Sept. 21, 2005
LOBOS OPEN MOUNTAIN WEST ACTION WITH BYU/UTAHLOBO LUAU SATURDAY NIGHT
Saturday night’s match against Utah is Lobo Luau Night sponsored by 97.3 KISS FM. Admission is $2 to anyone wearing Hawaiian print clothing. There will be themed music and games all night, including a hula hoop competition. The first 200 fans will also receive leis at the door. Faculty/Staff and students are still free with a valid Lobo ID.
The Lobos open Mountain West Conference play on Friday, Sept. 23 in Johnson Gym with BYU. New Mexico returns to the court the next day, taking on Utah. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. MT. UNM, 8-2 overall, is in second place in the MWC. BYU, 7-0, holds the best record in the MWC as the only undefeated team while Utah is fourth with a 7-3 overall record.
Through 38 games in 10 matches, the Lobos are hitting .231 (527K-216E-1,346TA) while holding their opponents to a .153 average with 314 errors. UNM has also stuffed back 101 blocks compared to their opponents 63. New Mexico also edges out their opponents in service aces, dropping in 76 compared to their opponents’ 65.
Senior Chelsea Sondrup leads New Mexico’s everyday players in hitting percentage with a .275 average. She also leads the team in blocks with 53 for a 1.39 blocks-per-game average. Classmate Nicole Ryan has put down a team-high 124 kills, averaging 3.54 per game. Ryan has produced the most points for UNM, recording 146.5. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has dished out 440 of New Mexico’s 478 assists, averaging 11.58 per game. Sophomore Kim Cox tops the Lobos’ charts in service aces (18) and digs (118).
CURRENT WIN STREAK MOVIN’ UP THE CHARTS
New Mexico currently has a six-game win streak in tact after winning three games at the University of Montana Invitational and three as the host of the Hilton Albuquerque Classic. The win streak ties the 1981, 1983, 1988 and 1989 teams for the ninth longest win streak in UNM history. The longest win streak in the program’s history is 16 games, strung together by the 1991 team from Oct. 11 through Dec. 6. Here is a complete list of the top-10 win streaks dating back to the 1980 season:
Longest UNM Win Streaks
| Rk. | Win Streak | Year | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 16 games | 1991 | 10/11-12/6 |
| 2. | 15 games | 1988 | 9/8-10/7 |
| 3. | 10 games | 1982 | 9/26-10/9 |
| 1986 | 9/5-9/26 | ||
| 1990 | 8/31-9/20 | ||
| 6. | 9 games | 1983 | 9/3-9/17 |
| 7. | 7 games | 1996 | 9/27-10/19 |
| 1981 | 11/5-12/4 | ||
| 9. | 6 games | 2005 | 9/9-9/17 |
| 1981 | 10/1-10/6 | ||
| 1983 | 9/24-10/2 | ||
| 1988 | 10/13-10/22 | ||
| 1989 | 9/16-10/7 | ||
| 1989 | 10/14-11/3 |
UNM OFF TO ONE OF PROGRAM’S BEST STARTS
The Lobos are 8-2 through the first 10 games of the regular season. It is the best start for UNM under head coach Kelley McKee. It ties the 1994 team for the fifth best start in UNM history. The best start is 10-0, set by the 1986, 1988 and 1990 teams. The best 10 starts to a season through 10 games are:
New Mexico’s Top-10 Best Starts
| Rk. | Record | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | 10-0 | 1986 |
| 1988 | ||
| 1990 | ||
| 4. | 9-1 | 1983 |
| 5. | 8-2 | 2005 |
| 1994 | ||
| 7. | 7-3 | 1981 |
| 1992 | ||
| 9. | 6-4 | 1991 |
| 2004 |
HILTON ALBUQUERQUE CLASSIC RECAP
The New Mexico volleyball team pounded on Delaware State to open the Hilton Albuquerque Classic. The Lobos won game one, 30-8, setting a new record for fewest points scored by an opponent in one game since the NCAA began playing to 30. For the game, senior Chelsea Sondrup led the Lobos with 12 kills and three blocks, hitting .579 (12K-1E-19TA). Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch hit a team-high .667 (2K-0E-3TA) and dished out 34 of UNM’s 37 assists. Freshman Joelle Ingram hit .571 (4K-0E-7TA) and recorded three blocks while sophomore Samie Weber and freshman Michelle Miller hit .500 (8K-2E-12TA) and (9K-2E-14TA), respectively. Weber added three blocks, two service aces and six digs. Sophomore Kim Cox led the team in digs (7) and aces (4).
Senior Chelsea Sondrup was named the Hilton Albuquerque Classic’s MVP.
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The Lobos rallied from a 2-1 deficit to Oral Roberts in match four of the Hilton Albuquerque Classic, winning 3-2. Several personal bests were set or tied in the game. Junior Kelly Therkelsen, with a team-high 21 kills, 45 attempts and four service aces, set her season high in kills and aces and broke her career high in attempts. Kwasigroch broke her career/season high for assists with 59 of the UNM’s 61, set a new personal best for digs with 18 and tied her high for kills (5) and blocks (3). Miller set her career/season high in total attempts (37), digs (6) and blocks (2) and recorded her first collegiate ace. Sondrup put down a team and season-high 12 blocks, missing her career record and program best by two. Cox led the team in digs with 23, also a season and career high.
