MATCHES 10, 11
Big Apple Tournament
San José State (4-5) at LIU (0-9)
Brooklyn, New York
Thursday, September 19
6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats - https://www.liuathletics.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Live video - http://necfrontrow.com/webcast.php/LIU-6727/
San José State (4-5) at Columbia (4-2)
New York, New York
Friday, September 20
7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT
Live stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=274362
Live video - http://www.espnplus.com
SPARTANS TRAVELING TO NEW YORK: The San José State volleyball team plays the final non-conference matches of the regular season this week as the team travels to New York for matches at LIU in Brooklyn and Columbia in New York City. The Spartans bring a one-match winning streak into the week after sweeping Marist last Saturday behind 14 service aces.
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: Each match this week will be broadcast by the respective school. Links are available on the San José State website at https://sjsuspartans.com/schedule.aspx?path=wvball.
ABOUT LIU: The Sharks begin the week with an 0-9 record on the season after losing to Florida International, 0-3, North Florida, 1-3, and Charleston Southern, 1-3, last weekend. The team is hitting just .101 on the season. Head coach Ken Ko is in his fifth at the helm of the program.
LIU Leaders
Hit % .189 Kora Schaberl
Kills 105, 3.62 ps Kora Schaberl
Assists 167, 5.76 ps Amanda Hubbard
Aces 5, 0.19 ps Karolina Nova
Digs 126, 4.34 ps Natalia Rivera
Blocks 19, 0.66 ps Miranda Strongman
Series Record - First meeting
ABOUT COLUMBIA: The Lions begin the week with a 4-2 overall record and host Fordham Thursday night before the Spartans play there Friday night. The team went 2-1 last weekend at the Cherry & White Tournament where they beat Lehigh and Radford, 3-1, but were swept by host Temple. Head coach Allison Keeley is in her second year at the helm of the program. She was the head coach at UNLV from 2004-10.
Columbia Leaders
Hit % .481 Chichi Ikwuazom
Kills 131, 5.95 ps Chichi Ikwuazom
Assists 209, 9.50 ps Audrey Cheng
Ace 8, 0.36 ps Kalie Wood
Digs 80, 3.64 ps Kalie Wood
Blocks 16, 0.73 ps Chichi Ikwuazom
Series Record - First Meeting
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 66-91 record in six seasons at SJSU, and a 109-138 coaching record in nine seasons. She recorded her 50th win at San José State with a 3-2 win over Pacific on September 8, 2018.
SERVING IT UP SINCE 2002: The Spartans went 17 years between 14+ service aces in a match. This year's team recorded 14 aces in a 3-0 win over Marist on, ironically, September 14. Thaliana Grajeda tied her career-high with five. Makayla Lewis served up four aces, while Sarah Smevog added three. Mamie Garard and Haylee Nelson each had one.
The team had not recorded at least 14 aces in a match since September 7, 2002, when SJSU had 18 aces in a 3-1 win over Cal Poly at the Stanford Tournament. In that match, Liz Hudson led the team with six aces, while Christina Lukens and Fran Pozzi recorded four aces and Stephanie Pascucci and Kimberly Noble recorded two aces a piece.
COMEBACK KIDS: Most volleyball teams down 0-2 may fold in the third set, but San José State showed what being a Spartan is all about as the team rallied for a 3-2 win over North Texas at the ShareSLO Mustang Challenge hosted by Cal Poly.
Haylee Nelson recorded a career-high in kills for the second consecutive night, this time leading the team with 22 kills.
After losing the first set 25-16, the Spartans rallied in the second set and tied the match at 20-20 before North Texas scored five of the final eight points to win 25-23.
San José State then rallied like true Spartans to win the final three sets. The Spartans jumped out to a 9-3 lead, but the Mean Green would not go away, tied the set at 20-20, but never took the lead. SJSU needed six set points to finally win 29-27.
Set four belong to the Spartans from the opening set in a 25-18 win. The team hit .483 for the set (15-1-29) as Thaliana Grajeda smashed a set from Kaitlynn Zdroik for the set winner.
The Spartans started the fifth set on the same side they won the fourth set. North Texas jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, causing San José State head coach Jolene Shepardson to take a timeout. SJSU slowly chipped away at the lead, tying the match at 10-10, 12-12 and 13-13, before back-to-back kills from Latahevai Lousi and Caitlin Bettenay gave San José State a 15-13 set-five win and the match.
SMEVOG DIGGIN' THE BALL: In just her fifth match as the Spartans' libero, Sarah Smevog recorded 34 digs in win over North Texas, a career-best and the eighth-best total in school history. She is third Spartan to record 34 digs in a match, joining Jessie Shull (9/16/06) and Barbara Higgs (9/26/87). Smevog is now the 10th player in school history to record 34 or more digs in a match.
34 Sarah Smevog, vs. North Texas, 9/6/19
Jessie Shull, vs. CS Northridge, 9/16/06
Barbara Higgins, vs. UC Santa Barbara, 9/26/87
SPARTANS FIRST WIN OF 2019 AGAINST MONTANA: The Spartans top-four hitters on the day hit at least .333 or better as San José State def. Montana, 3-0, last Saturday afternoon at the Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis.
Caitlin Bettenay led the team in kills with 11 as she hit .391 for the match (11-2-23). She also recorded the first Spartan double-double of the season with a team-high 13 digs.
Thaliana Grajeda and Ryann Thomison each hit .692 to lead the Spartans. Each had nine kills on 13 attempts and no errors. Haylee Nelson hit .333 for the match with 8 kills on 15 attempts and three errors. Grajeda and Taumafa Tuinauvai each had four blocks to lead SJSU.
FRESHMEN DEBUTS: All four Spartans have made their debut in a Spartan uniform this season. Tamuafa Tuinauvai played against UC Davis and Montana, accumulating seven kills and five blocks in those matches. Drae Fresenius played in three sets against Montana and led team with three service aces. Yazmin Pitpit saw action in three sets against North Texas. Makayla Lewis started matches against Northern Colorado and Marist and had eight kills against Marist.
ALL-TOURNAMENT SELECTIONS: Two Spartans were named to the Aggie Invitational All-Tournament team. Thaliana Grajeda and Sarah Smevog were honored after their performances. Grajeda led the team in blocking for the weekend, while Smevog was the team leader in digs.
Grajeda was also named to the South Bay Battle All-Tournament team. She hit .415 for the three matches and led the team with six service aces.
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
GRAJEDA ENTERS SJSU CAREER BLOCKING LISTS: Senior Thaliana Grajeda begins the week in 10th place on two San José State career blocking lists. She entered both lists at the ShareSLO Mustang Challenge. Grajeda is now 10th all-time in block assists with 273, and needs six block assists to move into ninth place with Kim Hicks.
Grajeda is 10th on the all-time blocking list with 294 and needs 14 blocks to move into ninth place with Colleen Burke at 308.
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. Thaliana Grajeda 273 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. Thaliana Grajeda 294 2016-C
UP NEXT: The Spartans open Mountain West play with two matches, beginning on the road at San Diego State on Thursday, September 26. SJSU opens the home MW schedule on Saturday, September 28, against rival Fresno State. That match begins at 2 p.m., inside Spartan Gym. These will be the only meetings of the season between the Spartans and Aztecs and Bulldogs