Nov. 10, 2005
ROAD WARRIORS
The Lobos hit the road for the final three matches of the Mountain West Conference regular season. UNM, which is 1-4 on the road in MWC action and 2-5 overall, visits Colorado Springs on Saturday for a 7 p.m. match against Air Force. The Falcons are just 1-12 in the MWC. They are 3-13 overall at home and 1-6 in the MWC.
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 (.207 – .195), aces per game (1.85-1.81) and blocks per game average (2.69 – 2.11) while their opponents hold the edge in kills per game (12.95-14.34), assists per game (11.79 – 12.93) and digs per game (11.44-12.75).
Senior Chelsea Sondrup tops the Lobos’ in two categories, holding the best attack percentage of everyday players (.286) and most blocks (131), averaging 1.36 bpg. Senior Nicole Ryan has carried much of the offensive load for New Mexico with 297 kills on 839 attempts for a 3.23 kills per game ratio. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has stepped in and run the offense with great success, dishing out 1,047 assists this season. Sophomore Kim Cox and junior Kelly Therkelsen average 0.30 aces per game, the most of everyday players while freshman Gayle Tripp has the highest digs per game average at 2.43.
ATOP THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE
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 (1.85 per game) and fourth in blocks (2.69).They are fifth in lowest opponent hitting percentage (.195 avg.) and win percentage (.542 avg.) and sixth in hitting percentage (.207 avg.). What’s most impressive is that UNM has achieved success despite being picked to finish eighth in the MWC Preseason Poll.
Individually, three different Lobos place on the conference’s top-10 leaderboard. Senior Chelsea Sondrup on the list twice, placing third in blocks, averaging 1.36 per game and eighth in hitting percentage with a .286 avg. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch stands sixth in assists, averaging 10.91 per game and Therkelsen is eighth in blocks per game (1.16).
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 238. Therkelsen needs eight blocks to take over fourth, 12 for third and 15 for second. With three matches remaining in the 2005 season and a 1.13 blocks per game average, Therkelsen should move higher on the list this year.
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 444 career blocks.
Sondrup also holds the UNM career block assist record with 414. 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.
Two weeks ago 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.
CHANGING THE CAREER BOOKSSenior Chelsea Sondrup has already set two new career records and is looking to place her name on a few other lists. Sondrup is eighth on the all-time Blocks per game page, averaging 1.13 in her 394 games. She has the eighth most games played and needs just nine more to jump to fifth. She is tied for 10th with 108 matches played, needing three to take sole posession of eighth. Sondrup also broke onto the career points list with her performance against New Mexico State, taking 10th place with 1,144.0.
Junior Kelly Therkelsen is tenth in total blocks with 244. She could move higher this season if she maintains her current pace of 1.13 blocks per game throughout the final three matches of the season.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has gotten off to an unbelievable start as the setter for UNM. Through 96 games, Kwasigroch has dished out 1,047 assists, averaging 10.91 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.
SEASON CHASE IS ON
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has placed her name in the season record book for assists and assists per game. She currently averages 10.91 assists per game, placing her sixth with fifth held by Jocelyn Funk (11.12). Kwasigroch has dished out 1,047 assists in her first year as a Lobo. She needs just 32 to tie for sixth, which she should accumulate this weekend. Alicia Bergmann holds sixth with 1,079 and Janelle Torres holds fifth with 1,080.
Senior Chelsea Sondrup and junior Kelly Therkelsen are all over the blocking records. Sondrup, with 120 block assists so far, is second, needing 11 to tie her own record of 131, set in 2002. Therkelsen is right on her heels at fourth with 108. She needs three for third.
Sondrup is currently second on the blocks per game list, averaging 1.36. First place is 1.84 bpg, set by Sue Guinn in 1983.
Sondrup needs just nine blocks to a new season record for total blocks, having 131 so far this season. Six more will take her past her own record of 137 in 2002 and set her up against Robyn Wentworth’s 139 set in 1994. Therkelsen needs two to tie for 10th (113).
HISTORY LESSON
The Lobos hold a 13-3 series lead over Air Force. The first time these two team’s met was on Oct. 18, 1997, resulting in a 3-0 win in Albuquerque.
UNM is 9-2 in this decade against the Falcons. The last time these two teams met was in Albuquerque on Oct. 5, 2005. The Lobos won that match 3-1. The last time Air Force won was on Oct. 24, 2003 at UNM, 3-0.
The Lobos had an eight-match win streak against Air Force from Nov. 12, 1999 to Oct. 25, 2002.
SCOUTING REPORT – Air Force Falcons
Air Force welcomes the Lobos looking for their second consecutive win of the season for the first time all year. The Falcons, 5-24 overall and 1-12 in the Mountain West, just earned their first conference win with a 3-0 blanking of TCU. Prior to that, AFA had lost 16 in a row.
