Nov. 2, 2005
HOME FINALE
The Lobos host their final homestand of the season as TCU visits on Friday, Nov. 4 and New Mexico State come calling on Mon. Nov. 7. Both matches are slated for 7 p.m. in Johnson Gym. Live stats are available at www.GoLobos.com.
Friday night’s match is Senior Night. A special recognition ceremony honoring Kailin Downs, Nicole Ryan and Chelsea Sondrup is scheduled prior to the National Anthem.
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 (.205 – .195), and blocks per game average (2.65 – 2.10) while their opponents hold the edge in kills per game (14.33 – 12.78), assists per game (12.90 – 11.69) and digs per game (12.61 – 11.54).
Senior Chelsea Sondrup tops the Lobos’ in two categories, holding the best attack percentage of everyday players (.280) and most blocks (118), averaging 1.33 bpg. Senior Nicole Ryan has carried much of the offensive load for New Mexico with 284 kills on 807 attempts for a 3.30 kills per game ratio. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has stepped in and run the offense with great success, dishing out 964 assists this season. Sophomore Kim Cox averages 0.30 aces per game, the most of everyday players while freshman Gayle Tripp has the highest digs per game average at 2.42.
PROWLING ATOP THE MWC
New Mexico, currently sixth in the Mountain West Conference, rank in the top two-thirds of the conference in five of the eight statistical categories kept track of by the MWC. The Lobos are second in service aces (1.82 per game) and fourth in blocks (2.65).They are sixth in hitting percentage (.204 avg.), lowest opponent hitting percentage (.195 avg.) and win percentage (.545 avg.). What’s most impressive is that UNM has achieved success despite being picked to finish eighth in the MWC Preseason Poll.
Individually, four different Lobos place on the conference’s top-10 leaderboard. Senior Chelsea Sondrup on the list twice, placing fourth in blocks, averaging 1.33 per game and ninth in hitting percentage with a .280 avg. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch stands fifth in assists, averaging 10.83 per game, Therkelsen is ninth in blocks per game (1.12) and Ryan is 10th in kills per game with 3.30 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 at Utah on Oct. 14. She has quickly moved up the charts, now holding the fifth spot with 227. Therkelsen needs 19 blocks to take over fourth, 23 for third and 26 for second. With five matches remaining in the 2005 season and a 1.12 blocks per game average, Therkelsen should move higher on the list this year. She is also on the career blocks per game list, tied for eighth with senior Chelsea Sondrup, averaging 1.11 bpg.
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 431 career blocks.
Sondrup also holds the UNM career block assist record with 403. She broke the record of 252 held by Laurel Luman (1990-93) last year. Sondrup is the only Lobo in the program’s history to ever record 400 blocks and one of just four to make 300.
This past weekend at San Diego State and UNLV, Sondrup broke into the top-5 of the MWC Career Blocks book. She sits fourth, passing Aspen McPartland of San Diego State’s 398 block assists and places fifth in total blocks, passing BYU’s Jackie Bundy’s 420.
CAREER RECORD BOOK CHANGING
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 1.11 in her 387 games. She has the 10th most games played and needs just one more match under her belt to tie for 10th with 107 matches played. Sondrup could move up even higher than 10th on those lists but it is unlikely she could overtake the lead, needing 12 for the matches played record and 30 games played. Sondrup could also break onto the career points list, needing 27.0 to tie 10th place with 1,139.5.
Junior Kelly Therkelsen is eight total blocks from the top-10, which she could accumulate this season if she maintains her current pace of 1.12 blocks per game throughout the final five matches of the season.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has gotten off to an unbelievable start as the setter for UNM. Through 89 games, Kwasigroch has dished out 964 assists, averaging 10.83 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 1,100 assists this year and 4,500 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 and points per game list. Ryan is currently averaging 3.30 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. Ryan is averaging 3.89 points per game with 10th place at 4.06, set by Anna Reines from 2001-03.
