MATCHES 1, 2, 3
Aggie Invitational
San José State vs. Pacific
The Pavilion, Davis, Calif.
Friday, August 30
12:30 p.m. PT
San José State at UC Davis
The Pavilion, Davis, Calif.
Friday, August 30
7:30 p.m. PT
BigWest.TV - https://bigwest.org/watch/?Live=2198
San José State vs. Montana
The Pavilion, Davis, Calif.
Saturday, August 31
12:00 p.m. PT
Tournament Page - https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/2019/8/12/2019-Aggie-Invitational.aspx
Live stats - https://sjsuspartans.com/schedule.aspx?path=wvball
SPARTANS BEGIN 2019 SEASON BY TRAVELING UP I-80 TO DAVIS: The San José State volleyball team begins the 2019 season this weekend at the Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis. The Spartans will face Pacific and UC Davis on Friday and Montana on Saturday. SJSU brings a four-match winning streak into the weekend.
LIVE STATS: Live stat links for all matches are available on the San José State website at https://sjsuspartans.com/schedule.aspx?path=wvball.
LIVE VIDEO: The San José State-UC Davis will be broadcast on BigWest.TV at https://bigwest.org/watch/?Live=2198. The other two matches will not have live coverage.
ABOUT PACIFIC: The Tigers finished 2018 with a 13-16 overall record and 8-10 in the WCC. The team picked to finished sixth in the conference this season. Head coach Greg Gibbons enters his 10th season at the helm of the program.
2018 Pacific Leaders
Hit % .344 Alex Holt
Kills 439, 3.88 ps Kaitlyn Lines
Assists 903, 8.06 ps Hanne De Schrijver
Aces 41, 0.36 ps Kaitlyn Lines
Digs 386. 3.86 ps Jadyn Tubbs
Blocks 85, 0.75 ps Alex Holt
Series Record - Pacific leads 41-11.
First Meeting - W, 3-1, 1977
Last Meeting - W, 3-2, September 8, 2018, Greeley, Colo.
Last SJSU Win - W, 3-2, September 8, 2018, Greeley, Colo.
Current Streak - W1
Last 10 meetings - 3-7
2018 meeting: Caitlin Bettenay led the team with 16 kills as the Spartans won 3-2 last September to win the Hampton Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic.
ABOUT UC DAVIS: The Aggies finished the 2018 season with a 16-12 overall record and 8-8 in the Big West. Head coach Dan Conners begins his sixth season at the helm of the program.
UC Davis 2018 Leaders
Hit % .264 Lauren Jackson
Kills 379, 3.58 ps Emily Allen
Assists 457, 5.13 ps Maddie Merlino
Aces 27, 0.29 ps Malia Bolko
Digs 441, 4.69 ps Malia Bolko
Blocks 76, 1.03 ps Josephine Ough
Series Record - San José State leads 4-1.
First Meeting - W, 3-0, September 27, 1977, Davis, Calif.
Last Meeting - L, 3-0, September 6, 2014, Davis, Calif.
Last SJSU Win - 3-0, September 6, 2006, Spartan Gym
Current Streak - L1
Last 5 meetings - 4-1
2014 meeting: The Spartans hit only .065 for the match in a 3-0 at UC Davis. Tyanna Roy led the Spartan hitting attack with eight kills, Sara Hibbs added six block assists.
ABOUT MONTANA: The Griz ended 2018 with a 10-21 overall record and 7-11 mark in the Big Sky Conference. Head coach Allison Lawrence is in her third year at the helm of the program.
Montana 2018 Leaders
Hit % .291 Olivia Bradley
Kills 372, 3.26 ps Mykaela Hammer
Assists 1144, 10.12 ps Ashley Watkins
Aces 25, 0.22 ps Ashley Watkins
Digs 429, 4.25 ps Sarina Moreno
Blocks 92, 0.91 ps Baily Permann
Series Record - San José State leads 2-0
First Meeting - W, 3-1, September 17, 1982, Spartan Gym, Calif.
Last Meeting - W, 3-0, September 9, 2017, Des Moines, Iowa
Last SJSU Win - W, 3-0, September 9, 2017, Des Moines, Iowa
Current Streak - W2
2017 meeting: The Spartans swept Montana, 3-0, to win the Drake Invitational. Current Spartan Ryann Thomison had three block assists in the match to lead the team.
HEAD COACH JOLENE SHEPARDSON: San José State head coach Jolene Shepardson is in her sixth season at the helm of the program and ninth as a head coach. She has a 62-86 record in five seasons at SJSU, and a 105-133 coaching record in eight seasons. She recorded her 50th win at San José State with a 3-2 win over Pacific on September 8, 2018.
