Oct. 13, 2005
LOBOS INVADE UTAH
The Lobos continue their road trip, invading the state of Utah for two matches. UNM (11-5, 3-3) heads to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes (11-6, 3-3) on Friday, then to Provo in hopes of handing No. 16 BYU (13-0, 6-0) its first loss of the season.
New Mexico, tied with Utah for fifth of nine teams in the MWC, has a two-match win streak in tact and are 1-0 in conference play on the road. Of the Lobos six conference matches, five have gone to five game, with UNM winning two. Both the Utes and the Cougars are a perfect 5-0 at home.
LOOKING AT THE LOBOS
According to the numbers, as a team, New Mexico has evenly played their opponents. The Lobos have a better attack percentage (.218 – .176), service ace per game ratio (1.88 – 1.81) and blocks per game average (2.63 – 2.01) while their opponents hold the edge in kills per game (13.88 – 13.33), assists per game (12.46 – 12.27) and digs per game (12.18 – 12.01).
Senior Chelsea Sondrup and sophomore Kim Cox top the Lobos’ in two categories each. Sondrup holds the best attack percentage of everyday players (.282) and most blocks (87), averaging 1.30 bpg. Cox has the most aces (22) and digs (175), averaging 0.34 and 2.73 per game, respectively. Senior Nicole Ryan has carried much of the offensive load for New Mexico with 229 kills on 618 attempts for a 3.58 kill per game ratio. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has stepped in and run the offense with great success, dishing out 763 assists this season.
WINNING WAYS SET NEW RECORDS
The last three years have been a growing process for the Lobo volleyball program. New Mexico came under the leadership of Kelley McKee and her staff in 2002 after winning only five games in 2001 under first-year coach Tom Peterson. McKee doubled the team’s win total in 2002 but 2003 and 2004 saw a decline as McKee worked to get the program and its players in the direction she invisioned.
Finally, that vision is becoming clear to the Lobo faithful. The team is off to one of the best starts in the history of Lobo volleyball. UNM strung together an impressive six-match win streak and are 8-2 over their last 10 games. The Lobos made even more progress with great showings against BYU and Utah. The Lobos beat Utah, 3-2, to end a 17-game losing streak to the Utes that dated back to 1997. They just missed upsetting then-ranked No. 22 BYU, falling in five games. However, it was the first time since 1992 that UNM had played to five against the Cougars and only the second time since 1994 that the Lobos had not been shut out. UNM also put up great fights against UNLV and San Diego State, falling just short in five games.
McKee set a new best with the win at TCU, which signified the team’s 11th of the season. The victory is the most UNM has achieved under McKee, whose previous high was 10, set in her first year, 2002. The 11 wins also ties the most the program has earned since 1999. Three more wins will tie the team’s most since 1997, when they went 14-15 overall.
The team’s winning ways are also inching toward another marker. The Lobos, currently 11-5 overall with 12 games remaining, need just three more wins to assure them their first .500 season since 1996. The last time UNM had a winning record was in 1996, finishing 18-11.
LOBOS PROWL ATOP MWC
New Mexico, currently tied fifth in the Mountain West Conference, rank in the top-third of the conference in three of the eight statistical categories kept track of by the MWC. The Lobos are third in win percentage (.688 overall), blocks (2.63 per game) and service aces (1.88 per game). What’s more impressive is that UNM ranks lower than seventh in only one category (digs, ninth). The Lobos were picked to finish eighth in the MWC Preseason Poll.
Individually, four different Lobos place on the conference’s top-10 leaderboard. Senior Chelsea Sondrup is on the list twice while senior Nicole Ryan, junior Kelly Therkelsen and freshman Sarah Kwasigroch are each on there once. Sondrup is third in blocks, averaging 1.30 per game while Kwasigroch stands third in assists, averaging 11.39 per game. Ryan is sixth in kills per game with 3.58 per game, Therkelsen is 7th in blocks per game (1.13) and Sondrup holds the ninth best attack percentage (.282).
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 400 career blocks.
Sondrup also holds the UNM career block assist record with 376. She broke the record of 252 held by Laurel Luman (1990-93) last year.