Sophomore Samie Weber should be rewriting the career blocks and block assists records next year, if not this year. Weber, with 199 blocks and 187 block assists, needs just 19 block assists and 42 blocks to tie for 10th. Weber, averaging 1.00 bpg, should acquire at least 15 more this season.
SEASON RECORDS FALLING
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has placed her name in the season record book for assists and assists per game. She currently averages 10.83 assists per game, placing her seventh. Sixth is occupied by Monica Meihack (10.86) and fifth is Jocelyn Funk (11.12). Kwasigroch has dished out 964 assists in her first year as a Lobo. She needs just 24 to tie for ninth, which she should accumulate this weekend. Kelly Griffin holds eighth with 1,003 and Kelly Knowles holds seventh with 1,021.
Senior Chelsea Sondrup and junior Kelly Therkelsen are all over the blocking records. Chelsea, with 109 block assists so far, is third, needing two for sole possession of second. She will then be facing her own record of 131, set in 2002. Therkelsen is ninth in the block assists record with 97. She needs two for eighth, three for seventh, six for sixth and nine for fifth.
Sondrup is currently second on the blocks per game list, averaging 1.33 while Therkelsen just outside the top-10 with a 1.12 average. First place is 1.84 bpg, set by Sue Guinn in 1983.
Sondrup needs just one block to break away from the tie at sixth in total blocks, having 118 so far this season. Three more will give place her fifth and six will leave her fourth. She is already on the list with 137 in 2002, leaving her second, just two behind first. Therkelsen needs 13 to tie for 10th (113).
HISTORY LESSON
New Mexico has never lost to TCU, holding a 3-0 series record. On Sat., Oct. 8 at TCU, the Lobos came out with a five-game win after being up 2-0.
The match at TCU on Oct. 8 was New Mexico’s first road Mountain West Conference match of the 2005 season. It is only fitting that their last home Mountain West Conference match be against TCU.
The home-away series between the Lobos and Horned Frogs began in 1996. UNM won 3-0 at home on Oct. 5 and 3-0 at TCU on Nov. 1.
New Mexico State leads the all-time series, 32-23. They shut out the Lobos to open the season on Aug. 29.
NMSU has won five straight in the series and eight of the last nine. UNM’s last victory over the Aggies came at home in five games on Sept. 24, 2002.
Coach McKee is 3-8 overall vs. New Mexico State
SCOUTING REPORT
TCU Horned Frogs
TCU makes its first trip to Albuquerque as a member of the Mountain West Conference on Friday. The Horned Frogs are 15-11 overall and 3-7 in the MWC. They are on a two-match losing streak, falling at BYU and Utah.
As a team, TCU averages better numbers than their opponents in every category except blocks per game (2.50-2.24). The Horned Frogs outhit their opponents .202-.180, average better numbers in kills per game (13.97-12.98), assists per game (12.76-11.43), aces per game (2.22-1.59) and digs per game (14.05-13.41).
Anna Vaughn leads the Horned Frogs in kills per game (3.82), aces per game (0.48), blocks per game (1.06) and hitting percentage (.303). Nirelle Hampton averages a team-best 10.20 assists per game while Talaya Whitfield averages a team-high 4.34 digs per game.
New Mexico State Aggies
NMSU comes to Albuquerque with a 14-5 overall record. They Aggies have won seven of their last eight including four of their last five on the road. The Aggies have played at two other Mountain West Conference schools, Colorado State and Wyoming, beating the Cowgirls in three games but falling to the Rams in three.
According to the stats, NMSU has dominated their opponents. They hit .247 while holding their opponents to a .133 average. The Aggies average 15.77 kills per game, 13.86 assists per game, 1.82 aces per game, 15.48 digs per game and 2.86 blocks per game.
Alice Borden, Kim Oguh and Tanya Allen all average over 3.00 kills per game with Borden leading the team averaging 3.71 per game. Jackie Choi holds the best hitting percentage of everyday players at .374 and tops the team in assists per game with 12.06. Oguh has recorded the most blocks on the team, averaging 1.28 per game while Allen has the best aces per game ratio at 0.52 per game. Jordan Bostic leads the team in digs per game at 4.85.