One person's trash is Kelly Williamson's treasure.

For the second straight year, the New Mexico senior volleyball player is spearheading a drive to get society to clean up its act through a promotion dubbed "Love Red, Live Green." Williamson's goal of raising environmental consciousness about recycling and sustainability will coincide with the Lobos' Mountain West opener against TCU at the Johnson Center on Friday. While last year's "Love Red, Live Green" theme focused on the impact of carbon emissions and the benefits of becoming more energy efficient, this year's event will center on zero waste. Bins for both recycling and composting will be set up in place of all trash cans at the Johnson Center in an attempt to have no trash generated during the match.

"I'm asking everyone to be very conscious of where they're throwing their trash away," Williamson said. "The goal is to divert any waste that might otherwise end up in the landfill. I'm really hoping I've covered all my bases, because there won't be any trash cans available. I want to make sure that any trash generated from the concession stands is either compostable or recyclable."

Williamson is working in tandem with the university's recycling program and Soilutions, a local composting company in Albuquerque. Reusable grocery bags and water bottles will be distributed during the match, and an interactive halftime show will instruct fans on the benefits of composting.

But if Williamson is passionate about her pursuit, she is no less ardent about academics. A major in conservation biology with a minor in sustainability, she is a three-time all-Mountain West academic selection and as a junior was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-America third team. She is a Rhodes Scholar candidate who expects to learn the status of her application to Oxford early next month.

During the last two summers, Williamson has furthered her knowledge in conversation and sustainability by working abroad, studying rainwater harvesting systems in Nepal in 2010 before volunteering with The Nature Conservancy in China while competing in the USA Challenge Invitational Tournament for the BIP/USA Development Team in Beijing in July.

"The average American generates 4.3 pounds of waste per day that will end up in a landfill," Williamson said. "I always knew that I wanted to do something with conservation. I'm very passionate about the environment. I remember crying at the dinner table one night when I was probably 5 years old after I'd asked my dad what extinction meant. Even in high school, I already knew that I wanted to devote my life to sustainability and conservation."

Which isn't to say that her zeal for zero waste necessarily infringes on time spent honing her skills as an outside hitter. An American born in Brazil who grew up in Argentina, Williamson was noticed by coach Jeff Nelson while playing for Argentina's junior national team in an exhibition match against New Mexico during the Lobos' visit to South America in 2008. She is coming off a strong performance at last week's Pitt Blue and Gold Classic in which she recorded 49 kills, including a career-high 23 against Delaware.

Williamson hopes to play internationally following graduation while continuing her quest to enlighten society on the environmental perils plaguing the planet.

"I sometimes feel like people have lost connection with their local economy and their connection with nature," Williamson said. "We've become so hyper-individualistic because of technology and the Internet that a lot of kids these days think food just comes from the grocery store.

"There are so many crimes committed against nature. We're moving in the right direction with renewable energy, but I think people just need to get out and take a hike and learn to appreciate the world around them. I know that sounds idealistic, but I also know we can do this."

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

MW FOOTBALL HEADLINES

• Rams have little time to dwell on misfortune with Utah State on deck.

• For Air Force secondary, communication is primary.

• It's business as usual in Laramie, as Pokes get set to host No. 9 Huskers.

• Broncos throw open competition in addressing placekicking issues.

• UNLV is not patting itself on the back despite impressive win.

• Lobos taking inventory of available players in wake of injuries.

• Brady Hoke knows he's going to get San Diego State's best shot.

OTHER MW HEADLINES

• TCU volleyball looks to continue undefeated streak, hosting instate rival Texas tonight.

Have you seen a news article on the Mountain West, its teams and its players to share with fellow fans? E-mail them to Webmaster@TheMWC.com!

Sisson, a team captain who leads the nation with 40 career tackles for loss and paced the country in 2010 with seven forced fumbles, fractured his ankle in the second quarter of Saturday's win over Northern Colorado. A preseason all-Mountain West selection, he was released from Poudre Valley Hospital after undergoing surgery and is expected to miss an extended portion of the season.

"Myke Sisson sat in my office on the first day of the spring semester in January and asked what he could do to improve this program," head coach Steve Fairchild said in a statement released by CSU's athletic department. "Other than what he obviously does to help us on the field, from an intangibles and leadership standpoint, there's really no way to replace him. If we had 22 Myke Sissons, we'd win the national championship every year.

"Our most rewarding job as coaches is to help young men become better prepared for life than when they first came to Fort Collins. It's unfortunate when things like this happen, but circumstances like this not only are part of football, they're part of life as well."

Aztecs Off and Running

After posting a 23-20 win at Army on Saturday, San Diego State has started the season 2-0 for the second straight year and for the second time in the last 17 seasons. The Aztecs are 11-4 over their last 15 games, the team's best 15-game stretch since 1977-78.

Meanwhile, sophomore running back Ronnie Hillman continues to dazzle. Against Army, Hillman recorded his eighth 100-yard rushing performance in just his 15th career game at the college level. He is already tied for eighth with Lynell Hamilton, Wayne Pittman and Paul Hewitt in school history for most 100-yard rushing games (NFL Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk tops the list with 23). Saturday marked Hillman's first 100-yard rushing effort to that did not exceed 150 yards.

SDSU, which received votes in this week's USA Today Coaches' poll, hosts Washington State (2-0) on Saturday before traveling to Michigan to take on the Wolverines and former head coach Brady Hoke.

Brett Smith: No Experience Necessary

A year ago, Colorado State quarterback Pete Thomas broke the career single-season school record with a .647 completion percentage, one of the highest marks ever recorded by a true freshman at the Division I level.

Now comes Wyoming true freshman quarterback Brett Smith, who in Saturday's 45-10 win over Texas State accounted for 309 yards of total offense, exactly half of the Cowboys' total for the entire game.

Smith, who completed 16-of-31 passes (51.6 percent) for 236 yards and a touchdown, also rushed for 73 yards scored twice on the ground. He led Wyoming's offense to its highest point total in three years under coach Dave Christensen, whose team is 2-0 for the first time since his arrival in Laramie.

"Brett's one of the greatest competitors for a true freshman that I've ever been around," Christensen said. "He took some hits out there and kept bouncing back and made some crucial third-down plays."

A Peek at the Future

Hawai'i, which along with Fresno State and Nevada will join the Mountain West next year, visits UNLV on Saturday. Picked by the league's coaches and media to capture this year's Western Athletic Conference title, the Warriors had been receiving votes in the polls before dropping a 40-32 decision at Washington on Saturday. Hawai'i rallied from a 21-0 deficit.