CHANGES FOR THE BOOKS
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 9th on the all-time Blocks per game page, averaging 1.10 in her 365 games. She needs just seven more matches under her belt to tie for 10th with 107 matches played and is just 16 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 20 for the matches played record and 61 games played. Sondrup could also break onto the career points list, needing 89.0 to tie 10th place with 1,139.5.
Sophomore Samie Weber currently occupies the eighth best blocks per game average (1.13) in New Mexico’s history. With 177 total blocks in her career, she could crush the current record held by Sondrup with a projection of over 450 provided she can maintain her current average.
Junior Kelly Therkelsen should also break into the all-time block assists and total blocks records. Therkelsen is one block assist away from tying the 10th best total (205). With 12 games remaining in the 2005 season and a 1.19 blocks per game average, Therkelsen should make her move on the list this year, quite possibly in Friday’s game. She is also 32 total blocks from the top-10, which Therkelsen could accumulate this season if she maintains her current pace.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has gotten off to an unbelievable start as the setter for UNM. Through 67 games, Kwasigroch has dished out 763 assists, averaging 11.39 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 1,300 assists this year and 5,200 over a four-year career. The 10th most assists at UNM is 1,490, which Kwasigroch should pass as a sophomore. The most assists in a career at New Mexico is 3,794 set by Janelle Torres from 1996-99.
Kwasigroch currently sits fourth on the seasonal assists per game list. If she maintains her average, she will have 1,312 assists as a freshman. The total would place second on the most assists in a season page, trailing Karen Saavedra, who dished out 1,532 in 1988. That year Saavedra set the highest assists per game ratio, averaging 12.40 apg.
Senior Nicole Ryan is extremely close to etching her name on the kills per game list. Ryan is currently averaging 3.42 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.
HISTORY LESSON
New Mexico ended a 17-game losing streak again Utah, dating back to 1996, with a 3-2 win in Albuquerque on Sept. 24.
Utah has a 34-27 series lead on UNM. The Lobos are 15-14 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 until this year, when they knocked off the Utes in five games.
The Lobos just missed upsetting then-22nd ranked BYU on Sept. 23 but fell shy of an upset, losing 3-2 at the Johnson Center.
BYU holds a 57-7 series advantage over New Mexico. The Cougars are 25-4 in Albuquerque, 23-5 in Provo and 7-0 at neutral sites against the Lobos.
The Cougars have won 21 consecutive matches against New Mexico. They had won all the matches by 3-0 decisions except the last two matches. BYU won 3-1 on Oct. 30, 2004 in Provo and 3-2 on Sept. 23, 2005 in Albuquerque. UNM’s last win over BYU was a 3-0 decision on Oct. 13, 1995.
SCOUTING REPORT
Utah Utes
The Utes are in their comfort zone on Friday night, hosting New Mexico. Utah (11-6 overall, 3-3 MWC) are undefeated on their home court with a 5-0 record. The Utes are tied for fifth in the MWC with New Mexico after splitting last weekend with a win at Wyoming and a five-game loss at Colorado State.
As a team, Utah averages 14.62 kills per game, hitting .216. The Utes average 13.24 assists per game, 1.21 aces per game, 14.06 digs per game and 3.37 blocks per game.
Shelly Sommerfeldt leads Utah’s attack, averaging 3.48 kills per game with a team-high 582 attempts. She is also tied with Airial Salvo and Danielle Leichliter for the most aces per game, 0.25. Shannon Krug leads the Utes in assists with 11.06 per game while Kate Robison tops the charts in digs per game with 3.02. Three Utes average over one block a game but Amie Tingey has the best average at 1.48 per game.
BYU Cougars
Byu, ranked No. 16 in the nation as one of four undefeated teams in the nation’s top-25, are 5-0 in Provo and have won its last three conference matches, 3-0.
The Cougars average 15.65 kills per game, 14.13 assists per game, 1.56 aces per game, 13.12 digs per game and 2.41 blocks per game. The team is hitting .280, over 100 points better than their opponents’ average.
Three players average of three kills per game for BYU’s attack with Chelsea Goodman holding the highest average at 3.94 kills per game. Lindsey Evans leads the Cougars in digs with 3.16 per game while Rachel Dyer and Lauren Evans average 1.04 blocks per game. Evans also leads the team in assists (13.04 per game) and aces (0.52 per game).