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NM STATE'S MURPHY NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 9-15. This is her third WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and her career.
The Elfrida, Ariz. native led the Aggies to a 2-0 record on the road last week to finish WAC play undefeated, becoming just the fourth team ever and the first team besides Hawai‘i to do so since 1993. Murphy averaged 4.31 points, 3.25 kills on .632 hitting, 1.25 blocks, 0.50 digs and 0.38 service aces per set over the two matches. She opened the week with 12 kills on .611 hitting, five blocks, four digs and two service aces in a five-set win at Seattle U last Thursday. In a sweep of Utah Valley on Saturday, Murphy finished with 14 kills on 20 attempts with one error for a .650 hitting percentage. She also added five blocks and an ace.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Luiza Martins averaged 13.29 assists, 2.71 digs and 0.43 service aces and set her team to a .298 hitting percentage as the Roadrunners went 2-0 last week ... Sydney Crimmins of Missouri-Kansas City averaged 2.86 kills on .410 hitting, 1.14 blocks and 0.71 digs per set last week ... Seattle U's Martina Samadan averaged 3.62 kills on .423 hitting and 1.00 blocks per set over two matches ... Bojana Mitrovic of UT Rio Grande Valley averaged 3.86 kills and 1.71 digs per set ... Utah Valley's Lauren Bakker averaged 3.14 kills on .415 hitting, 1.43 blocks and 0.57 service aces per set
WAC STAT LEADERS
NM State leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.283), opponent hitting percentage (.178), assists (12.97) and kills (14.19). Meanwhile, Utah Valley is tops in blocks (2.66), Seattle U leads the WAC in service aces (1.94) and Missouri-Kansas City is tops in digs (16.32).
Individually, UT Rio Grande Valley's Bojana Mitrovic leads the WAC in kills (4.15) and points (4.66), while Seattle U's Martina Samadan is tops in hitting percentage (.449). CSU Bakersfield's Luiza Martins leads the league in assists (10.44), while Jelena Vujcin of Seattle U is tops in service aces (0.54). Utah Valley's Lauren Bakker leads the WAC in blocks (1.28), while Missouri-Kansas City's Taryn Miller is tops in digs (5.04).
In WAC matches only, NM State led the WAC in hitting percentage (.301), opponent hitting percentage (.165) and kills (14.44). CSU Bakersfield was tops in assists (13.42), while Utah Valley led the league in blocks (2.85). Seattle U led the WAC in service aces (2.00) and UMKC was tops in digs (15.27).
Individually in WAC matches, Samadan led the WAC in hitting percentage (.463), while Mitrovic was tops in kills (4.29) and points (4.80). Martins led the league in assists (11.89), while Seattle U's Iris Ivanis was tops in service aces (0.46). Bakker led the WAC in blocks (1.37), while Miller was tops in digs (4.64).
NM STATE POSTS FIRST UNDEFEATED SEASON IN WAC PLAY SINCE 2011
NM State closed out WAC play with a perfect 14-0 record, becoming the first team to do since the 2011 season. The Aggies became the fourth team ever to go unbeaten in WAC play and the first team other than Hawai‘i to do so since 1993.
SEATTLE U SETS PROGRAM SINGLE-MATCH HITTING PERCENTAGE RECORD
In a sweep of UT Rio Grande Valley on Nov. 14, Seattle U established a new program single-match record for highest hitting percentage at .461. The Redhawks finished with 48 kills against just seven attack errors on 89 attempts. The record is 50 points higher than the previous mark of .411 (47-8-95) set against UC Riverside Aug. 31, 2013.
CSUB'S SAWYER MOVES INTO FIFTH PLACE IN CAREER POINTS
With 17.0 points against Chicago State on Nov. 14, CSU Bakersfield's Kelsee Sawyer moved into fifth place in school history in career points. She now has 1,522 points. She also ranks fourth all-time with 1,396 career kills.
UVU'S BAKKER SURPASSES 1,000-KILL, 500-BLOCK MILESTONE
Utah Valley senior middle blocker Lauren Bakker became the first Utah Valley player ever to surpass 1,000 career kills and 500 career blocks. The three-time first team all-conference performer has 1,020 kills and 577 blocks on her career. She became just the fourth player in school history to surpass 1,000 career kills on Nov. 12 against UT Rio Grande Valley.
SEATTLE U'S LANE SURPASSES 3,000 CAREER ASSISTS
Seattle U junior setter Kerry Lane became just the third player to surpass 3,000 career assists against NM State on Nov. 11. Lane now has 3,063 assists, 841 away from second place.
UTRGV'S MITROVIC MOVING UP SINGLE-SEASON KILLS, KILLS PER SET CHARTS
UT Rio Grande Valley junior Bojana Mitrovic has 419 kills this season, good for fifth place all-time in the program record books. Her 4.15 kills per set average, meanwhile, ranks first.
SEATTLE U'S LANE NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Seattle U junior Kerry Lane was named to the Academic All-District 8 first team by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). A mechanical engineering major, Lane currently carries a 3.85 grade-point average. She is a two-time Academic All-WAC honoree and has helped the Seattle U volleyball receive the AVCA Team Academic Award in back-to-back years. She ranks second in the WAC in assists per set and has two of the league's top four single-match assist totals in 2015, accumulating 56 assists at Missouri-Kansas City on Sept. 24 and 55 assists at NM State on Oct. 17.
NM STATE CLINCHES WAC REGULAR-SEASON TITLE, TOP SEED IN TOURNAMENT
NM State clinched the WAC regular-season title and the top seed in the WAC Tournament. The Aggies went 14-0 in WAC play and have won 16 straight matches. This is NM State's third WAC regular-season title, its second outright title and first since the 2013 season.