Holding Their Place in the Poll

While Ohio State holds the active mark (103) for most consecutive weeks appearing in the Associated Press poll, the Mountain West boasts two of the top four teams in that category. Boise State, currently ranked No. 4, heads to Toledo this week having spent 48 straight weeks in the poll. TCU, which jumped to No. 23 this week, has enjoyed 44 consecutive weeks in the AP poll. Alabama holds the second-longest streak with 52.

Football Not Only Success Story at TCU

In other news around the Mountain West, TCU's women's volleyball team made it 3-for-3 in tournament titles as it captured the captured the Villanova Classic crown over the weekend with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 16-25, 25-21) victory over the host Wildcats. The 9-0 start matches the 2008 squad for the best in school history.

Kristen Hester, the MW Player of the Week, was named tournament MVP. The Horned Frogs host Baylor (8-2) on Tuesday.

  Cross Country Lobos rely on local runners

  AFA assistant coach Jenny Simpson wins world 1,500 meter run

Volleyball

  Patience pays off for CSU volleyball player Kelsey Snider

Soccer

  Wassell puts women's soccer in good hands

Women's Golf

Volleyball

  CSU coach returns to old stomping grounds

  TCU volleyball players learned about pace of various cultures

Men's Basketball

• New deal has Fisher excited for future of program

• Dutcher's dream job was here all along

 No rest for Wyoming runners

 Wyoming cross country talks about preseason training (video)

Soccer

 UNLV expects to replace, not rebuild in women's soccer

Volleyball

 CSU's Katelyn Steffan learning to play on left side for volleyball team

  Behind the Scenes with UNLV Volleyball (video)

 First-year coach Cindy Fredrick is getting the UNLV volleyball program in shape

 Wyoming Volleyball set to open the season (video)

Miscellaneous

Summer Buzz about the UNLV Rebels

A look around the new-look Mountain West in men's basketball

TCU turns into frequent arms supplier for major leagues

UNLV's Sandrine Nzeukou makes the first cut for Cameroon national women's basketball team

 Memory of the 8 Memorial Run/Walk to be held on Sept. 16

Volleyball

 Six freshmen give New Mexico depth in 2011

 Words of Westman: UNLV sophomore to blog during the 2011 season

 Colorado State's Tom Hilbert still tweaking lineup

 Colorado State settling several issues during preseason camp

Women's Soccer

 Wyoming coach Danny Sanchez is confident the Cowgirls are hitting their stride

 Wyoming Cowgirls add an international flavor to the roster

 Boise State uses exhibition match to assist former Bronco

 Lobos dedicate season to George Montoya

 New Mexico Soccer watching its steps

Summer Baseball

 New Mexico's Trey Porras continues hitting ways as TCL's batting champ

Summer University Games

• New Mexico's Phil Anderson and fellow Canadian Lee Daigle upset No. 2 tennis seed in China

• Wyoming's Francisco Cruz is playing well for Mexico in World University Games

• Former CSU All-American to compete at World Championships

Miscellaneous

• Gentler approach working for Air Force coaches Matt McShane, Andrea Williams and Mike Kazlausky

• Former Wyoming sprinter Afiya Walker wins national title in home country

• UNLV's Sandrine Nzeukou provides updates from her workouts with the Cameroon women's basketball national team

• TCU women's basketball player Starr Crawford shares her thoughts about the upcoming season

• SDSU's assistant softball coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz helps USA Softball claim World Cup

So it stands to reason, naturally, that Hamson's daughter, Jennifer, currently a freshman at BYU, grew up with a basketball in her hands.

Uh, no.

"I was definitely not one of those kids," Jennifer Hamson said. "When I was little, my best friend was really small. Crazily enough, she got me interested in gymnastics. I really enjoyed it. But I stopped competing when I was in the eighth grade and started playing basketball and volleyball."

And still is.

While Jennifer Hamson's mother may have been a member of the 1984 Olympic Team, may have earned All-America honors four straight years and may hold BYU records for points in a single game (50), field-goal percentage (.609, minimum 150 attempts), career blocks (494) and blocks in a single game (11), she never pulled off the kind of feat her daughter did last Saturday.

After contributing five rebounds, five blocks, one point and one steal in the basketball team's 80-55 win over Washington at the Marriott Center, Jennifer Hamson headed straight to Smith Fieldhouse for BYU's volleyball match against New Mexico, the second-place team in the Mountain West Conference. In the Cougars' 3-1 upset of the Lobos, she finished with 13 kills, a .423 hitting percentage, one dig and four blocks.

Top that, Mom.

"I was really excited because both teams played really well and both teams won, but I was pretty tired the next day," said Hamson, one of the MWC's top candidates for Freshman of the Year in volleyball. "You don't want to disappoint your team if you're not there to play."

Heading into Wednesday night's volleyball match at Wyoming, Hamson ranks second among MWC freshmen (ninth overall) in points and third overall in service aces. After enduring a volleyball season that has spanned 28 matches with two to play, she has played in two of BYU's three basketball games but is averaging 5 blocks and 3.5 rebounds per game.

In the basketball team's first exhibition game of the season, Hamson finished as the Cougars leading scorer with 16 points.

"I think you saw a young lady who could be a great player someday," coach Jeff Judkins told the BYU Universe, the school's student newspaper. "Jen Hamson can be a real force."

Even if it's not in gymnastics, where going through a growth spurt that takes you from aspirations of being the next Shawn Johnson to being 6-foot-6 puts a bit of a damper on your dreams. In addition to BYU, the former Pleasant Grove (Utah) High School standout was offered the opportunity to play both volleyball and basketball at Utah, Oklahoma and Louisville.

Not that there was a considerable amount of consternation involved in her decision to attend BYU. Not only is she following her mother's basketball legacy, an uncle, Ben Hamson, and an aunt, Britt (Hamson) Kelly, also played volleyball at BYU.

"I had one person tell me I was crazy to try and play both (volleyball and basketball), but it really hasn't been that difficult at all," she said. "The coaches have been really good about working it out and allowing me to play both (sports), and my mom has been a huge influence. She got me into basketball and she really encouraged me to play both (sports) in college. It's really awesome, because she's helped me learn a lot about the game.

"It's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun."

• Week 12 Review ... New Mexico beat No. 13 Colorado State, 3-0 on Thursday night in Albuquerque, only the second win by the Lobos over the Rams in the last 31 attempts ... With wins on Saturday, the Rams remain in first place at 12-1, followed by the Lobos in second at 10-3 ... Utah split matches with Air Force (3-0) and UNLV (2-3) to hang on to third place at 8-4, while Wyoming split matches with TCU (3-1) and UNM (0-3) to stay in fourth at 7-6 ... San Diego State and BYU are tied for fifth at 6-6 ... TCU, UNLV and Air Force round out the bottom of the standings ... UNLV went 1-1 in 3-2 matches, losing Thursday to BYU and beating Utah on Saturday.

