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UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S MITROVIC NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley sophomore rightside hitter Bojana Mitrovic has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6. This is the first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor for Mitrovic.
The Novi Sad, Serbia. native led the Vaqueros to a 2-2 record on the week and earned tournament MVP honors after leading her team to the championship at the UTRGV Tournament last weekend. For the week, she averaged 3.53 kills. 3.13 digs, 0.47 blocks, 0.40 assists and 0.27 service aces per set. Mitrovic, who had double-digit digs in all four matches on the week, posted her first double-double of the season with 19 kills and 10 digs vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday. She closed out the tournament with season highs of 23 kills and 15 digs to go along with three service aces vs. San José State. Mitrovic now leads the WAC in kills per set (3.72), total kills (93), points per set (4.40) and total points (110.0), and ranks seventh in service aces per set (0.32).
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Morginne Demarco was named to the all-tournament team at the Trojan Invitational after averaging 3.93 digs and 0.53 assists ... Elli Woinowsky of Chicago State averaged 2.80 kills and 2.00 digs over three matches at the UIC Invitational ... Missouri-Kansas City's Sydney Crimmins was named to the Kansas Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 2.78 kills, 2.80 digs and 0.89 blocks per set over three matches ... Tatyana Battle of NM State was named to the all-tournament team at the Texas A&M Invitational after averaging 3.69 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.38 blocks per set ... Seattle U's Martina Samadan was named to the Idaho Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.44 kills on .444 hitting, 0.89 digs and 0.67 blocks over three matches ... Macky Fifita of Utah Valley earned all-tournament team honors at the NDSU Classic after averaging 3.29 kills, 2.43 digs and 0.50 blocks per set.
WAC HAS 10 PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
The WAC had 10 of its players named to all-tournament teams last weekend, headlined by UT Rio Grande Valley's Bojana Mitrovic, who was named MVP of the UTRGV Tournament. Teammates Alisha Watson and Haley Durham joined Mitrovic on the all-tournament team. CSU Bakersfield's Morginne Demarco was named to the all-tournament team at the Trojan Invitational, while Shontanae Addison of Chicago State earned all-tournament honors at the UIC Invitational. Sydney Crimmins of Missouri-Kansas City was named to the Kansas Invitational All-Tournament Team, while NM State's Tatyana Battle and Gwen Murphy earned all-tournament honors at the Texas A&M Invitational. Martina Samadan of Seattle U earned honors at the Idaho Volleyball Classic, while Utah Valley's Macky Fifita was named to the NDSU Classic All-Tournament Team.
NM STATE RANKED IN RICH KERN TOP 30 FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2008
NM State is ranked No. 30 in this week's RichKern.com national poll. It's the first time since Dec. 22, 2008, when the Aggies were No. 22, that NM State has been in the poll (excluding preseason polls).
SEATTLE U STARTS ALL INTERNATIONAL LINEUP
In two matches last weekend, Seattle U started an all-international lineup, not including the libero. The lineup included Martina Samadan (Croatia), Maja Stojanovic (Serbia), Jelena Vujcin (Serbia), Iris Ivanis (Croatia) or Mila Duarte (Peru), Matea Mamic (Croatia) and Shae Harris (Canada).
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. During the four matches, Murphy posted a career-high 16 kills twice, including in a five-set loss to No. 16 Arizona State, and had a career-high three service aces against Northeastern. She also hit a blazing .722 in a sweep of Montana. Murphy is the 14th player in WAC history and the first since the 2007 season to receive the AVCA weekly honor.
WAC STAT LEADERS
NM State leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.257), assists (12.79) and kills (14.04), while Seattle U is tops in opponent hitting percentage (.124), blocks (3.06) and service aces (1.78). Meanwhile, UT Rio Grande Valley leads the league in digs (17.28).
Individually, UT Rio Grande Valley's Bojana Mitrovic leads the WAC in kills (3.72) and points (4.40), while teammate Alisha Watson is tops in service aces (0.52). Seattle U's Martina Samadan leads the league in hitting percentage (.408), while teammates Kerry Lane and Maja Stojanovic are tops in assists (9.77) and blocks (1.50), respectively. Missouri-Kansas City's Taryn Miller leads the WAC in digs (5.45).