SEATTLE U'S SAMADAN RECORDS 1,000TH COLLEGIATE KILL
Seattle U senior middle blocker Martina Samadan recorded her 1,000th collegiate kill at CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 29 and now has 1,066 career kills. That total includes 818 kills in her three years at Seattle U and 248 as a freshman at VCU.
CSUB'S SAWYER SETS PROGRAM SINGLE-MATCH HITTING PERCENTAGE RECORD
In a sweep of Chicago State on Oct. 15, CSU Bakersfield senior Kelsee Sawyer led all players with 15 kills on 18 attempts with only two errors for a .722 hitting percentage. She broke the program Division I record for hitting percentage in a three-set match, which was previously held by Sarah Warner (7-0-10, .700) against Providence on Nov. 22, 2008.
SEATTLE U'S VUJCIN TIES PROGRAM SERVICE ACES MARK
Seattle U sophomore Jelena Vujcin had eight service aces in a win at UT Rio Grande Valley on Oct. 15, tying two other players for the Seattle U program record for aces in a match. Vujcin leads the WAC with 44 aces, good for sixth on Seattle U's single-season list and 20 shy of the all-time record of 64.
SAMADAN HAS FIVE SINGLE-MATCH HITTING PERCENTAGES AT SEATTLE U
In a loss to CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 3, Seattle U senior middle blocker Martina Samadan had 14 kills on 19 attempts with one attack error for a .684 hitting percentage, the fourth-highest single-match percentage in SU history. She owns five of the top 10 single-match hitting percentages in program history.
CSU BAKERSFIELD TIES DIVISION I RECORD FOR KILLS VS. GRAND CANYON
In a five-set win at Grand Canyon on Sept. 26, CSU Bakersfield finished with 83 kills, 109 digs, 76 assists and 211 total attempts, all WAC season highs. The Roadrunners tied the school Division I record for kills in a match, while the other three rank second in a match at the Division I level.
UMKC'S HENDIN JOINS 1,000-KILL, 1,000-DIG CLUB
On Sept. 26, Missouri-Kansas City's Jessica Hendin became just the third player in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs, joining Julie Mohrfeld (1,581 kills, 1,049 digs) and Angela Melka (1,037 kills, 1,239 digs). Hendin ranks fifth all-time at UMKC in kills (1,128) and seventh in digs (1,115).
NM STATE'S MURPHY HAS FOUR MATCHES WITH NO HITTING ERRORS THIS SEASON
NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy had eight kills on 11 attacks with no errors for a .727 hitting percentage against UT Rio Grande Valley on Sept. 26. It was the fourth match this season in which she had no hitting errors.
Sept. 11 vs. Robert Morris: 14 kills, 15 attempts, .933 percentage
Sept. 11 vs. Brown: 10 kills, 17 attempts, .588 percentage
Sept. 18 vs. Savannah State: 8 kills, 10 attempts, .800 percentage
Sept. 26 vs. UTRGV: 8 kills, 11 attempts, .727 percentage
UMKC'S MILLER RANKS FIFTH IN WAC CAREER DIGS WITH JUST THREE SEASONS
Missouri-Kansas City senior libero Taryn Miller currently ranks fifth all-time in the WAC record books for career digs with 1,694. That total is only for the three years the Kangaroos have been in the WAC, as during Miller's freshman season UMKC competed in The Summit League. Her career total of 2,234 would put her in second place in the WAC record books, 26 shy of the record.
NM STATE'S MURPHY BREAKS WAC RECORD FOR HITTING PERCENTAGE
In a sweep of Robert Morris on Sept. 11, NM State senior Gwen Murphy finished with 14 kills on 15 attempts and no errors for a WAC record .933 hitting percentage. Murphy broke the previous record of .889 set by Hawai‘i's Heather Bown against Tulsa on Nov. 5, 1999.
UTAH VALLEY'S BAKKER NOTCHES 500TH CAREER BLOCK
WAC Preseason Player of the Year Lauren Bakker of Utah Valley notched her 500th career block at Washington State on Sept. 12. Her career total of 577 would rank third all-time in the WAC record books, but she doesn't qualify since the Wolverines played her freshman season in the now-defunct Great West Conference.
UTRGV'S DUNHAM RANKS IN SIX PROGRAM CAREER CATEGORIES
UT Rio Grande Valley senior Haley Durham ranks in the top 10 in six categories in the program career record books - blocks per set (0.82, first), block assists (271, first), total blocks (335, first), solo blocks (64, fifth), hitting percentage (.235, fifth) and kills (930, seventh).
UMKC'S CRIMMINS, MILLER CANDIDATES FOR SENIOR C.L.A.S.S. AWARD
Missouri-Kansas City's Sydney Crimmins and Taryn Miller are two of the 30 candidates for the Senior C.L.A.S.S. Award for volleyball. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Crimmins was named first team All-WAC last year as a junior when she averaged 2.52 kills on .244 hitting, 2.90 digs and 0.83 blocks per set. She serves as the WAC representative for SAAC on the NCAA committee.
Miller was named first team All-WAC and AVCA honorable mention All-Region last year after leading the WAC and ranking ninth nationally in digs per set (5.48).
NM STATE'S MURPHY NAMED AVCA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy was named the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I National Player of the Week for Aug. 24-30, becoming the first Aggie ever to earn the honor. In leading NM State to a 3-1 record to start the season, she averaged 3.80 kills on .478 hitting to go along with 0.60 blocks, 0.47 digs and 0.40 service aces per set. Murphy is the 14th player in WAC history and the first since the 2007 season to receive the AVCA weekly honor.