IDAHO’S BAKER EARNS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Idaho junior outside hitter Allison (Walker) Baker has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 24-30. This is her first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and the fifth of her career.
The Othello, Wash. native posted a pair of double-doubles as the Vandals went 2-0 on the week for the first time all season. Baker averaged WAC bests of 5.83 points and 5.33 kills to go along with 2.44 digs and 0.56 blocks per set. She opened the week with her 10th double-double of the season with 19 kills and 12 digs in a five-set win over Texas State. Baker then led Idaho to a four-set victory over UTSA, giving the Roadrunners just their second WAC loss of the season. In that contest, she posted her 11th double-double of the season with a career-high 29 kills on .329 hitting to go along with 10 digs and four blocks. Baker has had double-digit kills in all 16 of Idaho’s matches this season and has passed the 20-kill mark on six occasions.
Other nominees included: Faimie Kingsley of Denver averaged 1.62 kills on .435 hitting to go along with 1.88 blocks per set ... Louisiana Tech’s Caitlin Germany averaged 1.71 kills and 1.14 blocks per set last week ... Desiree Scott of New Mexico State averaged 2.75 kills on .545 hitting and 0.88 blocks per set as the Aggies remained the only unbeaten team in WAC play ... Seattle U’s Kaytlyn Dill posted a pair of double-doubles and averaged 4.71 kills and 2.86 digs per set ... Taylor Gross of UT Arlington averaged 2.71 kills on .375 hitting last week ... UTSA’s McKenzie Adams averaged 5.12 kills and 4.50 digs per set as the Roadrunners went 1-1 on the week ... Amari Deardorff of Texas State averaged 3.38 kills and 0.62 blocks per set as the Bobcats went 1-1 on the week ... Utah State’s Josselyn White averaged 3.86 kills and 3.86 digs per set in helping the Aggies to a 2-0 mark on the week.
NEW MEXICO STATE RANKS NATIONALLY IN ATTENDANCE
New Mexico State currently ranks 17th nationally in attendance with an average of 1,698 fans per match. Meanwhile, Texas State ranks 74th (666).
DILL POSTS 1,000TH CAREER KILL
With her kill in the second set against Texas State to tie it at 9-9, Seattle U’s Kaytlyn Dill notched her 1,000th career kill to become the sixth player in program history to do so. She now has 1,006 kills in her four seasons.
CHISUM EARNS 750TH CAREER WIN
Her team’s sweep of Seattle U on Sept. 29 was career victory No. 750 for Texas State head coach Karen Chisum. The sixth-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I, Chisum has a career record of 750-476-3 (.611).
WAC STAT LEADERS
In team statistics, UTSA leads the WAC in opponent hitting percentage (.160), assists (12.63), kills (13.68) and digs (18.63). Denver is tops in hitting percentage (.246), while Utah State leads the WAC in blocks (2.96) and Seattle U is tops in service aces (1.36).
Individually, Idaho’s Allison (Walker) Baker leads the WAC in kills (4.52) and points (4.98). Denver’s Faimie Kingsley is tops in hitting percentage (.390) and blocks (1.65), while San Jose State’s Michaela Leonard leads the league in assists (11.26). Kaytlyn Dill of Seattle U leads the WAC in service aces (0.52), while UTSA’s Annie Kunes is tops in digs (4.67).
In WAC matches, New Mexico State leads the league in hitting percentage (.253) and opponent hitting percentage (.136). San Jose State is tops in assists (13.04), while UT Arlington leads the league in kills (13.65). Denver is tops in and blocks (3.12), while Seattle U is tops in service aces (1.67) and UTSA leads the conference in digs (20.68).
Individually, UTSA’s McKenzie Adams leads the WAC in kills (5.00) and points (5.58) in WAC matches. Desiree Scott of New Mexico State is tops in hitting percentage (.415), while Leonard leads the league in assists (11.74) and Dill is tops in service aces (0.67). Kingsley leads the WAC in blocks (2.00), while Kunes is tops in digs (5.73).
DENVER PIONEERS (8-7, 2-3 WAC)
The Pioneers fell at Air Force (25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 24-26, 9-15) last Tuesday and at New Mexico State (22-25, 19-25, 16-25) on Saturday ... Against the Falcons, Michele Swope led DU with 16 kills and 14 digs for her third double-double of the season ... The Pioneers out-blocked Air Force 18-7 ... Faimie Kingsley has 398 career blocks, good for third place all-time at DU and 67 shy of the record ... Denver leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.246), ranks second in blocks (2.68), third in opponent hitting percentage (.167), fourth in assists (11.52) and kills (12.48), and fifth in service aces (1.13) ... Kingsley leads the WAC and ranks fourth nationally in blocks (1.65) and leads the league and ranks 32nd in the nation in hitting percentage (.390) ... Lyndi Johnson ranks eighth in the WAC in digs (3.63), Frances Carroll is second in service aces (0.33) and eighth in assists (7.69) ... Colleen King is ranks 10th in the WAC in blocks (1.00) and hitting percentage (.264) ... The Pioneers play at San Jose State on Thursday and at Utah State on Saturday.
