Complete Release in PDF
UTAH VALLEY'S DENNISON NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley senior middle blocker Madison Dennison has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 23-29. This is her third WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and the fifth of her career.
The Pleasant Grove, Utah native led the Wolverines to 2-0 record last week, averaging 3.33 kills on .400 hitting, 2.33 blocks and 0.83 digs. Dennison opened the week with seven blocks, five kills and four digs in a straight-set victory over first-place CSU Bakersfield. With her seven blocks, she helped Utah Valley set a school record for the most team blocks in a three-set match with 17.0. Dennison then had a match-high 15 kills on .440 hitting and seven more blocks in a sweep of Grand Canyon. By hitting .440, she helped the Wolverines post a season-high .402 attack percentage. Dennison, who currently leads the nation in total blocks (160), leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.320) and blocks per set (1.68).
Other nominees included: Lacee Adams of Chicago State averaged 11.25 assists and 1.88 digs per set last week ... Grand Canyon's Teagan DeFalco averaged 4.25 kills, 2.25 digs and 4.44 points per set as the Lopes went 1-1 on the week ... Alicia Harrington of Kansas City averaged 3.63 kills and 3.00 digs per set as the Roos went 1-1 on the week ... NM State's Kassandra Tohm averaged 4.67 kills on .393 hitting and 0.67 digs per set as the Aggies went 2-0 on the week ... Katarina Marinkovic of Seattle U averaged 4.22 kills and 2.11 digs per set as the Redhawks went 1-1 on the week ... UT Rio Grande Valley's Ragni Steen Knudsen averaged 4.40 kills and 1.10 digs per set as the Vaqueros went 1-1 on the week.
WAC STAT LEADERS
NM State leads the WAC in opponent hitting percentage (.122), assists (13.06) and kills (13.76), while Utah Valley is tops in hitting percentage (.226) and blocks (2.99). Grand Canyon leads the WAC in service aces (1.39) and CSU Bakersfield is tops in digs (17.01).
Individually, Chicago State's Lauryn Dela Cruz leads the WAC in kills (4.23) and points (4.51), while teammates Lacee Adams and Carmen Carvajal are tops in assists (10.25) and service aces (0.36), respectively. Utah Valley's Madison Dennison leads the league in hitting percentage (.320) and blocks (1.68) and CSU Bakersfield's Emily Lopes leads the WAC in digs (5.68).
In WAC matches only, NM State leads the league in hitting percentage (.249), opponent hitting percentage (.107), assists (12.97), kills (13.64) and digs (16.19). Meanwhile, Utah Valley is tops in blocks (3.41) and CSU Bakersfield leads the league in service aces (1.76).
Individually in WAC matches, NM State's Kassandra Tohm leads the league in kills (4.00) and points (4.22), while Utah Valley's Dennison is tops in hitting percentage (.357) and blocks (1.92). UT Rio Grande Valley's Dubravka Vukoja is tops in assists (9.89), while CSU Bakersfield's Aleksandra Djordjevic leads the league in service aces (0.50) and teammate Lopes is tops in digs (5.55).
NM STATE'S BATTLE BECOMES SECOND CURRENT AGGIE WITH 1,000 POINTS
In her team's three-set win over Chicago State on Oct. 28, NM State junior outside hitter Tatyana Battle recorded her 1,000th career point, joining teammate Sasha-Lee Thomas as a member of the 1000-point club. Battle is the sixth active player in the WAC to surpass 1000 points, but the sole junior on the list.
CSUB'S LOPES MOVING UP SEASON DIGS CHART
CSU Bakersfield libero Emily Lopes currently leads the WAC with 528 digs this season, which ranks sixth in CSUB Division I history, 11 shy of fifth place. With a minimum of four matches remaining, at her current pace Lopes would finish the season with 609 digs, which would rank tied for sixth place all-time in WAC history.
VAQUEROS' MITROVIC RECORDS 1,000TH KILL AT UTRGV
In her team's loss at Seattle U on Oct. 7, UT Rio Grande Valley senior Bojana Mitrovic recorded her 1,000th kill in a UTRGV uniform to become the only active player in the WAC to surpass the 1,000-kill plateau. She now has 1,086 kills in her three seasons with the school to rank sixth all-time, 15 shy of fifth place. At her current pace, Mitrovic would finish her career ranked fifth all-time at UTRGV. She had 372 kills as a freshman at UT Brownsville.
CSUB'S ROBERTS MOVING UP SINGLE-SEASON BLOCKS CHART
With 86 total blocks this season, CSU Bakersfield senior middle blocker Haylee Roberts ranks fifth in CSUB's Division I single-season history. She is on pace to finish third in program history.
