahead of Boise State in the standings.
LIVE STATS: Live stat links for the matches are available on the San José State website at www.sjsuspartans.com.
LIVE VIDEO: Both matches this week will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network. Jess Knaster provides the play-by-play for Saturday's match. Fans can access the video on the Spartan website at www.sjsuspartans.com/videos or on the "Stadium" app on iPhone under "Live Events."
ANDRADE MW HONOR: Libero Luiza Andrade is the Mountain West Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week after the Spartans went 1-1 last week with an upset win over then-#19 Colorado State, 3-2. This is her second honor this season.
Andrade, from Rio de Janiero, Brazil, recorded 20+ digs in both matches last week, her fifth and sixth times to reach this milestone during the season. In the upset win over Colorado State, she led all players with 23 digs and was one of three Spartans to record 10 or more digs in the match. One of the best servers in the MW, Andrade also had a team-best three service aces in the win over Rams. Against Wyoming, she recorded 22 digs to lead the team and added five assists.
For the week, Andrade averaged 5.62 digs, 1.00 assists, 0.38 service aces and 0.38 points per set. She had a perfect 1.000 reception percentage
SENIOR DAY: This Saturday, four Spartan volleyball players will be honored after the match for their contributions to the San José State program. Fans are invited to stick around as we celebrate the careers of Summer Avery, Nandyala Gama, Jamie Hirai and Breann Robinson.
ABOUT BOISE STATE: The Broncos enter Wednesday night's match with a 15-13 overall record and 8-8 MW record. The team won matches last week against Air Force (3-0) and Utah State (3-0). Head coach Shawn Garus is in his ninth season at the school and was the 2015 and 2016 MW Coach of the Year. Sierra Nobley leads the MW in kills with 413, 4.69 ps, and points at 465, 5.29 ps, while Maddi Osburn has a conference-best 496 digs, 4.91 ps.
Series Record - Series tied at 16-16.
First Meeting -L, 3-1, September 20, 1997, Moraga, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, November 12, 2016, Bronco Gym
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, October 9, 2008, Bronco Gym, Boise, Idaho
Current Streak - L13
Last 10 meetings - 0-10
ABOUT UTAH STATE: The Aggies begin the week with a 15-13 overall record and 7-9 MW mark, good to tie for sixth in the MW standings. The team split matches last week, losing to Boise State, 3-0, but defeating Air Force, 3-2. Head coach Grayson DuBose is in his 12th year at the school. Lauren Anderson is second best in the MW in kills with 401, 4.01 ps, while Tasia Taylor is second in digs with 486, 4.86 ps.
Series Record - San José State leads 20-19-1
First Meeting -T, 1-1, November 3, 1979, Los Angeles, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, November 19, 2016, Kirby Court at Estes
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, November 5, 2015, Spartan Gym
Current Streak - L1
Last 10 meetings - 3-7
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 46-71 record in four seasons at SJSU, and a 89-118 coaching record in seven seasons.
NATIONAL RANKINGS (as of 11/13): Listed below are the Spartans among national leaders as a team and individually.
Team Rankings (Top 100)
Aces Per Set 50th, 1.47 ps
Team Service Aces 55th 153
Team Kills 84th, 1,395
Kills Per Set 85th, 13.41 ps
Assists Per Set 90th, 12.49 ps
Team Assists 93rd, 1,299
Hitting Percentage 95th, .225
Winning Percentage 99th, .630
Individual Rankings (Top 100)
Attacks Per Set Fernanda Vido, 49th 11.14 ps
Service Aces Luiza Andrade, 70th 37
Assists Per Set Breann Robinson, 79th 10.28 ps
Kills Per Set Fernanda Vido, 81st 3.73 ps
Total Assists Breann Robinson, 86th 1,018
Kills Per Set Giulia Gávio, 91st 3.68 ps
Aces Per Set Luiza Andrade, 96th 0.36 ps
POSTSEASON POSSIBILITY: The National Invitational Volleyball Championship is coming back this season after a hiatus of 20+ years. This tournament will feature 64 teams and be hosted by participating schools. San José State is one of about 100 schools being considered for the tournament. The tournament field will be announced late on November 26th after the NCAA Tournament field is announced.
San José State made an appearance at the 1994 NIVC played in Kansas City, Mo. The Spartans won their pool, defeated San Diego 3-2 in the semifinals before losing to CSUN 3-1 in the championship match.
WINNING SEASON/MOST MW WINS: With the 3-0 win over Fresno State on October 26, San José State guaranteed the program a winning season for the first time since the 2006 season. That team finished the year 19-12 overall and had the last above .500 winning conference season at 9-7. The 16 wins for this year's team are also the most wins since the 2012 team won 14 matches.
With nine MW wins, this year's team has the most conference wins since the Spartans joined the MW in 2013. The wins are also the most conference wins since the 2012 team went 9-9 in the Western Athletic Conference.
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 12th 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 eighth all-time on the San José State career assists lists. She begins the week with 2,478 assists, passing Danielle Spier last week. Robinson needs just 16 assists to move into seventh, 70 for seventh place and 77 for sixth place.
HOME SWEET OCTOBER: After starting the Mountain West season with four straight road matches in September, San José State played 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 on the road at #21 Colorado State (L, 3-0) and Wyoming (L, 3-0), the Spartans returned home for four consecutive matches - Nevada (W, 3-0), Air Force (W, 3-1), Fresno State (W, 3-0) and San Diego State (L, 3-0).
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 415 digs, 3.99 ps, and in service aces with 37, 0.36 per set. This season, she has recored 20+ digs in six matches - 25 at Drake, 24 versus Santa Clara, 23 against Kansas and Colorado State, 22 versus Wyoming and 20 at San Diego State. Andrade recorded four service aces against UC Riverside and Howard.
She is also moving up the San José State career digs list. Andrade begins the week in fourth place with 1,085 digs. She needs 265 digs to move into third place with Kristal Tsukano.
VIDO MAKING IMPACT: Redshirt sophomore transfer Fernanda Vido returned to the Spartan lineup in the middle of October and made an immediate impact. She begins the week with 296 kills, 3.73 per set, and 181 digs, 2.29 ps. In the 21 matches played this season, Vido has recorded double-doubles in seven of them. She had a season-best 26 kills in the win at UNLV.
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 324 and needs 13 more to jump into fourth place. Gama moved into fourth place in total blocks with 365.
UP NEXT: San José State will wait to find out if the team will play in the NIVC.