MWC Weekly Court Notes

Colorado State at Utah highlights the final week of conference action

MWC Player of the Week Kelsie Kartchner and the 17th-ranked Utah Utes host Wyoming and Colorado State this week.
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Nov. 9, 2004

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MWC LEAGUE PLAY WRAPS UP THIS WEEKEND
League Leaders To Battle on CSTV Sunday Night Spike
No. 17 Utah holds a one-match lead over No. 10 Colorado State at the top of the MWC standings heading into the last weekend of league play. The two teams will face each other on Crimson Court in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday, and will be televised via tape-delay on CSTV's Sunday Night Spike: AVCA Match of the Week on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 2:30 p.m. MT. CSU leads the all-time series 39-18, but lost the first meeting between the two schools, 3-1, earlier this season, snapping the Rams' 23-match regular-season league winning streak. Utah is looking for its first regular-season MWC crown and No. 1 seed in the MWC Tournament. With two wins this weekend, the Utes could become the second straight team to go unbeaten in the MWC regular season.

QUICK HITS
Air Force -- Junior Kristin Hamlett had two solo blocks against New Mexico last week, moving her into ninth place in the Air Force Division I single-season record books with 13. She is tied with freshman Brooke Akers who has also tallied 13 solo blocks on the season. Since taking over as the starting setter against No. 17 Utah on Oct. 30, freshman Kimberly Kallabis has led the Falcons with a .333 hitting percentage and 44 assists, while collecting seven digs and one assisted block.

BYU -- The Cougars are currently on a season-high five match win streak. BYU's sweep of San Diego State last weekend marks the ninth three-game victory of the season for the Cougars. Junior Lexi Brown notched a career-high .733 hitting percentage against the Aztecs, with a team-high 11 kills in 15 attempts and no errors. She is currently ranked fourth in the conference in hitting percentage with a .354 efficiency. Redshirt freshman Lindsey Evans posted a career-high 33 digs against UNLV, becoming the first Cougar to record 30-plus digs in a match since Korie Rogers in 1998. BYU currently ranks in the top three in six of seven statistical categories in the MWC statistics. Junior Lauren Richards leads the Mountain West in aces per game (0.51), while sophomore Lindsy Hartsock leads the MWC in blocks per game (1.77) and ranks second in hitting percentage (.387).

Colorado State -- CSU head coach Tom Hilbert's next conference win will be his 100th conference victory at Colorado State. The Rams fell to 20-3 on the season with their loss to No. 3 Nebraska on Sunday. All three of CSU's losses have come to ranked opponents (then-No. 5 Minnesota, then-No. 18 Utah and No. 3 Nebraska). Junior Tess Rogers' 12 kills vs. the Huskers marked her 11th straight match with double figure kills. Senior Melissa Courtney needs just seven more service aces to break the Ram school record. She currently has 132 for her career, which is third on the all-time list. The record of 138 is held by Angela Knopf (1998-2001).

New Mexico -- Junior Chelsea Sondrup became just the fourth player in UNM history to reach the 300-block mark for her career after recording six against Air Force last week. She currently has 302 career blocks, which is fourth on the all-time New Mexico school charts and 24 behind Linda Archuleta's school record of 326. Sondrup already is the school-record holder in block assists with 286 for her career. Junior Nicole Ryan leads UNM and is ninth in the MWC with 3.19 kills per game. Senior Adah Burke is third in the conference in digs per game (4.20), while freshman Samie Weber leads the Lobos with 107 total blocks (1.27 per game), which is seventh in the league rankings.

San Diego State - Freshman Aime Cordiero is currently second in the MWC in digs per game in league play (4.36). Since returning to the lineup on Sept. 21 from an abdominal injury, senior Kara Moriarty is averaging 3.46 kills per game and 1.94 digs per game. Moriarty is the lone returning Aztec starter from the 2003 season.

UNLV -- Seniors Nicki King and Tarin Keith reached career marks in their final two home matches last weekend. King notched her 4,000th career assist and moved passed BYU's Karina Puikkonen into second place on the Mountain West career assist list. She currently has 4,059 career assists. Keith, who has 507 career kills, became just the 14th Rebel to surpass the 500 kill mark. UNLV's five-game losses to BYU and Nevada-Reno last weekend mark the first two losses for the Rebels in matches that went the distance this season. The Rebels are currently on a four-match losing streak, including three straight losses at home. The last time UNLV lost three consecutive matches at home without a road trip separating the matches was during the 2000 season.

Utah -- The Utes are currently riding a five-match winning streak after sweeping San Diego State and UNLV last weekend. Utah has swept three straight opponents and four of its last five overall. Utah tallied its 20th win of the season against UNLV, marking the ninth straight season that the Utes have tallied a 20-win season. The Utes have tied the school record for conference wins in a season with 12 (2003 team went 12-2). With two league matches left, Utah is looking to become the second straight MWC team to go undefeated in conference play (Colorado State went 14-0 last season). The Utes lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.135), service aces per game (1.78) and blocks per game (3.28), and are second in digs per game (14.68).

Wyoming -- Senior Amy Doman recorded 35 assists last weekend, moving her to 4,735 for her career. She needs just 32 more assists to take over first-place all-time at Wyoming. She also is tied for 10th place in service aces with 92 for her career. Freshman Rachel Smith had a team-high 14 kills in the Cowgirls' 3-0 loss to Colorado State on Friday. Freshman Andrea Tuck recorded 12 kills vs. the Rams and has tallied double figure kills in six straight matches. Senior Sara Maytorena currently is fourth place all-time at UW in career service aces (107). She also currently sits at 1,291 career kills (fifth all-time) and 11th in digs (843).