• Conference Title Race ... With the loss to New Mexico last week, the gap between league-leading Colorado State (12-1) and second-place New Mexico (10-3) narrowed just a bit. The Rams must win two of their three remaining matches to win the 2010 Mountain West Conference title outright. The Lobos have to win their last three matches of the season to have a shot at a share of the league title, if CSU stumbles at all in the last two weeks of the regular season.

• Meeter Named CVU.com National Player of the Week ... In addition to being named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week on Nov. 15, New Mexico senior Lisa Meeter was named the CVU.com (Collegiate Volleyball Update) National Player of the Week on Nov. 16. Meeter, a 5-11 outside hitter from Colorado Springs, earned a pair of double-doubles last week in wins over No. 13 Colorado State and Wyoming as the Lobos maintained their hold on second place in the MWC. Meeter is the first Lobo to receive the national honor and fourth from the Mountain West Conference. Previous MWC honorees were Lauren Miramontes of UNLV (Nov. 26, 2007), Lori Baird of Utah (Oct. 7, 2008) and Lindy Hartsock of BYU (Sept. 27, 2005).

• Seven Named to ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams ... Seven Mountain West Conference volleyball student-athletes were named to the 2010 ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams on Nov. 4. Air Force senior Caroline Kurtz (District VII), Wyoming senior JennaRae Jester (District VII) and New Mexico junior Kelly Williamson (District VI) were First Team honorees and advance to the ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot ... Colorado State's Dana Cranston and Air Force's Nichole Stillwell were named to the District VII Second Team, while New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen (District VI) and BYU's Nicole Warner (District VIII) were named Third Team ... The ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams are scheduled for announcement on Nov. 22.

• A New Attendance Record!! ... The Mountain West Conference established a new overall league attendance mark on Thursday, Nov. 11 when the 114,358th fan came through the door at one of four sites hosting that night. With 15 home matches to go, the current total of 121,388 will continue to grow. MWC volleyball fans are coming through the turnstiles at an average of 1,003 per home match, an average of 50 fans per match better than the 2009 record of 953. 2010 is the second year in a row that the league has recorded an attendance over 100,000. The first season over 100,000 fans watched MWC volleyball was in 2009 (114,357) with a final average of 953. The last time the league had averaged over 900 fans per match previous to the 2009 season was in the 2001 season (925).

• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn., CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. There are two televised matches this week - Thursday's matches between Utah and New Mexico in Salt Lake City on The Mtn. and BYU and TCU in Provo on BYU-TV ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 for The Mtn. and channel 374 for BYU-TV or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Other ways to follow the action ... several MWC programs webcast matches throughout the season. San Diego State and Utah will webcast matches this week from their respective institutional home pages. Fans can watch from afar through All Access accounts set up for a reasonable fee through the CBSSports.com College Network. And don't forget to sign up on Facebook and Twitter to follow the Mountain West Conference and its member schools. Several teams have their own Facebook and Twitter sites as well. See what the league's coaches have to say about their teams.

• Three MWC student-athletes were among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!

• 1,000-Kill Club ... All it took was one match last week for three MWC volleyball players to reach the 1,000-kill club. TCU seniors Christy Hudson and Irene Hester and Wyoming senior Lauren Whitney each got what they needed in their Nov. 11 match against each other to become the 36th, 37th, and 38th players in league history to record 1,000 career kills. Hudson had 10, Whitney had 11 and Hester had 16 in the 3-1 Wyoming win ... Earlier in the season, Utah senior Karolina Bartkowiak became the 35th Mountain West volleyball player to join the 1,000-kill club, at the time the third this season along with Colorado State senior Danielle Minch (Oct. 14) and New Mexico senior Lisa Meeter (Oct. 14). Bartkowiak recorded 19 kills in a 3-2 win over BYU on Oct. 29 to join the elite group ... San Diego State senior Lauren Salisbury returned from injury on Saturday and is sitting at 970 career kills. If she remains healthy, Salisbury has four matches to try for 30 kills to join the group.

• Air Force (4-23; 1-13) ... has one match this week, at San Diego State on Saturday ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... On Oct. 21, in front of a national television audience, Air Force ended a 74-match losing streak in conference action with a 3-1 win over San Diego State at Falcon Court ... Senior setter Jessica Hellman became just the third Air Force player to record over 2,000 assists in a career, reaching the mark against BYU on Nov. 13 ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.58 kills per set and fifth in points at 3.85.

• BYU (11-15; 6-6) ... hosts TCU (Thursday) and New Mexico (Saturday) to wrap up the home season ... Sophomore Nicole Warner ranks 33rd in the nation with 1.25 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.65 assists and 0.30 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.53.

• No. 15 Colorado State (23-3; 12-1) ... travels this week, just up the road to Wyoming for a Thursday night match ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... CSU leads the nation in blocking at 3.07 per set as a team. Sophomore Megan Plourde is third in the nation with 1.56 blocks per set and is second in the MWC in hitting percentage at a .364 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is third in the league in assists with 10.43 per set ... Danielle Minch became the 34th MWC player to reach 1,000 career kills on Oct. 14 against TCU.

• New Mexico (18-8; 10-3) ... returned to the receiving votes category of the AVCA Top 25 poll this week ... UNM goes on the road to face Utah (Thursday) and BYU (Saturday) this week ... Senior Taylor Hadfield is among the league's top hitters. In fact, she is one of two MWC players in the top 10 in hitting percentage (9th; .282) and kills per set (8th; 3.08 kps) ... Senior Lisa Meeter earned her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th career dig on Oct. 14 at Wyoming, becoming the 33rd player to reach the 1,000 kills mark and 17th in digs in MWC history ... Senior setter Jade Michaelsen became the Lobos all-time career assist leader on Oct. 23 against Utah with 3,838. Michaelsen broke the 4,000 career assist mark on Nov. 13 vs. Wyoming and is in second on the MWC assists list at 10.49 per set ... Junior Allison Buck cracked the 1,000 career dig mark on Nov. 13 against Wyoming. Buck is third in the league with 3.95 digs per set.

• San Diego State (14-14; 6-6) ... wraps up the home portion of the season this week with UNLV on Thursday and Air Force on Saturday ... Freshman setter Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists with 10.52 per set ... Sophomore Andrea Hannasch ranks 29th in the nation in blocks with 1.27 per set.