UNM claimed the Hilton Albuquerque Classic championship with a 3-2 win over Syracuse. The win gave UNM back-to-back weekend tournament titles. The last time UNM won two consecutive tournaments was in 1994. Sondrup led the team with a .300 hitting percentage (13K-4E-30TA) and tied for a team high in blocks (6). Senior Nicole Ryan put down a team-high 18 kills while Miller added 11. Kwasigroch dished out 56 of UNM’s 60 assists and led the team in aces with three. Cox had a team-high 15 digs.
Oral Roberts placed second in the tournament, finishing 2-1. Syracuse was third (1-2) and Delaware State took fourth (0-3). Sondrup was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player while Kwasigroch and Therkelsen made the all-tournament team. ORU’s Jacki Oliveira and Maja Devic also made the all-tourney team along with Syracuse’s Katie Allen and Delaware State’s Michael-Ann Gunsten.
LOBOS PROWL ATOP THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
New Mexico, currently in second place in the Mountain West Conference, rank in the top half of the conference in five of the eight statistical categories kept track of by the MWC. The Lobos are second in win percentage (.800) and second in opponent hitting percentage (.153). UNM sits third in hitting percentage (.231), blocks (101 total, 2.66 per game) and service aces (2.00 per game).
Individually, six different Lobos place on the conference’s leader board. Senior Chelsea Sondrup and sophomore Kim Cox are on the list twice while senior Nicole Ryan, junior Kelly Therkelsen, sophomore Samie Weber and freshman Sarah Kwasigroch are each on there once. Sondrup is second in blocks, averaging 1.39 per game and 10th in hitting percentage, holding a .275 average. Cox is fifth in service aces (0.47 per game) and sixth in digs (3.11 per game). Kwasigroch stands second in assists, averaging 11.58 per game, Therkelsen is fifth in blocks with 1.18 per game, Ryan places ninth in kills (3.54 per game) and Weber is 10th in blocks (1.03 per game).
CHANGES LOOM FOR UNM CAREER RECORD BOOK
Senior Chelsea Sondrup has already set two new career records and is looking to place her name on a few other lists. Sondrup is currently tied 9th on the all-time Blocks per game page, averaging 1.09 in her 336 games. She needs just 13 more matches under her belt to tie for 10th with 107 matches played and is just 35 games away from tying the 10th most games played (381). Sondrup could move up even higher than 10th on those lists but it is unlikely she could overtake the lead, needing 25 for the matches played record and 72 games played. Sondrup could also break onto the career points list, needing 180.0 to tie 10th place with 1139.5.
Senior Nicole Ryan is extremely close to etching her name on the kills per game list. Ryan is currently averaging 3.37 kills per game. The 10th best avg. is held by Pauline Manser with 3.43. Ninth place is just one-hundredth of a point higher at 3.44 kills per game.
Junior Jennifer Heasty has recorded 57 service aces in just over two full years of competition. Averaging just over 25 per season, Heasty is on pace for 102 career aces. If she can reach that plateau, Heasty will sit eighth all-time in career service aces.
Sophomore Samie Weber currently occupies the eighth best blocks per game average (1.16) in New Mexico’s history. With 149 total blocks in her career, she could crush the current record held by Sondrup with a projection of 440 provided she can maintain her current average.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has gotten off to an unbelievable start as the setter for UNM. Through 38 games, Kwasigroch has dished out 440 assists, averaging 11.58 per game. Her current per game average is way above the previous record held by Jocelyn Funk, who averaged 10.07 apg. If Kwasigroch can maintain this average, she is set to accumulate over 1,000 assists this year and 4,000 over a four-year career. The 10th most assists at UNM is 1,490, which Kwasigroch could pass as a sophomore. The most assists in a career at New Mexico is 3,794 set by Janelle Torres from 1996-99.
Junior Kelly Therkelsen has been a strong leader for UNM, making two straight all-tournament teams.
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SONDRUP AND THERKELSEN MAKE SECOND STRAIGHT ALL-TOURNEY TEAM
Senior Chelsea Sondrup and junior Kelly Therkelsen made their second straight all-tournament team at the Hilton Albuquerque Classic. Sondrup was named the Hilton’s Most Valuable Player. Sondrup had a team-high 38 kills and 21 blocks, averaging a team-best .382 hitting percentage. Her 12 block assists against Oral Roberts was the second-most stuffed back in one match. The record (14) is also held by Sondrup.
Therkelsen put down 34 kills with five assists, nine aces, 16 digs and 15 total blocks while hitting .225.
Currently, Sondrup leads UNM’s everyday players in hit percentage, maintaining a .275 average. She has 94 kills and 53 blocks, averaging 2.47 and 1.39 per game, respectively. Therkelsen’s compiled 107 kills, 17 assists, 13 aces, 60 digs, 45 blocks and holds a .245 attack average to date.