As a team, Air Force averages worse numbers than their opponents in every category. The Falcons average 12.08 kills per game, 10.79 assists per game, 1.50 aces per game, 12.30 digs per game and 1.91 blocks per game with a .123 hitting percentage.
Kristen Hamlett leads AFA in kills per game (3.36) and blocks per game (0.94). Carly Siefken tops the team in assists per game (9.29), digs per game (2.22) and hitting percentage (.232). Kim Kallabis and Kristina Stewart are tied for the most aces per game at 0.28.
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 tied the most the program had earned since 1999. Now 13-11 overall, the Lobos need just one more win to 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 13-11 overall with three regular season games remaining, need just one more win to assure them their first .500 season since 1996. The last time UNM had a winning record was in 1996, finishing 18-11.
TCU-NMSU RECAP
The New Mexico volleyball team banded together Friday night after honoring its seniors, shutting out TCU 3-0. The Lobos hit .375 (49K-10E-104TA) with five players hitting over .300 while the Horned Frogs hit a dismal .057 (33K-27E-105TA) with just three players hitting over .200.
UNM started off game one with just a slight advantage, never holding more than a three point lead. With TCU trailing 10-12, the Lobos defense came alive, forcing nine TCU errors en route to a 30-20 win. New Mexico outscored the Horned Frogs 18-10 to finish the game thanks to sophomore Samie Weber’s four kills and three kills from junior Kelly Therkelsen.The Lobos were trailing by four (10-14) when senior Nicole Ryan put down a kill to give freshman Sarah Kwasigroch the serve. An ace from Kwasigroch, three kills from senior Chelsea Sondrup and two kills from Therkelsen sparked an 11-0 run to give New Mexico a 21-14 lead. Two quick aces by TCU’s Talaya Whitfield cut the lead to four but Sondrup, Therkelsen, Weber, Kwasigroch and freshman Michelle Miller would all put down kills to push UNM to a 30-21 win.
Therkelsen did not mess around in game three, breaking a 3-3 tie with a kill before stepping back to serve. She recorded two aces and got three TCU errors to put New Mexico ahead 9-3. Three kills from Therkelsen, Sondrup and Ryan aided in a 20-12 UNM run as the Lobos went on for a 30-16 win.
Therkelsen had a team-high 14 kills and six blocks, hitting .444 (14K-2E-27TA) with three aces and six digs. Weber hit a team-best .588 (11K-1E-17TA) with five blocks, two aces and two digs. Sondrup also put down 11 kills and six blocks, hitting .389 (11K-4E-18TA). Ryan hit .333 (6K-2E-12TA) with seven digs, two aces, a block and an assist. Kwasigroch hit .429 (3K-0E-7TA) with seven digs, three aces, two blocks and 38 of the team’s 41 assists. Sophomore Kim Cox had a team-high nine digs.
Whitfield led the Horned Frogs, hitting .250 (10K-5E-20TA) with nine digs. Nirelle Hampton and Erin Estep hit .200.
Despite a win in game one, the New Mexico volleyball team fell 3-1 in their final home match of the season. The loss came at the hands of I-25 rival New Mexico State, which sweeps the season series and extends it win streak to four games.
The Lobos never trailed in game one, winning 30-28. The Lobos had a 21-20 advantage when senior Nicole Ryan forced down a kill to take the serve and force an error on the Aggies. A kill from senior Chelsea Sondrup and an ace from sophomore Kim Cox would push the Lobo lead to four, giving them just enough to hold on for the win.
NMSU’s Tanya Allen and Kim Oguh came out firing for three and four kills, respectively, taking a 10-4 lead in game two. The Lobos could never quite catch up, cutting the lead to two at 14-16 but the Aggies Alice Borden stepped up, putting down five kills as they went on to a 30-20 win.
Game three was hard fought with seven ties and five lead changes. UNM trailed by three (9-12) when Cox went back to serve, getting a kill from Miller and a block and a kill from Sondrup to tie the game. Two more Sondrup kills and two from sophomore Samie Weber extended the lead to four before the Aggies battled back. With the match tied at 22, Weber put down two kills but it wasn’t enough as NMSU held on for a 30-27 win.Two kills from Sondrup and two from Miller sparked an 8-3 run to open game four. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch put down two straight kills to halt a 4-0 NMSU run but two UNM errors tied the game at 10. Five ties and five lead changes later, NMSU’s Sarah Silagy put down three kills to put them at game point. Oguh sealed the match with a kill on the next serve.
Sophomore Samie Weber led the team with a team-high 14 kills, hitting .344 (14K-3E-32TA). Sondrup added 13 kills and a team-high seven blocks, hitting .321. Miller chipped in with 12 kills. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch dished out a team-high 45 assists while classmate Gayle Tripp led UNM with 12 digs and three aces.