• TCU (13-14; 4-9) ... travels this week, BYU on Thursday, followed by Utah on Saturday ... Senior Irene Hester leads the league in kills (3.67), points (4.30) and aces (0.41) per set, while sister Kristen Hester ranks third in hitting percentage at . 332 ... Christy Hudson and Irene Hester reached the 1,000 career kills mark on Nov. 11 against Wyoming.

• UNLV (9-19; 4-10) ... has one match this week, at San Diego State on Thursday ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks third in the league in kills per set at 3.43 ... Senior libero Kela Lau Hee is among the top 10 in the league in digs with 3.67 per set.

• Utah (14-13; 8-4) ... hosts New Mexico (Thursday) and TCU (Saturday) this week ... Senior Karolina Bartkowiak is among the league's top hitters. In fact, she is one of two MWC players in the top 10 in hitting percentage (7th; .292) and kills per set (9th; 2.97 kps) ... Freshman Erin Redd leads the league in attack percentage at .377 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is seventh in kills per set with 3.27 and fourth in points at 3.91 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,540 since the start of the 2007 season and leads the league this season with a 4.22 average per set.

• Wyoming (22-7; 7-6) ... hosts Colorado State on Thursday for the Cowgirls only match of the week ... The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy is second in the MWC in service aces with 0.39 per set, second in points per set (4.06) and sixth in kills per set (3.30) ... JennaRae Jester is 16th in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.37 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin is second in the league in digs per set with 4.18 ... Senior Lauren Whitney recorded her 1,000th career kill on Nov. 11 at TCU.

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• Week 11 Review ... No. 14 Colorado State (11-0) stayed atop the league standings with a 3-1 win against UNLV on Thursday and a 3-0 win over Air Force on Saturday ... New Mexico (8-3) earned a 3-0 win over TCU to stay just ahead of Utah (7-3) for second place ... Wyoming moved into fourth place (6-5) with wins over Air Force and UNLV, while San Diego State (6-6) is in fifth place with a loss to Utah and a 3-2 comeback win over BYU ... BYU, TCU, UNLV and Air Force round out the bottom of the standings.

• Seven Named to ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams ... Seven Mountain West Conference volleyball student-athletes were named to the 2010 ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams last week. Air Force senior Caroline Kurtz (District VII), Wyoming senior JennaRae Jester (District VII) and New Mexico junior Kelly Williamson (District VI) were First Team honorees and advance to the ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot ... Colorado State's Dana Cranston and Air Force's Nichole Stillwell were named to the District VII Second Team, while New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen (District VI) and BYU's Nicole Warner (District VIII) were named Third Team.

• The Mountain West Conference is on track to set new volleyball attendance records. MWC volleyball fans are coming through the turnstiles at an average of 1,000 per home match with a total of 112,039 watching 112 home matches across the league. The MWC single season overall attendance record of 114,357 (2009) should fall Thursday night with home matches at Air Force, New Mexico, TCU and UNLV. 2010 is the second year in a row that the league has recorded an attendance over 100,000. The first season over 100,000 fans watched MWC volleyball was in 2009 (114,357) with a final average of 953. The last time the league had averaged over 900 fans per match previous to the 2009 season was in the 2001 season (925). With 24 home matches remaining on the schedule, the opportunity is there to greatly surpass last year's total.

• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn., CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. There is just one televised match this week - Thursday's match between Colorado State and New Mexico in Albuquerque on The Mtn. ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 for The Mtn. Other MWC networks are channel 374 for BYU-TV and channel 613 for CBS C or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Other ways to follow the action ... several MWC programs webcast matches throughout the season. New Mexico, San Diego State and TCU will webcast matches this week from their respective institutional home pages. Fans can watch from afar through All Access accounts set up for a reasonable fee through the CBSSports.com College Network.

And don't forget to sign up on Facebook and Twitter to follow the Mountain West Conference and its member schools. Several teams have their own Facebook and Twitter sites as well. See what the league's coaches have to say about their teams.

• 1,000-Kill Club ... Utah senior Karolina Bartkowiak became the 35th Mountain West volleyball player to join the 1,000-kill club and the third this season along with Colorado State senior Danielle Minch (Oct. 14) and New Mexico senior Lisa Meeter (Oct. 14). Bartkowiak recorded 19 kills in a 3-2 win over BYU on Oct. 29 to join the elite group ... Three more Mountain West Conference volleyball players are on track to join the 1,000-Kill Club this season - Christy Hudson (TCU, 996), Lauren Whitney (Wyoming, 996) and Irene Hester (TCU, 986) ... Injured San Diego State senior Lauren Salisbury is sitting at 967 career kills.

• Air Force hosts Utah (Thursday) and BYU (Saturday) this week ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... On Oct. 21, in front of a national television audience, Air Force ended a 74-match losing streak in conference action with a 3-1 win over San Diego State at Falcon Court ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.52 kills per set and sixth in points at 3.79 ... Senior Kelly Spencer ranks in the MWC top 10 in digs per set with 3.33.

• BYU has two road matches this week, at UNLV (Thursday) and at Air Force (Saturday) ... Sophomore Nicole Warner ranks 32nd in the nation with 1.26 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.53 assists and 0.31 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.54.

• No. 13 Colorado State sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 11-0 ... CSU travels this week, starting at New Mexico on Thursday then on to TCU for a Saturday match ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is fifth in the nation with 1.53 blocks per set and is second in the MWC in hitting percentage at a .374 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is third in the league in assists with 10.35 per set ... Danielle Minch became the 34th MWC player to reach 1,000 career kills on Oct. 14 against TCU.

• New Mexico host Colorado State (Thursday) and Wyoming (Saturday) this week ... Senior Taylor Hadfield is among the league's top hitters. In fact, she is one of two MWC players in the top 10 in hitting percentage (6th; .302) and kills per set (8th; 3.14 kps) ... Senior Lisa Meeter earned her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th career dig on Oct. 14 at Wyoming, becoming the 33rd player to reach the 1,000 kills mark and 17th in digs in MWC history ... Senior setter Jade Michaelsen became the Lobos all-time career assist leader on Oct. 23 against Utah with 3,838. Michaelsen has moved into second on the MWC assists list at 10.43 per set.

• San Diego State has one more non-conference match this week, at home against Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. On Tuesday, the Aztecs lost to Cal State Fullerton, 3-0 on the road ... Freshman setter Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists with 10.62 per set ... Sophomore Andrea Hannasch ranks 31st in the nation in blocks with 1.26 per set.