LOBOS’ TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIPS ON THE ROAD
Winning the tournament championship at Montana accomplishing something that hasn’t been done by the program in over a decade. The last time New Mexico won a tournament championship on someone else’s court was in 1993. The Lobos won the Buffalo Invitational after beating Pittsburgh (3-1), Buffalo (3-0) and Hofstra (3-0).
RYAN’S TWO FOR THREE ON ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
Senior Nicole Ryan earned her second consecutive bid to an all-tournament team on Sept.10. Ryan, who made the All-Comcast Lobo Invitational team, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Montana Volleyball Invitational. So far, Ryan leads the Lobos with 124 kills, 3.54 kills per game, 332 total attempts and points (146.5). She ranks ninth in the Mountain West Conference in kills per game (3.54) and is tied for fourth with teammate Kim Cox in most digs in a four-game match (19 vs. Lamar) and four-game total attempts (46 vs. Lamar) and fifth in three-game kills (17 vs. UC Davis).
SONDRUP SETS UNM BLOCKING RECORDS
Senior Chelsea Sondrup set a new UNM career blocking record at the Montana Invitational. Sondrup, who entered the tournament tied with Linda Archuleta (1980-82, ’84) for the record of 326, stuffed back 19, moving her career total to 345. She now has 366 career blocks.
Sondrup also holds the UNM career block assist record with 345. She broke the record of 252 held by Laurel Luman (1990-93) last year.
HISTORY LESSON
BYU holds a 56-7 series advantage over New Mexico. The Cougars are 24-4 in Albuquerque, 23-5 in Provo and 7-0 at neutral sites against the Lobos.
The Cougars have won 20 consecutive matches against New Mexico, all 3-0 decisions except the last match, a 3-1 BYU win on Oct. 30, 2004 in Provo.
UNM’s last win over BYU was a 3-0 decision on Oct. 13, 1995.
New Mexico played its first MWC home match in 2004 against BYU.
BYU’s current assistant coach, Brent Aldridge, was an assistant coach at UNM last year.
Utah has a 34-26 series lead on UNM, winning 17 in a row. The Lobos are 14-14 in Albuquerque, 9-16 in Salt Lake City and 3-4 in neutral locations.
UNM had a 19-2 record against Utah between Oct. 29, 1987 and Nov. 27, 1996. The Nov. 27, 1996 match was New Mexico’s last win over Utah.
LOBO SCOUTING REPORT
BYU Cougars
BYU comes to Albuquerque undefeated in 2005. The Cougars, 7-0 overall, are 3-0 in Provo, Utah, 2-0 on the road and 2-0 at neutral sites. Their last match was a huge 3-2 upset over then-14th ranked Ohio State. The win earned them a No. 23 national ranking by the AVCA. It is their first ranking of the year. BYU also has wins over Nevada, Montana State, Kansas (now ranked No. 22), Idaho State, Utah State and Duke.
As a team, the Cougars are averaging 15.79 kills per game, 14.28 assists per game, 1.62 aces per game, 13.90 digs per game and 2.21 blocks per game while maintaining a .280 hitting percentage. Head coach Jason Watson, in his first year as head coach of BYU, returned six starters and 10 letterwinners from last year’s team that went 19-11 overall and 9-5 in the Mountain West Conference, finishing third.
Lindsy Hartsock holds a .440 average to lead BYU’s everyday players. Erica Lott has put down 115 kills, averaging 3.97 per game, Lindsey Evans has 86 digs (2.97 per game) while Lauren Evans has dished out 326 assists (13.04 apg), 10 service aces (0.40 sapg) and 26 blocks (1.04 bpg) to lead the Cougars.
Utah Utes
Utah is 7-3 overall with a three-game win streak as they head into this weekend’s matches, stopping at Air Force before meeting up with UNM. The Utes are a perfect 4-0 at home, 2-1 on the road and 1-2 at neutral locations. They are coming off a huge upset of then-17th ranked Santa Clara. The Utes have played two other ranked teams, then-ranked No. 9 Tennessee and No. 21 Missouri, both resulting in 0-3 losses. Utah has also beaten Idaho State, Weber State, Utah State, Iowa State, Missouri State and Idaho.
Head coach Beth Launiere, in her 16th year at Utah, brought back four starters and nine letterwinners from 2004’s team, which finished 24-7 overall. Utah was 13-1 in the Mountain West Conference, tying for first place. This year’s team, currently in fourth place, is averaging 14.87 kills per game, 13.46 assists per game, 1.28 aces per game, 15.23 digs per game, 3.13 blocks per game and is hitting .216.
Lori Baird leads Utah with a .306 average while Shelly Sommerfeldt tops Utah’s team in kills (121/3.46 kpg). Shannon Krug has dished out a team-high 406 assists (10.97 apg) and Airial Salvo has a team-high 14 aces. Kate Robison averages a team-high 3.04 digs per game and Emillie Toone averages 1.43 blocks per game.