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MWC Weekly Court Notes - NCAA Tournament Edition
No. 9 Colorado State and No. 19 Utah in NCAA Tournament play this week
Nov. 30, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCHES CSU leads the all-time series 1-0. The two teams last met Sept. 11, 1987, with the Rams pulling out a 3-2 win. The Boilermakers are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1990, while the Rams are making their 10th straight appearance and 16th overall. Colorado State is 15-15 all-time in NCAA Tournaments. CSU earned an automatic bid to the tournament after winning the MWC Championship, while Purdue is an at-large selection to the Big Dance after finishing 16-14 overall and 9-11 in Big Ten play. The winner of the CSU-Purdue match will face the winner of the Hawaii vs. Colorado match in the second round. The Rams are 0-6 all-time vs. Hawaii and 18-11 vs. Colorado. Dec. 3 (Friday) Utah trails the all-time series 2-8, including a 3-1 loss earlier this season in Long Beach, Calif. The 49ers are making their 18th straight postseason appearance and have won national titles in 1989, 1993 and 1998. The Utes head into the NCAA Tournament winning nine of their last 12 matches. All three of their losses came to top-10 teams (lost twice to Colorado State and once to then-No. 1 Hawai'i). This is the seventh straight tournament appearance for Utah who has an all-time tournament record of 6-6. The winner of the Utah-LBSU match will face the winner of UCLA-Loyola Marymount in the second round. The Utes are 1-7 all-time vs. UCLA, including a 3-2 upset win over the then-No. 6 Bruins earlier this season, and 3-0 vs. Loyola Marymount. THE MWC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT ACADEMIC HONORS MWC IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY NATIONAL STATISTICS Individually, the MWC has four players ranked in the NCAA statistics. In the blocks per game category, BYU middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock currently ranks second at 1.86 per game, while Utah middle blocker Lyndsey Henderson is No. 9 on the list at 1.67 blocks per game. Hartsock also ranks 28th in hitting percentage (.380). Colorado State senior middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon ranks 12th in hitting percentage with a .397 efficiency, while teammate Melissa Courtney is 11th in assists per game (13.68). DANGERFIELD AND EVANS DIG NEW RECORDS 200 WIN CLUB Colorado State head coach Tom Hilbert captured his 200th victory at CSU with a win over Ohio on Sept. 16. Hilbert and Utah head coach Beth Launiere are the only two active MWC coaches to reach 200 wins at their respective school. Launiere has 299 wins in 15 seasons as the Ute coach, while Hilbert has 220 in eight seasons. QUICK HITS BYU -- BYU's 3-0 win over San Diego State in the quarterfinals of the MWC Tournament was its 11th sweep of the season. Several Cougars achieved milestones in the MWC tournament. Freshman Erica Lott recorded her 300th career kill, sophomore Lindsy Hartsock posted her 400th career kill and 300th career block, junior Kim Wilson notched her 300th kill for the season and senior April Varner picked up her 500th career dig. With 44 assists in the match, All-MWC setter Lauren Richards reached 2,711 career assists, moving her into sixth place all-time at BYU. Colorado State -- The Rams have now won 13 of their last 14 matches after defeating Idaho last week. Senior Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon led CSU with a .684 hitting percentage and five blocks vs. the Vandals. Cahoon leads the MWC in hitting efficiency (.397). Colorado State has now hit above .300 in the past nine games, dating back to the semifinals of the MWC Tournament vs. BYU. With 11 digs vs. Idaho, sophomore Kristen Karlik moved into a tie for ninth on the CSU single-season charts with 337 digs. She also recorded her 500th career dig against the Vandals and now has 509. The Rams will be going to its 10th straight NCAA Tournament and 16th overall. New Mexico -- Sophomore Kelly Therkelsen led the Lobos with a .429 hitting percentage in their opening round loss to Colorado State at the MWC Tournament. As a team the UNM hit .093, which marked the second time in three matches that the Lobos hit under .100 vs. the Rams. Junior Chelsea Sondrup recorded three blocks in the match, giving her 313 for her career, which ties Robyn Wentworth for third best on the all-time charts at UNM. Senior Monica Meihack dished out 24 assists in her final match as a Lobo. She closed out her career sixth all-time in the school record books with 2,840 assists. San Diego State - The Aztecs lost in the first round of MWC Tournament play for the first time since 2001. Junior Melissa Stapley collected 13 kills in the three-game loss to BYU, while senior Kara Moriarity had a team-best 13 digs. As a team, SDSU had 53 digs in three games for an average of 17.67 per game. UNLV -- UNLV fell to Utah in the semifinals of the MWC Tournament, but not before pushing the Utes to five games. The Rebels tallied a MWC Tournament record 96 digs in the loss to Utah. Senior Nicki King tallied 54 assists, 15 digs and eight kills in the loss to Utah. As a team, UNLV averaged a tournament-best 18.56 digs per game. Individually, freshman libero Jada Walker had a tournament-high 43 digs in nine games played (4.78 per game average) on her way to being named all-tournament libero. She was also awarded the first-ever MWC Sportsmanship Award at the conclusion of tournament play. Utah -- Utah posted a 1-1 record last week, losing to then-top ranked Hawaii in four games. Prior to that, the Utes made it to the MWC Championship finals for the fourth straight year, losing to Colorado State. The Utes closed out MWC play with their best league record in school history at 13-1 and have reached 20 wins for the ninth straight year. The Utes are making their seventh straight NCAA appearance, where they have an all-time record of 6-6 and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2001. With her 12th digs vs. Eastern Washington last week, sophomore Connie Dangerfield broke the Utah single-season dig record (458), surpassing Julie Kirby's former record of 457 in 1993. Dangerfield also holds the MWC overall single-season and sophomore single-season records. Head coach Beth Launiere needs one more victory to reach the 300 win plateau. Wyoming -- The Cowgirls fell to UNLV at the MWC Championship and closed out the year at 13-14 overall. Freshman libero Michelle Weydert recorded a career-high 17 digs in the loss to the Rebels. Senior Amy Doman recorded 56 assists during the final weekend of the regular season, taking over first-place all-time at Wyoming. She ended her Cowgirl career with 4,832 after collecting 41 against the Rebels in the MWC Tournament. She also finished her career tied for 10th place in service aces with 92. Senior Sara Maytorena finished her career fourth place all-time at UW in career service aces (110). She also finished at 1,304 career kills (fourth all-time) and ninth in digs (865).
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