• TCU will host Wyoming (Thursday) and Colorado State (Saturday) this week ... Senior Irene Hester leads the league in kills (3.66), points (4.26) and aces (0.39) per set, while sister Kristen Hester ranks third in hitting percentage at . 345.

• UNLV hosts BYU (Thursday) and Utah (Saturday) this week ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks third in the league in kills per set at 3.37 ... Senior libero Kela Lau Hee is among the top 10 in the league in digs with 3.59 per set.

• Utah travels to Air Force (Thursday) and UNLV (Saturday) this week ... Freshman Erin Redd leads the league in attack percentage at .378 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is sixth in kills per set with 3.27 and fourth in points at 3.93 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,508 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.23 average per set.

• Wyoming continues to add to its best season in program history at 21-6. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run ... Wyoming is on the road this week, at TCU (Thursday) and New Mexico (Saturday) ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy is second in the MWC in service aces with 0.38 per set, is second in points per set (4.05) and fifth in kills per set (3.29) ... JennaRae Jester is 11th in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.40 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.26.

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• Week 10 Review ... No. 14 Colorado State (9-0) stayed atop the league standings with a 3-0 win at San Diego State on Saturdaynight ... New Mexico (7-3) earned wins over UNLV and Air Force to move just ahead of Utah (6-3) for second place ... San Diego State (5-5) holds on to fourth place with a win over Wyoming and the loss to CSU, while Wyoming and BYU are tied for fifth at 4-5 after tough road losses at San Diego State and Utah ... TCU, UNLV and Air Force round out the bottom of the standings.

• The Mountain West Conference is on track to set new volleyball attendance records. Close to 3,800 fans went through the MWC turnstiles last week. MWC volleyball fans are coming through the turnstiles at an average of 990 per home match with a total of 103,994 watching 105 home matches across the league. It is the second year in a row that the league has recorded an attendance over 100,000. The first season over 100,000 fans watched MWC volleyball was in 2009 (114,357) with a final average of 953. The last time the league had averaged over 900 fans per match previous to the 2009 season was in the 2001 season (925). With 31 home matches remaining on the schedule, the opportunity is there to greatly surpass last year's total.

• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn., CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. There is just one televised match this week - Saturday's match between San Diego State and BYU in Provo ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 374 for BYU-TV. Other MWC networks are channel 616 for The Mtn. and channel 613 for CBS C or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Other ways to follow the action ... several MWC programs webcast matches throughout the season. Wyoming, Colorado State, Utah and New Mexico will webcast matches this week from their respective institutional home pages. Fans can watch from afar through All Access accounts set up for a reasonable fee through the CBSSports.com College Network. And don't forget to sign up on Facebook and Twitter to follow the Mountain West Conference and its member schools. Several teams have their own Facebook and Twitter sites as well. See what the league's coaches have to say about their teams.

• Three MWC student-athletes were among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!

• 1,000-Kill Club ... Utah senior Karolina Bartkowiak became the 35th Mountain West volleyball player to join the 1,000-kill club and the third this season along with Colorado State senior Danielle Minch (Oct. 14) and New Mexico senior Lisa Meeter (Oct. 14). Bartkowiak recorded 19 kills in a 3-2 win over BYU on Oct. 29 to join the elite group ... Three more Mountain West Conference volleyball players are on track to join the 1,000-Kill Club this season - Christy Hudson (TCU, 992), Irene Hester (TCU, 975) and Lauren Whitney (Wyoming, 969) ... Injured San Diego State senior Lauren Salisbury is sitting at 967 career kills.

• Air Force travels to Wyoming (Thursday) and No. 14 Colorado State (Saturday) this week ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.58 kills per set and fifth in points at 3.84 ... Senior Kelly Spencer ranks in the MWC top 10 in digs per set with 3.42.

• BYU has just one match this week, hosting San Diego State Saturday night on BYU-TV ... Sophomore Nicole Warner ranks 27th in the nation with 1.27 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.51 assists and 0.30 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.53.

• No. 14 Colorado State sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 9-0 ... CSU hosts UNLV (Thursday) and Air Force (Saturday) at Moby Arena ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is fifth in the nation with 1.53 blocks per set and is second in the MWC in hitting percentage at a .374 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is second in the league in assists with 10.38 per set ... Danielle Minch became the 34th MWC player to reach 1,000 career kills on Oct. 14 against TCU.

• New Mexico begins a three-match homestand with TCU at the Johnson Center on Friday night, the Lobos only match of the week ... Senior Taylor Hadfield is among the league's top hitters. In fact, she is the only MWC player in the top 10 in hitting percentage (7th; .300) and kills per set (8th; 3.12 kps) ... Senior Lisa Meeter earned her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th career dig on Oct. 14 at Wyoming, becoming the 33rd player to reach the 1,000 kills mark and 17th in digs in MWC history ... Senior setter Jade Michaelsen became the Lobos all-time career assist leader on Oct. 23 against Utah with 3,838.

• San Diego State heads out on the road to face Utah (Thursday) and BYU (Saturday) ... Freshman setter Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists with 10.56 per set ... Sophomore Andrea Hannasch ranks 34th in the nation in blocks with 1.25 per set.

• TCU and Prairie View A&M postponed Tuesday's non-conference match due to a stomach virus. A make-up date has not been set. The Horned Frogs hope to get healthy before heading to New Mexico on Friday ... Senior Irene Hester leads the league in kills (3.66), points (4.29) and is second in aces (0.40) per set, while sister Kristen ranks third in hitting percentage at . 354.

• UNLV goes on the road to face No. 14 Colorado State (Thursday) and Wyoming (Saturday) ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks third in kills per set at 3.26 ... Senior libero Kela Lau Hee is among the top 10 in the league in digs with 3.60 per set.

• Utah hosts San Diego State on Thursday before a weekend break ... Freshman Erin Redd leads the league in attack percentage at .375 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is fifth in kills per set with 3.25 and third in points at 3.93 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,477 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.22 average per set.

• Wyoming continues to add to its best season in program history at 19-6. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run ... Wyoming hosts Air Force (Thursday) and UNLV (Saturday) this week ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy leads the MWC in service aces with 0.40 per set, is second in points per set (4.04) and fifth in kills per set (3.25) ... JennaRae Jester is eighth in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.43 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.26.

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On Sunday, Oct. 31, the day features a Mountain West Conference volleyball doubleheader as UNLV hosts TCU at 1 p.m. (PT), followed by New Mexico at Air Force at 4 p.m. (MT).

