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NM STATE TO FACE NO. 8 STANFORD IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
NM State will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to face No. 8 Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. (PT) this Thursday, Dec. 3.
The Aggies (28-5), winners of 19 straight matches, went undefeated in WAC play and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the WAC Tournament. This is NM State's eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and first since the 2013 season.
The Aggies are led by WAC Player of the Year and WAC Tournament MVP Gwen Murphy, who averages 3.29 kills on .425 hitting, 0.85 blocks and 0.68 digs per set.
Stanford (22-6) earned an at-large bid out of the Pac-12 Conference and is the No. 8 overall seed. The Cardinal are led by Hayley Hodson, who averages 4.58 points, 3.85 kills, 2.42 digs and 0.74 blocks per set.
In the other match, Colorado State (26-3) faces Loyola Marymount (22-8) at 4:30 p.m. (PT) Thursday. The Rams earned the automatic bid out of the Mountain West Conference, while the Lions earned an at-large bid out of the West Coast Conference.
The winners of the two matches will play at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4.
NM STATE WINS WAC TOURNAMENT, WILL REPRESENT CONFERENCE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Top-seeded NM State swept No. 5 Missouri-Kansas City (25-18, 25-18, 25-19) in the semifinals and swept No. 2 CSU Bakersfield (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) in the championship match to win the WAC Tournament. It was the Aggies' third WAC Tournament title since joining the league in 2005. WAC Tournament MVP Gwen Murphy averaged 4.92 points, 4.17 kills on .449 hitting and 1.00 blocks per set over the two matches.
All-Tournament Team
Luiza Martins, CSU Bakersfield
Bojana Mitrovic, UTRGV
Martina Samadan, Seattle U
Kelsee Sawyer, CSU Bakersfield
Andrea Tauai, NM State
MVP: Gwen Murphy, NM State
ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED
The 2015 WAC volleyball award winners, as selected by the league's eight head coaches, were announced at the WAC Tournament banquet. NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy was named WAC Player of the Year, while Utah Valley's Abby Jensen was named WAC Freshman of the Year and NM State head coach Mike Jordan was named WAC Coach of the Year.
Murphy earned WAC Player of the Year honors after ranking second in the league in hitting percentage (.435), fifth in blocks (0.98), seventh in points (3.78) and eighth in kills (3.00) in WAC matches. She hit .300 or better in 10 of 14 WAC matches and had 10 or more kills in eight WAC matches. She set the all-time WAC record for hitting percentage earlier this season when she hit .933 against Robert Morris.
Jensen earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors after averaging 3.28 points, 2.88 kills and 1.87 digs in WAC play. In WAC play only, she ranked ninth in the conference in kills per set, had one double-double and posted 10 or more kills eight times.
Jordan led his team to a perfect 14-0 mark in WAC play to become just the fourth school ever to finish WAC play unbeaten. This is NM State's third WAC regular-season title, its second outright title and first since the 2013 season. This is the fifth time Jordan has earned the honor.
WAC STAT LEADERS
NM State leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.287), opponent hitting percentage (.180), assists (13.17) and kills (14.36). Meanwhile, Utah Valley is tops in blocks (2.65), Seattle U leads the WAC in service aces (1.89) and Missouri-Kansas City is tops in digs (16.10).
Individually, UT Rio Grande Valley's Bojana Mitrovic leads the WAC in kills (4.30) and points (4.82), while Seattle U's Martina Samadan is tops in hitting percentage (.454). CSU Bakersfield's Luiza Martins leads the league in assists (10.48), while Jelena Vujcin of Seattle U is tops in service aces (0.50). Utah Valley's Lauren Bakker leads the WAC in blocks (1.26), while Missouri-Kansas City's Taryn Miller is tops in digs (4.95).
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).
SAMADAN SETS SEATTLE U CAREER, SEASON HITTING PERCENTAGE RECORDS
Seattle U senior middle blocker Martina Samadan closed out her career as the best hitter in program history. She holds the program records for career hitting percentage (.412) and season hitting percentage (.454, 2015). Her 2015 mark is also a WAC record, while her career percentage ranks second all-time in WAC history.
In addition, she holds six of the top 10 single-match hitting percentage records in program history:
3. .786 vs. CSU Bakersfield, Sept. 26, 2013
5. .684 vs. CSU Bakersfield, Oct. 3, 2015
6. .667 vs. Kansas State, Sept. 12, 2015
8. .645 vs. Montana, Sept. 18, 2014
T-10. .600 vs. Idaho, Oct. 11, 2013
T-10. .600 vs. Chicago State, Oct. 17, 2013