IDAHO VANDALS (6-10, 4-2 WAC)
The Vandals defeated Texas State (25-14, 25-13, 23-25, 21-25, 15-8) last Thursday and beat UTSA in four sets (20-25, 28-26, 25-13, 25-22) on Saturday ... Allison (Walker) Baker posted double-doubles of 19 kills and 12 digs vs. Texas State and a career-high 29 kills and 10 digs vs. UTSA ... Idaho has won three consecutive matches ... Baker has a WAC-best 11 double-doubles this season and has had double-digit kills in all 16 matches ... As a team, Idaho ranks fourth in the WAC in hitting percentage (.207) and blocks (2.32), and fifth in assists (11.50) and digs (14.26) ... Baker leads the league and ranks 12th nationally in kills (4.52) and is tops in the WAC and 18th in the nation in points (4.98) ... Alyssa Schultz ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage (.353) and fourth in blocks (1.18) ... Janelle Chow is third in the WAC in digs (4.02), while Jenna Ellis is fourth in service aces (0.32) ... The Vandals play at Seattle U on Friday in their only match this week.
LOUISIANA TECH LADY TECHSTERS (3-14, 0-5 WAC)
The Lady Techsters fell to Utah State (18-25, 16-25, 25-22, 23-25) last Thursday and San Jose State (17-25, 20-25, 21-25) on Saturday ... Fenix Calderon (10 kills, 15 digs) and Maria Coelho (32 assists, 10 digs) both posted double-doubles against the Aggies ... The Lady Techsters had 10 blocks against Utah State, just the fourth time all season the team has had 10 or more blocks in a match ... Clara Vido was just shy of a double-double against the Spartans, finishing with nine kills and 11 digs ... Caitlin Germany ranks sixth in the league in blocks per set (1.11), while Coelho is sixth in assists per set (7.95) ... In WAC matches only, Ana Rodrigues ranks fifth in the league in digs (4.11), while Coelho is sixth in assists (8.28) and eighth in service aces (0.33) ... Vido ranks eighth in the conference in WAC matches in points (3.65) and kills (3.18) ... Louisiana Tech plays at UTSA on Thursday and at Texas State on Saturday.
NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES (11-4, 5-0 WAC)
The Aggies fell in five sets (25-22, 14-25, 25-15, 20-25, 11-15) at rival UTEP last Wednesday, then swept Denver (25-22, 25-19, 25-16) on Saturday to remain the only undefeated team in WAC play ... Against the Miners, Meredith Hays had 16 kills, while Desiree Scott added a career-high 14 ... Against the Pioneers, Preslie Alexander hit .706 with 13 kills ... NM State ranks second in the WAC in hitting percentage (.237) and service aces (1.35), third in assists (12.10), kills (13.23) and blocks (2.51), and fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.178) ... Hays ranks second in the WAC in points (4.82) and kills (4.22), and sixth in service aces (0.28) ... Scott ranks fifth in the league in both blocks (1.15) and hitting percentage (.322) ... In WAC matches only, the Aggies lead the league in hitting percentage (.253) and opponent hitting percentage (.136), and rank second in blocks (2.90) ... The Aggies play at Utah State on Thursday and at San Jose State on Saturday.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS (7-9, 3-3 WAC)
The Spartans fell to Pacific (21-25, 17-25, 20-25) last Tuesday, lost in four sets at UT Arlington (21-25, 23-25, 25-22, 20-25) last Thursday and swept Louisiana Tech (25-17, 25-20, 25-21) on Saturday ... The team had a season-low three blocks against the Tigers ... Against the Mavericks, Mary Alice O’Reilly finished with 15 kills, followed by Krista Miller with 11 and Samantha O’Connell with 10 ... Against the Lady Techsters, O’Connell had a match-high 12 kills, followed by Hanah Blume with 10 ... San Jose State ranks second in the WAC in assists (12.48), kills (13.28) and digs (17.30), fourth in service aces (1.20) and fifth in opponent hitting percentage (.188) ... Michaela Leonard leads the WAC and ranks 27th nationally in assists (11.26) ... O’Reilly ranks fourth in the WAC in hitting percentage (.332), fifth in points (3.66) and sixth in kills (3.10) ... Kiely Pieper ranks fourth in the WAC in digs (3.97), while Blume is seventh (3.70) ... Alex Akana is 10th in the league in service aces (0.25) ... San Jose State hosts Denver on Thursday and New Mexico State on Saturday.