UTRGV'S DUNHAM RANKS IN FOUR PROGRAM CAREER CATEGORIES
UT Rio Grande Valley senior Haley Durham ranks in the top five in four categories in the program career record books - blocks per set (0.82, first), hitting percentage (.230, fifth), total blocks (275, fifth) and blocks assists (223, fifth).
MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY FAVORED IN WAC PRESEASON POLL
The WAC coaches selected Missouri-Kansas City as the team to beat in 2015. The Kangaroos received four of the first-place votes and 45 total points to earn the top spot in the poll. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.
NM State earned two first-place votes and 40 points, followed by Seattle U with one first-place vote and 37 points. CSU Bakersfield was picked to finish fourth with 33 points and the other first-place vote, followed by Utah Valley in fifth with 28 points. Grand Canyon was sixth with 20 points, while UT Rio Grande Valley and Chicago State rounded out the poll with 13 and eight points, respectively.
PRESEASON ALL-WAC
Utah Valley senior middle blocker Lauren Bakker was selected as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year for the second year in a row. UMKC, NM State and Seattle U placed the most players on the preseason All-WAC team with three apiece, while CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley had two each.
Joining Bakker on the team was teammate Macky Fifita, UMKC's Sydney Crimmins, Jessica Hendin and Taryn Miller, NM State's Nathalie Castellanos, Gwen Murphy and Bradley Nash, Seattle U's Matea Mamic, Martina Samadan and Jelena Vujcin, CSU Bakersfield's Luiza Martins and Kelsee Sawyer, and Grand Canyon's Natalie Tardy.
2015 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2015 WAC Volleyball Tournament will be held Nov. 19-21 at the Swinney Recreation Center in Kansas City, Mo., and will include the top six eligible teams in the regular-season standings.
Thursday, Nov. 19 (First Round)
Match 1 - No. 6 seed vs. No. 3 seed, 5 p.m.
Match 2 - No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 20 (Semifinals)
Match 3 - Winner Match 1 vs. No. 2 seed, 5 p.m.
Match 4 - Winner Match 2 vs. No. 1 seed, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 21 (Championship)
Match 5 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4, 5 p.m.
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Of the seven first team All-WAC players in 2014, four return for the 2015 season, led by Preseason Player of the Year Lauren Bakker of Utah Valley. Also returning from the first team are Missouri-Kansas City's Sydney Crimmins and Taryn Miller, and Martina Samadan of Seattle U.
Four of the seven second team honorees return, including Nathalie Castellanos and Gwen Murphy of NM State, Luiza Martins of CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley's Macky Fifita.
All six of the All-Freshman Team honorees a year ago return - Jordan Abalos and Sasha-Lee Thomas of NM State, Sydney Haynes of CSU Bakersfield, Natalie Tardy of Grand Canyon, Jelena Vujcin of Seattle U and Madison Dennison of Utah Valley.
2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship bracket will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 29. First & Second Round competition will be held Dec. 4-6 on 16 campus sites. At each campus site, four teams will compete in single-elimination First Round competition. The two winning teams will then compete against each other in single-elimination Second Round competition at the same campus site. The winning team from each of the 16 Second Rounds will advance to the Regionals.
Regionals will be held Dec. 11-12 at the following locations:
Austin, Texas - Gregory Gymnasium | Hosted by the University of Texas at Austin
Des Moines, Iowa - Wells Fargo Arena | Hosted by the University of Northern Iowa and the Des Moines Area Sports Commission
Lexington, Ky. - Memorial Coliseum | Hosted by the University of Kentucky
San Diego - Jenny Craig Pavilion | Hosted by the University of San Diego
At each site, four teams will compete in single-elimination Regional Semifinal competition. The two winning teams will then compete against each other in single-elimination Regional Final competition at the same site. The winning team from each of the four Regionals will advance to the championship final site in Omaha, Neb.
The 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be held at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb. National Semifinals will be held Dec. 17, and the National Championship will take place Dec. 19.