Oct. 17, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. –
HOME SWEET HOME
The Lobos return home after a two-weekend road trip, hosting Wyoming on Thursday and Colorado State on Saturday. New Mexico, 7-4 at home, will play both games at 7 p.m. Live stats are available at www.GoLobos.com.
Saturday night is Jam Johnson, sponsored by the UNM Bookstore, Big Oldies 98.5 and 106.3 Talk FM. Nylon backpacks and temporary tattoos will be give out to the first 100 youth and there will also be a raffle for a free iPOD mini. Admission is $2 and free for all students, faculty and staff. Groups of 10 or more are just $1 for youths.
LOOKING AT THE LOBOS
Back at home in the friendly confines of the Johnson Gym is exactly where the Lobos like to be. They have accumulated seven of their 11 wins at home, holding a .636 win percentage at Johnson. Even in Mountain West Conference matches, the Lobos perform a little better at home, getting two of their three wins there.
According to the numbers, as a team, New Mexico has evenly played their opponents. The Lobos have a better attack percentage (.205 – .189), service ace per game ratio (1.86 – 1.77) and blocks per game average (2.57 – 2.11) while their opponents hold the edge in kills per game (13.01 – 14.15), assists per game (11.97 – 12.76) and digs per game (12.34 – 11.80).
Senior Chelsea Sondrup and sophomore Kim Cox top the Lobos’ in two categories each. Sondrup holds the best attack percentage of everyday players (.265) and most blocks (96), averaging 1.30 bpg. Cox has the most aces (23) and digs (181), averaging 0.32 and 2.55 per game, respectively. Senior Nicole Ryan has carried much of the offensive load for New Mexico with 246 kills on 677 attempts for a 3.46 kill per game ratio. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has stepped in and run the offense with great success, dishing out 819 assists this season.
LOBOS IN THE MWC RANKINGS
New Mexico, currently sixth in the Mountain West Conference, rank in the top two-thirds of the conference in four of the eight statistical categories kept track of by the MWC. The Lobos are second in service aces (1.86 per game) and fourth in blocks (2.57 per game).They are fifth in win percentage (.611 avg.) and lowest opponent hitting percentage (.189 avg.) What’s more impressive is that UNM ranks lower than seventh in only two category (kills, eight and 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 fourth in blocks, averaging 1.30 per game while freshman Sarah Kwasigroch stands fourth in assists, averaging 11.07 per game. Therkelsen is 7th in blocks per game (1.13) and Ryan is ninth in kills per game with 3.46 per game.
As a team, the Lobos hold the best hitting percentage for an individual game in the MWC, hitting .452 against Delaware State. Sondrup is tied for the most blocks in a game with 12 against Oral Roberts and 12 against Utah.
THERKELSEN APPEARS ON UNM BLOCKING RECORDS
Junior Kelly Therkelsen broke into the all-time block assists on Friday at Utah. By the time the weekend was over, Therkelsen had recorded six blocks assists. She, needing just one to tie for 10th, hold the eighth spot with 210. Therkelsen needs four blocks to take over seventh, six for sixth and 14 for fifth. With 10 games remaining in the 2005 season and a 1.13 blocks per game average, Therkelsen should move higher on the list this year. Taking over second in the books is also possible, needing 43 but has another year of eligibility remaining.
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 409 career blocks.
Sondrup also holds the UNM career block assist record with 384. She broke the record of 252 held by Laurel Luman (1990-93) last year.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
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 with sophomore Samie Weber for 8th on the all-time Blocks per game page, averaging 1.10 in her 372 games. She needs just five more matches under her belt to tie for 10th with 107 matches played and is just nine 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 75.5 to tie 10th place with 1,139.5.
Junior Kelly Therkelsen is 26 total blocks from the top-10, which she could accumulate this season if she maintains her current pace of 1.13 blocks per game throughout the final 10 matches of the season.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has gotten off to an unbelievable start as the setter for UNM. Through 74 games, Kwasigroch has dished out 819 assists, averaging 11.07 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 1,150 assists this year and 4,600 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.
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.
HISTORY LESSON
Wyoming holds a 23-29 series advantage over New Mexico. The Lobos are 12-12 in Albuquerque, 8-15 in Laramie and 3-2 in neutral locations against the Cowgirls.
The Cowgirls have won six straight matches against UNM and seven of the last eight. The last time New Mexico beat Wyoming was on Nov. 9, 2001 at Laramie in five games. The Lobos last win at home was Nov. 4, 2000, also in five.
Last time these two teams met was in Albuquerque on Oct. 21, 2004. The Cowgirls swept the Lobos in three games (30-28, 30-23, 30-26). The first time these two met was in 1977 with New Mexico getting a 3-2 win.
Colorado State holds a 20-31 series lead against New Mexico. The Lobos are 11-12 in Albuquerque, 8-16 in Fort Collins and 1-3 at neutral locations.
CSU has an 18-match win streak against New Mexico, with 13 of the last 16 resulting in 3-0 wins. The first win of the streak came on Sept. 23, 1995, ending a five-match win streak UNM held over the Rams. UNM’s last win over CSU was Nov. 12, 1994, 3-0.
Twenty-eight of the 51 matches between these two have resulted in sweeps. Colorado State has won 19 of those 28 matches.
LOBO SCOUTING REPORT
WYOMING COWGIRLS
Wyoming heads to New Mexico with a 5-12 overall record and 0-7 mark in the Mountain West Conference. The Cowgirls won five of their first seven matches but have lost 10 in a row. UW has played four MWC matches on the road (UNLV, San Diego State, Colorado State and TCU), posting an 0-4 record.
Wyoming’s opponents average better numbers than the Cowgirls in all categories except service aces per game, holding a 1.82-1.57 advantage. UW averages 13.18 kills per game, 11.87 assists per game, 14.69 digs per game and 1.92 blocks per game. They have a .171 attack percentage.
Rachel Smith leads the Cowgirls’ offense, averaging a team high 3.63 kills per game with Tasha Weishahn dishing out 10.53 assists per game. Samantha Eley leads Wyoming in aces per game (0.48), Carissa Lee has a team-high 3.54 digs per game average and Andrea Seele has a team-best 0.85 blocks per game avg.
COLORADO STATE RAMS
Colorado State, 11-4 overall and 4-1 in the MWC, stops at Air Force before coming to Albuquerque on Saturday. The Rams are 2-2 on the road this year but both of those wins were conference matchups. CSU has won 10 of its last 11, with the lone loss coming to undefeated, 15th-ranked BYU.
The Rams average better numbers than their opponents in every category. They average .16.20 kills per game, 15.09 assists per game, 1.19 aces per game, 14.24 digs per game, 3.81 blocks per game with a .230 attack percentage.
Dre Downs tops CSU’s stats with a .325 hitting percentage (152K-47E-323TA) and 92 blocks, averaging 1.70 per game. Casey Bauer has the most total attacks (581) and kills (213), averaging 3.94 kpg. Ashley Fornstrom has dished out a team-high 540 assists, averaging 10.80 per game while Katherine Whitney leads the team in aces (18, 0.33 per game) and digs (203, 3.76 per game).