SHEPARDSON REACHES 100 CAREER WINS: Spartan head coach Jolene Shepardson recorded her 100th career victory in the 3-0 win at Boise State on October 27, 2018. Prior to her arrival at San José State, she was the head coach at Cal State Bakersfield for three years where she went 43-47.
RETURNING ALL-MW PLAYERS: The Spartans return two All-Mountain West honorees from 2018. Redshirt junior Latahevai Lousi was an All-MW selection after leading the team with 207 kills in MW play (3.23 ps). She recorded double-digit kills in 13 of her 16 MW matches played. Lousi also had 46 blocks in MW play. For 2018, she led the Spartans with 239 kills, 3.10 ps.
Thaliana Grajeda was an honorable mention All-MW pick as led the Spartan team in blocking during MW play with 67, 0.94 per set. She had a team-high 11 solo blocks and 56 block assists in those 18 matches. Overall, she hit .323 for the season and led San José State with 84 blocks, 0.82 ps.
2019 MW PRESEASON COACHES POLL: Coming off the school's most successful volleyball season since joining the Mountain West in 2013, the San José State volleyball team was picked fifth in the 2019 MW Preseason Coaches poll.
The Spartans finished the conference season with an 11-7 record last year, good for fourth place. The team recorded the most MW wins in school history and had the highest conference since the team tied for fourth place in the 2006 Western Athletic Conference standings.
Defending champion Colorado State was selected first by the 10 other coaches to repeat. Wyoming was picked second by one point over UNLV, followed by Boise State, who garnered the other first-place vote.
2019 Mountain West Preseason Poll
1. Colorado State (10) 100
2. Wyoming 79
3. UNLV 78
4. Boise State (1) 73
5. San José State 66
6. Fresno State 56
7. New Mexico 50
8. San Diego State 41
9. Air Force 28
10. Utah State 19
11. Nevada 15
TOURNAMENT TITLES: With four tournaments on the schedule this season, the Spartans are looking to keep alive the streak of winning at least one tournament title alive. The team has won a tournament each of the past four years. Before 2015, SJSU had not won a tournament title since the 2006 season.
Recent Tournament Titles Won
2018 - Hampton Inn & Suites Northern Colorado Classic
2017 - Drake Invitational
2016 - Spartan Invitational
2015 - UMass Lowell Invitational
ACTIVE WINNING STREAK: San José State begins the 2019 season with a four-match winning streak. The Spartans finished 2018 by defeating Nevada (3-1), Air Force (3-0), Fresno State (3-1) and San Diego State (3-2).
The Spartans have not started a season with a winning streak since 2004 when the team won 3-0 at Cal Poly after playing in the WAC Tournament.
SJSU is one of three Mountain West teams to bring a winning streak into the 2019 season - Air Force at three wins and New Mexico at one win.
GRAJEDA NEARS SJSU CAREER BLOCKING LISTS: Senior Thaliana Grajeda enters the 2019 season on the heels of two San José State career blocking lists. Through her three seasons, she has 252 block assists, just nine shy of Alex Akana who is 10th at 261, and 271 career blocks, 15 shy of Akana's 286 total in 10th place.
BLOCK ASSISTS TOTAL YEARS
1. Joslynn Gallop 391 1997-00
2. Melissa Myers 370 1995-98
3. Barbara Higgins 340 1984-87
4. Liz Hudson 337 2000-02
5. Nandyala Gama 325 2014-17
6. Cristin Rossman 291 1991-94
7. Stephanie Pascucci 287 1999-02
8. Colleen Burke 281 2005-08
9. Kim Hicks 279 1985-88
10. Alex Akana 261 2009-12
......Thaliana Grajeda 252 2016-C
TOTAL BLOCKS TOTAL YEARS
1. Joslynn Gallop 456 1997-00
2. Barbara Higgins 447 1984-87
3. Melissa Myers 445 1995-98
4. Nandyala Gama 366 2014-17
5. Liz Hudson 365 2000-02
6. Cristin Rossman 357 1991-94
7. Kim Hicks 324 1985-88
8. Stephanie Pascucci 314 1999-02
9. Colleen Burke 308 2005-08
10. Alex Akana 286 2009-12
......Thaliana Grajeda 271 2016-C
BACK-TO-BACK WINNING SEASONS: The Spartans are looking to make it three in row in winning seasons after recording winning records each of the past two years. The team was 17-12 in 2017 and 16-11 in 2018. The last time SJSU had at least three consecutive winning seasons was 1997-2001, all under former head coach Craig Choate.
Year Overall Pct Conf. Conference Finish
1997 17-14 .548 7-7 4th WAC Pacific Division
1998 21-12 .636 7-7 4th WAC Pacific Division
1999 25-6 .806 11-3 2nd WAC
2000 22-10 .688 13-3 2nd WAC
2001 25-8 .758 9-4 2nd WAC