• Week 10 Preview ... The second half of the Mountain West Conference season gets underway this week with seven matches on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sunday features a nationally-televised doubleheader on CBS C with TCU at UNLV starting at 1 p.m. (PT), followed by New Mexico at Air Force at 4 p.m. (MT). Brent Stover and AnneMarie Anderson will call the action from Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, while Jason Knapp and Tammy Blackburn will call the action from Falcon Court in Colorado Springs ... Friday's match between BYU and Utah will be televised nationally on The Mtn. at 7:30 p.m. (MT). AnneMarie Anderson and Amy Gant will call the action from Crimson Court in Salt Lake City ... No. 14 Colorado State takes an undefeated record into the second half, followed by Utah and New Mexico in a tie for second place.

• Week 9 Review ... Air Force ended a 74-match losing streak in Mountain West Conference action on Thursday night with a 3-1 win over San Diego State ... No. 15 Colorado State (8-0) wrapped up the first half of the MWC season with a win over Wyoming to remain atop the league standings ... New Mexico earned wins over BYU and Utah to move into a tie for second with Utah (5-3) ... Wyoming, BYU and San Diego State ended up in a three-way tie for fourth place (4-4) ... TCU, UNLV and Air Force round out the bottom of the standings.

• The Mountain West Conference is on track to set new volleyball attendance records. Over 13,450 fans went through the MWC turnstiles last week. MWC volleyball fans are coming through the turnstiles at an average of 1,044 per home match with a total of 100,180 watching 96 home matches across the league. It is the second year in a row that the league has recorded an attendance over 100,000. The first season over 100,000 fans watched MWC volleyball was in 2009 (114,357) with a final average of 953. The last time the league had averaged over 900 fans per match previous to the 2009 season was in the 2001 season (925). With 40 home matches remaining on the schedule, the opportunity is there to greatly surpass last year's total.

• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn. , CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. There are three televised matches this week - Friday, Oct. 29, BYU at Utah on The Mtn. and Sunday's CBS C doubleheader with TCU at UNLV and New Mexico at Air Force ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 for The Mtn. and channel 613 for CBS C or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Three MWC student-athletes were among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!

• 1,000-Kill Club ... Four more Mountain West Conference volleyball players are on track to join the 1,000-Kill Club this season - Karolina Bartkowiak (Utah, 983), Christy Hudson (TCU, 970), Irene Hester (TCU, 958) and Lauren Whitney (Wyoming, 951). They will join Colorado State's Danielle Minch and New Mexico's Lisa Meeter who reached the mark on Oct. 14.

• Air Force hosts TCU (Friday) and New Mexico (Sunday) this week ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.62 kills per set and fifth in points at 3.89 ... Senior Kelly Spencer ranks in the MWC top 10 in digs per set with 3.45.

• BYU has just one match this week, the Deseret First Duel at Utah on Friday ... Sophomore Nicole Warner ranks 28th in the nation with 1.26 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.58 assists and 0.31 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.50.

• No. 14 Colorado State sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 8-0 ... CSU has one match this week, a road trip to San Diego State on Saturday ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is sixth in the nation with 1.54 blocks per set and is second in the MWC in hitting percentage at a .370 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is second in the league in assists with 10.41 per set ... Danielle Minch became the 34th MWC player to reach 1,000 career kills on Oct. 14 against TCU.

• New Mexico will be on the road this week. First stop, UNLV on Friday, then Air Force on Sunday ... Senior Lisa Meeter earned her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th career dig on Oct. 14 at Wyoming, becoming the 33rd player to reach the 1,000 kills mark and 17th in digs in MWC history ... Senior setter Jade Michaelsen became the Lobos all-time career assist leader on Oct. 23 against Utah with 3,838.

• San Diego State stays home to host UC Riverside (Tuesday), Wyoming (Thursday) and No. 14 Colorado State (Saturday) ... Freshman Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists with 10.54 per set ... Andrea Hannasch ranks 20th in the nation in blocks with 1.32 per set.

• TCU is out on the road this week, stopping at Air Force on Friday and UNLV on Sunday ... Irene Hester leads the league in kills (3.68), points (4.30) and aces (0.40) per set, while sister Kristen ranks third in hitting percentage at . 340.

• UNLV stays home this week to host New Mexico (Friday) and TCU (Sunday) ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks among the top 10 in kills per set at 3.12 ... Senior libero Kela Lau Hee is among the top 10 in the league in digs with 3.56 per set.

• Utah starts the second half of the MWC season by hosting BYU on Friday in the second installment of the Deseret First Duel ... Freshman Erin Redd leads the league in attack percentage at .390 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is third in kills per set with 3.37 and in points at 4.02 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,436 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.18 average per set.

• Wyoming continues to add to its best season in program history at 19-5. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run ... Wyoming has just one match this week, a road trip to San Diego State on Thursday ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy is second in the MWC in service aces with 0.39 per set and is second in points per set (4.06) and fourth in kills per set (3.29) ... JennaRae Jester is 10th in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.44 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.30.

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• And 1,000 Digs and 100 Aces ... New Mexico senior Lisa Meeter also earned her 1,000th career dig in the Oct. 14 match at Wyoming. She finished the night with 1,003 kills, 1,007 digs and 101 service aces. Meeter is the third MWC player to record 1,000 kills, 1,000 digs and 100 aces in a career and the first since 2003.

Aspen McPartland, San Diego State (2000-03)
1,493 kills - 1,076 digs - 110 aces

Michelle Rauter, Wyoming (2000-03)
1,377 kills - 1,072 digs - 113 aces

Lisa Meeter, New Mexico (2007-thru Oct. 16, 2010)
1,006 kills - 1,016 digs - 101 aces

• Break out the Pink jerseys this week ... four Mountain West Conference teams will host Breast Cancer Awareness matches this week to honor survivors of the disease and raise awareness for a cure --- Wyoming (Oct. 19), Colorado State (Oct. 20), Air Force (Oct. 21) and New Mexico (Oct. 23).

• The Mountain West Conference is on track to set new volleyball attendance records. Just over 10,000 fans went through the MWC turnstiles last week. MWC volleyball fans are coming through the turnstiles at an average of 1,008 per home match with a total of 86,730 watching 86 home matches across the league. The first season over 100,000 fans watched MWC volleyball was in 2009 (114,357) with a final average of 953. The last time the league had averaged over 900 fans per match previous to the 2009 season was in the 2001 season (925). With 50 home matches remaining on the schedule, the opportunity is there to greatly surpass last year's total.

• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn. , CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. Thursday, Oct. 21 is a doubleheader on The Mtn. with Utah at TCU at 6:30 p.m. (CT), followed by San Diego State at Air Force at 7:30 p.m. (MT) ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Three MWC student-athletes were among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!