UVU'S DENNISON RECORDS 500TH CAREER BLOCK
The nation's leader in blocks, Utah Valley senior middle blocker Madison Dennison became just the second Wolverine to join the 500-career block plateau with 10 blocks against UT Rio Grande Valley on Oct. 5. Dennison now has a total of 541 career blocks and sits 38 shy of program leader Lauren Bakker's 579. Earlier this season Dennison surpassed 1,000 career points and she is also approaching 1,000 kills, as she has 905 on her career.
NM STATE'S THOMAS POSTS 1,000TH CAREER POINT
In a win over Seattle U on Oct. 5, NM State senior middle blocker Sasha-Lee Thomas recorded her 1,000th career point. She now has 1,092 career points.
THREE UTRGV BLOCKERS IN PROGRAM CAREER TOP 10
UT Rio Grande Valley currently has three players that rank in the top 10 in the program career record books for total blocks. Alexandra Ecker ranks sixth (280), Bojana Mitrovic is ninth (209) and Barbara Silva is 10th (205). Ecker also ranks second in blocks assists (256), while Mitrovic is ninth (191) and Silva is 10th (189).
NM STATE'S SIERRA MOVING UP DIGS CHART
NM State senior libero Ariadnne Sierra currently ranks fourth all-time in career digs at NM State with 1,298. She is also the WAC's active career digs leader.
CSUB'S HAYNES MOVING UP CAREER BLOCKS CHARTS
CSU Bakersfield senior middle blocker Sydney Haynes has 246 block assists on her career, good for sixth place all-time and 26 shy of fifth. She also has 269 total blocks on her career, also good for sixth all-time at CSUB.
NM STATE FAVORED IN WAC PRESEASON POLL
The WAC coaches selected NM State to win the WAC regular-season crown in 2017. The Aggies received six of the first-place votes and 48 total points to earn the top spot in the poll. Reigning WAC Tournament champion UT Rio Grande Valley finished in second place with 39 points, edging out Utah Valley, which earned the other two first-place votes and 37 total points. Kansas City was fourth with 31 points, while CSU Bakersfield and Seattle U tied for fifth place with 24 points. Grand Canyon and Chicago State rounded out the poll with 14 and seven points, respectively.
PRESEASON ALL-WAC
UT Rio Grande Valley senior right side hitter Bojana Mitrovic was the pick for WAC Preseason Player of the Year. NM State placed the most players on the preseason All-WAC team with five, while Utah Valley had three and UTRGV and Seattle U had two apiece. Joining Mitrovic on the preseason team are NM State's Jordan Abalos, Briana Ainsworth, Tatyana Battle, Ariadnne Sierra and Sasha-Lee Thomas, Utah Valley's Madison Dennison, Sierra Starley and Lexi Thompson, Kansas City's Alicia Harrington, CSU Bakersfield's Sydney Haynes, Seattle U's Katarina Marinkovic and Maja Stojanovic and UT Rio Grande Valley's Ragni Steen Knudsen.
2017 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2017 WAC Volleyball Tournament will be held Nov. 16-18 at the UTRGV Field House in Edinburg, Texas, and will include the top six teams in the regular-season standings.
2017 WAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, Nov. 16 (First Round)
Match 1 - No. 6 seed vs. No. 3 seed, 4:30 p.m.
Match 2 - No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 17 (Semifinals)
Match 3 - Winner Match 1 vs. No. 2 seed, 4:30 p.m.
Match 4 - Winner Match 2 vs. No. 1 seed, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 18 (Championship)
Match 5 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4, 7 p.m.
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Four of the seven first team All-WAC players from 2016 returned for the 2017 season - NM State's Jordan Abalos and Tatyana Battle, Utah Valley's Madison Dennison and UT Rio Grande Valley's Bojana Mitrovic. Five of the seven second team honorees returned, including CSU Bakersfield's Sydney Haynes, Seattle U's Katarina Marinkovic, NM State's Ariadnne Sierra and Sasha-Lee Thomas and Utah Valley's Lexi Thompson. Four of the six All-Freshman Team honorees from a year ago returned - Alicia Harrington of Kansas City, Izzie Hinton of Utah Valley, Marinkovic of Seattle U and Barbara Silva of UTRGV.
2017 NCAA TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The NCAA Division I bracket (64-team field) will be announced Sunday, Nov. 26. First & Second Round competition will be held Nov. 30-Dec. 2 on 16 non-predetermined campus sites. At each campus site, four teams will compete in single-elimination competition. The two winning teams then compete against each other in second round competition at the same campus site. The winning team from each of the 16 second rounds advances to the Regionals, which will be held Dec. 8-9 at non-predetermined sites. At each site, four teams compete in Regional Semifinal competition. The two winning teams then compete against each other in Regional Final competition at the same site. The winning team from each of the Regionals advances to the championship final in Kansas City, Mo. The 2017 NCAA Division I Championship will be held at the Sprint Center. The National Semifinals will be held Dec. 14 and the National Championship will take place Dec. 16.