SEATTLE U REDHAWKS (6-10, 1-5 WAC)
The Redhawks fell to UTSA (20-25, 25-23, 28-30, 23-25) last Thursday, then fell to Texas State (17-25, 21-25, 25-27) on Saturday... Against the Roadrunners, Kaytlyn Dill finished with 22 kills, while Jacquie Brice posted her fourth double-double of the season with 44 assists and a career-high 18 digs ... Against the Bobcats, Dill tallied 11 kills, including the 1,000th of her career, becoming the sixth player in program history to reach that mark ... With 10 digs in each match, Dill extended her streak of double-digit dig matches to eight ... Dill has notched double-doubles in four straight matches and in six of the last seven contests ... Dill ranks fifth all-time in service aces at Seattle U with 105, three shy of fourth ... Seattle U leads the WAC in service aces (1.36), while Dill leads the conference and ranks 11th nationally in aces (0.52) ... Dill also ranks fourth in the WAC in points (4.40) and kills (3.65), while Brice is fifth in assists (9.70) and Lani Beadle is ninth in digs (3.52) ... The Redhawks host Idaho on Friday.
UT ARLINGTON MAVERICKS (6-11, 2-3 WAC)
The Mavericks defeated San Jose State in four sets (25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-20) last Thursday, then were swept by Utah State (14-25, 22-25, 25-27) on Saturday ... Against the Spartans, four players had double-digit kills – Shelby Dickson (20), Charmaine Whitmore (12), Taylor Gross (11) and Ashley Bennett (10) ... Dickson added 24 digs for her eighth double-double of the season ... The Mavericks rank third in the WAC in digs (15.75) ... Amanda Welsh ranks fourth in the WAC in assists (10.11) and seventh in service aces (0.28), while Whitmore is eighth in blocks (1.04) ... Dickson ranks sixth in the league in digs per set (3.84), ninth in kills per set (2.92) and 10th in points per set (3.25) ... Gross is ninth in the WAC in hitting percentage (.268) ... In WAC matches only, the Mavericks lead the conference in kills (13.65), rank third in assists (12.47), and fourth in hitting percentage (.219) and digs (15.76) ... UT Arlington plays at Texas State on Thursday and at UTSA on Saturday.
UTSA ROADRUNNERS (10-5, 3-2 WAC)
The Roadrunners defeated Seattle U in four sets (25-20, 23-25, 30-28, 25-23) last Thursday and fell at Idaho (25-20, 26-28, 13-25, 22-25) on Saturday ... McKenzie Adams posted back-to-back double-doubles, her ninth and 10th of the season. She posted her second career 20-20 match, netting 23 digs and 20 kills vs. Seattle. Against Idaho, she racked up 21 kills and 13 digs ... Annie Kunes tied a season high with 25 digs against Idaho ... Brittney Malloy had six blocks last week, bringing her career total to 351 to make her just the third player in UTSA history to record more than 350 total blocks ... UTSA leads the league in opponent hitting percentage (.160), assists (12.63), kills (13.68) and digs (18.63) ... Kunes leads the WAC in digs (4.67), while Brandy Huskey is second in assists (10.61) ... Adams is third in the WAC in both kills (4.18) and points (4.64), and fifth in digs (3.89) ... The Roadrunners host Louisiana Tech on Thursday and UT Arlington on Saturday.
TEXAS STATE BOBCATS (7-9, 2-3 WAC)
The Bobcats fell in five sets (14-25, 13-25, 25-23, 25-21, 8-15) at Idaho last Thursday and swept Seattle U (25-17, 25-21, 27-25) on Saturday ... Against the Vandals, Amari Deardorff led the team with 18 kills, the most by any Bobcat in a match this season, followed by Alexandra Simms with 14 and Morgan McDaniel with 12 ... Against the Redhawks, Simms led the team with 11 kills ... The win over Seattle U was head coach Karen Chisum’s 750th career victory ... As a team, the Bobcats rank third in the WAC in service aces (1.24) and fourth in digs (14.46) ... Simms ranks fifth in the WAC in kills (3.11) and eighth in points (3.47) ... Sierra Smith is fifth in the WAC in aces (0.29), while Patti Bradshaw is eighth (0.26) ... Caleigh McCorquodale ranks ninth in the WAC in assists (6.52) ... In WAC matches only, Smith ranks fourth in service aces (0.39), while Simms is eighth (0.33) ... The Bobcats host UT Arlington on Thursday and Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
UTAH STATE AGGIES (10-5, 5-1 WAC)
Utah State defeated Louisiana Tech in four sets (25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 25-23) last Thursday and swept UT Arlington (25-14, 25-22, 27-25) on Saturday to remain in second place in the WAC standings ... Shay Sorensen (14 kills, 17 digs), Josselyn White (10 kills, 20 digs) and Paige Neves (48 assists, 11 digs) all posted double-doubles against the Lady Techsters ... White had a season-high 17 kills against the Mavericks ... With 1,411 career assists, Paige Neves ranks ninth all-time in the Utah State record books, 84 shy of eighth place ... White has 283 career blocks, good for ninth place all-time at USU and 23 shy of eighth ... Utah State leads the WAC in blocks (2.96) ... Elle Brainard ranks second in the WAC in blocks (1.55) and sixth in hitting percentage (.309), while Ashlan Rogers is second in digs (4.04) and third in service aces (0.32) ... The Aggies begin season-long five-match homestand this week, hosting New Mexico State on Thursday in a showdown of the top two teams in the WAC standings and facing Denver on Saturday.