• Air Force will have just one match this week, a nationally-televised event with San Diego State on Thursday in Colorado Springs ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.49 kills per set and sixth in points at 3.77 ... Senior Kelly Spencer ranks in the MWC top 10 in digs per set with 3.42.

• BYU heads out on the road for the southeastern portion of MWC action at New Mexico and TCU ... Sophomore Nicole Warner ranks 32nd in the nation with 1.25 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.32 assists and 0.30 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.50.

• No. 15 Colorado State (18-2) sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 7-0 as the Rams stay home for the second week in a row. CSU beat Denver on Wednesday, 3-0 and host Wyoming on Friday at Moby Arena ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is third in the nation with 1.54 blocks per set and is second in the MWC in hitting percentage at a .367 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is second in the league in assists with 10.25 per set ... Danielle Minch became the 34th MWC player to reach 1,000 career kills on Oct. 14 against TCU.

• New Mexico returns home for matches against BYU and Utah ... Senior Lisa Meeter earned her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th career dig on Oct. 14 at Wyoming, becoming the 33rd player to reach the 1,000 kills mark and 17th in digs in MWC history.

• San Diego State heads out on the road this week for matches at Air Force and UNLV ... Freshman Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists with 10.41 per set ... Andrea Hannasch ranks 21st in the nation in blocks with 1.32 per set.

• TCU returns home to face Utah and BYU this week ... Thursday's match with the Utes will be televised nationally on The Mtn. ... Irene Hester leads the league in kills (3.63), points (4.28) and aces (0.41) per set, while sister Kristen ranks third in hitting percentage at . 334.

• UNLV stays home this week to host San Diego State and UMKC ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks among the top 10 in kills per set at 3.14.

• Utah travels to TCU and New Mexico this week ... Freshman Erin Redd leads the league in attack percentage at .379 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is third in kills per set with 3.43 and in points at 4.04 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,399 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.07 average per set.

• Wyoming continues to add to its best season in program history at 19-4. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run and are currently in third in the MWC standings ... Wyoming hosted Colorado Christian on Tuesday night before the border match with Colorado State on Friday in Fort Collins ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy leads the MWC in service aces with 31 and is second in points per set (4.15) and fourth in kills per set (3.35) ... JennaRae Jester is eighth in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.45 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.44.

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• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn., CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. (MT), TCU is at No. 16 Colorado State on The Mtn. ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Three MWC student-athletes were among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!

• Air Force recorded its largest crowd of the season on Saturday night at Falcon Court at East Gym with 1,284 coming through the doors to watch the Falcons take on Wyoming ... AFA goes back out on the road this week, traveling to BYU and Utah ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.68 kills per set and fourth in points at 3.89 ... Senior Kelly Spencer ranks in the MWC top 10 in digs per set with 3.44.

• BYU picked up a non-conference win (3-0) at Weber State on Tuesday before returning to Smith Fieldhouse for matches against Air Force and UNLV on Thursday and Saturday ... Sophomore Nicole Warner is ranked 30th in the nation with 1.26 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 9.07 assists and 0.28 service aces per set ... Jennifer Hamson ranks second among league freshmen in points per set with 3.51.

• No. 16 Colorado State (15-2) sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 5-0 as the Rams stay home and host TCU and New Mexico at Moby Arena ... Thursday's match against TCU will be televised nationally on The Mtn. and will unveil Moby Arena's new videoboard ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is fourth in the nation with 1.62 blocks per set and leads the MWC in hitting percentage at a .374 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is second in the league in assists with 10.30 per set.

• New Mexico travels up I-25 for matches at Wyoming (Thursday) and (No. 17) Colorado State (Saturday) ... Senior Lisa Meeter continues to climb the conference career statistical charts. The all-around player for UNM has 101 career service aces and is closing in on 1,000 career kills (991) and 1,000 career digs (994) ... Junior Ashley Rhoades recorded a career-high 20 kills in the loss at TCU on Friday night from her new outside position.

• San Diego State will have just one non-conference match this week at Seattle visits Cox Pavilion on Friday night ... Freshman setter Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists per set (10.34) and ranks 65th in the nation ... Sophomore Andrea Hannasch ranks third in the league and 17th in the nation with 1.33 blocks per set ... The Aztecs presented its breast cancer awareness 'Pink Out' on Thursday, Oct. 7, against BYU.

• TCU takes its second-place standing on the road to league leader No. 16 Colorado State on Thursday in front of a national television audience (The Mtn.) before heading to Laramie for a showdown with Wyoming ... TCU suffered an early season loss when setter Megan Munce suffered a leg injury and will be out for the remainder of the season. Munce led the MWC in service aces each of the last two seasons. Sophomore Meghan Horio has stepped in to the setter position ... Horio has the two Hester sisters to pick from for an attack. Irene, a senior, leads the league in kills per set with 3.76, while junior Kristen is third in hitting percentage at .354. Both are in the MWC top 10 in service aces with Irene leading the league at 0.44 (32nd in the nation) and Kristen in 10th at 0.27. Irene is 50th in the nation in points per set at 4.44.

• UNLV goes on the road this week to face Utah (Thursday) and BYU (Saturday) ... The Rebels celebrated its annual 'Dig Pink' Day against then-No. 17 Colorado State on Oct. 9 in efforts to promote breast cancer awareness ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks among the top 10 in the conference in kills per set (3.16), while classmate Kela Lau Hee is among the league's dig leaders with 3.61 per set.

• Utah hosts UNLV (Thursday) and Air Force (Saturday) this week after a rough week in San Diego ... Freshman Erin Redd is second in the league in attack percentage at .361 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is third in kills per set with 3.51 and in points at 4.07 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently sixth with 1,379 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.14 average per set.

• Wyoming continues to add to its best start in program history at 17-3. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run and are currently in third in the MWC standings ... Wyoming hosts New Mexico (Thursday) and TCU (Saturday) this week ... Sophomore Jodi Purdy leads the MWC in service aces with 28 and is second in points per set (4.08) and fourth in kills per set (3.29) ... Several Cowgirls round out the Top 10 in MWC hitting percentage - Camille Coffman (.287) and Reese Roehrkasse (.280) ... JennaRae Jester is seventh in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.48 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.67.

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• And ... if you can't make it out to your favorite MWC volleyball arena for a match or want to see how other teams are doing, you can be one of the many fans watching along at home on The Mtn., CBS College Sports or BYU-TV. Thursday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. (PT), Wyoming is at UNLV on The Mtn. ... If you have DirecTV, that's channel 616 or check with your local cable operator for the channel listing in your area ... The MWC ranks second in the nation with 19 nationally-televised matches this season.

• Three MWC student-athletes are among the 30 candidates for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen, TCU's Christy Hudson and Wyoming's JennaRae Jester are on the list for their excellence on and off the court, and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. This list gets narrowed down to 10 in the next few weeks. Congratulations, Jade, Christy and JennaRae!

• Air Force returns home for the first time since Aug. 28 when the Falcons host No. 17 Colorado State on Thursday night and Wyoming on Saturday night. AFA has been on the road for 13 consecutive matches, along the way they made stops non-conference stops for tournaments at Memphis and academy-rival Army ... This season the Falcons, under the direction of new head coach Matt McShane, are playing in the intimate confines of Falcon Court at East Gym after five seasons in Clune Arena ... Senior Caroline Kurtz is second in the MWC with 3.62 kills per set.

• BYU heads out on the road for its next three matches. The Cougars will travel to California for an MWC match-up with San Diego State on Thursday night, then return to Utah for two in-state non-conference matches at Utah Valley on Saturday and Weber State on Tuesday ... Sophomore Nicole Warner is ranked 48th in the nation with 1.22 blocks per set this season ... Senior setter Kiana Rogers ranks among the top 10 in the league with 8.87 assists and 0.26 service aces per set.

• No. 17 Colorado State (13-2) sits atop the leaderboard with the only unblemished conference record at 3-0 as the Rams head out on the road to face Air Force on Thursday night and UNLV on Saturday afternoon ... The Rams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 poll all season ... Sophomore Megan Plourde is third in the nation with 1.62 blocks per set and leads the MWC in hitting percentage at a .365 clip ... Junior setter Evan Sanders is second in the league in assists with 10.36 per set.

•New Mexico is in a four-way tie for second place at 2-1 in Mountain West Conference action and face travel partner TCU on Friday night in Fort Worth for the Lobos' lone match of the week ... After a loss at San Diego State to start conference competition, head coach Jeff Nelson played fruit basket upset with his starting line-up by moving middle blocker Ashley Rhoades to the outside, outside Kelly Williamson to the right-side and putting Taylor Hadfield back in the middle, along with some other adjustments. It worked as UNM picked up two home wins with the new look front row ... Senior Lisa Meeter continues to climb the conference career statistical charts. The all-around player for UNM has 101 career service aces and is closing in on 1,000 career kills (981) and 1,000 career digs (975).

• San Diego State will host BYU (Thursday) and Utah (Saturday) this week and trying to find a solution to fill the spot open by injured senior Lauren Salisbury. Salisbury suffered a wrist injury in practice last week and missed the Aztecs trip to the north Front Range. SDSU almost pulled the upset (3-2) against then-No. 18 Colorado State in Moby Arena last Thursday without Salisbury ... Freshman setter Johnna Fouch leads the league in assists per set (10.52) and ranks 48th in the nation ... Sophomore Andrea Hannasch ranks third in the league with 1.29 blocks per set.

• TCU is one of the teams involved in the four-way tie for second in the conference. The Horned Frogs host New Mexico on Friday night ... TCU suffered an early season loss when setter Megan Munce suffered a leg injury and will be out for the remainder of the season. Munce led the MWC in service aces each of the last two seasons. Sophomore Meghan Horio has stepped in to the setter position ... Horio has the two Hester sisters to pick from for an attack. Irene, a senior, leads the league in kills per set with 3.68, while junior Kristen is third in hitting percentage at .350.

• UNLV is hoping a little Polynesian flavoring will kick up the crowd for Thursday's televised match against Wyoming. It is Hawaiian Civic Club Night at Cox Pavilion ... Saturday's match against No. 17 Colorado State is 'Dig Pink' Day as the Rebels promote breast cancer awareness ... Senior Sara Nehf ranks among the top 10 in the conference in kills per set (3.19), while classmate Kela Lau Hee is among the league's dig leaders with 3.61 per set.

• Utah takes a trip to San Diego this week. The Utes will play a non-conference match against No. 23 San Diego on Thursday, before hopping across town for an MWC match-up with San Diego State. Utah is part of the four-way tie for second in the league standings ... Freshman Erin Redd is second in the league in attack percentage at .350 ... Freshman Morgan Odale is third in kills per set with 3.53 and second in points at 4.13 ... Senior Keisha Fisher continues to climb the MWC career digs chart. Fisher is currently eighth with 1,335 since the start of the 2007 season and ranks second in the league this season with a 4.02 average per set.

•Wyoming is off to its best start in program history at 16-2. The Cowgirls started the season with an 11-0 run and are currently part of the four-way tie for second in the MWC standings. Wyoming will play a nationally-televised match at UNLV on Thursday before taking on Air Force on Saturday night in Colorado Springs ... Current MWC Player of the Week Jodi Purdy leads the MWC in service aces with 27 and is third in points per set (4.13) and fourth in kills per set (3.30) ... Three Cowgirls round out the Top 10 in MWC hitting percentage - Camille Coffman (.284), Reese Roehrkasse (.279) and JennaRae Jester (.273) ... Jester also is seventh in the nation and second in the league in blocks per set at 1.49 ... Sophomore Jadranka Tramosljanin leads the league in digs per set with 4.62.

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Two other Air Force coaches -- men's basketball coach Jeff Reynolds and track coach Ralph Lindeman -- also had rankings in the high 900s. Reynolds has a three-year average of 955, including a perfect 1,000 for 2006-07. Lindeman has a six-year average -- the APR didn't start until 2003-04 -- of 981 for women's indoor track and 996 for women's outdoor track.

The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success each semester by tracking the academic progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation.

The NCAA average score was 944 for football, 940 for men's basketball, 966 for women's basketball, 967 for women's indoor track and 969 for women's outdoor track.

In other APR news around the Mountain West Conference:

• Under coach Dave Rose, the BYU men's basketball program received a perfect score of 1,000 for the third time in four years.
• The four-year APR for San Diego State football (931) is program's best score ever. SDSU had six teams in 2008-09 with scores of 1,000: men's golf, men's tennis, women's cross country, women's soccer and volleyball
• Colorado State coach Brian Bedard's indoor and outdoor women's track teams received a score of 1,000 for 2008-09.
• In 2008-09, the Wyoming's women's basketball program scored 1,000 under coach Joe Legerski for second time since 2005-06.

  Another interesting note to ponder: if there were an eight-team playoff in college football that factored in team APR and BCS standings, it would include current MWC members TCU and Utah, as well as future MWC member Boise State. Other institutions that would meet both standards are Florida, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Miami and Wisconsin.