Nov. 15, 2005
FINAL TUNE-UP
The Lobos’ final tune-up prior to the Mountain West Conference Championships is this weekend. UNM visits Colorado State and Wyoming, ending the season with three matches on the road. The Lobos are 3-5 on the road this year after a win at Air Force on Friday, Nov. 11.
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 (.204 – .189), aces per game (1.94-1.84) and blocks per game average (2.71 – 2.13) while their opponents hold the edge in kills per game (12.89-14.26), assists per game (11.76 – 12.86) and digs per game (11.49-12.76).
Senior Chelsea Sondrup tops the Lobos’ in two categories, holding the best attack percentage of everyday players (.282) and most blocks (136), averaging 1.36 bpg. Senior Nicole Ryan has carried much of the offensive load for New Mexico with 309 kills on 878 attempts for a 3.22 kills per game ratio. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has stepped in and run the offense with great success, dishing out 1,088 assists this season. Sophomore Samie Weber averages 0.31 aces per game, the most of everyday players while freshman Gayle Tripp has the highest digs per game average at 2.51.
Milestone Reached
The team’s winning ways have reached another marker. The Lobos, currently 14-11 overall with two games remaining, have assured themselves their first .500 season since 1996. The last time UNM had a winning record was in 1996, finishing 18-11.
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 (1.94 per game) and third in blocks (2.71).They are fourth in win percentage (.560 avg.), tied fourth for lowest opponent hitting percentage (.189 avg.) and sixth in hitting percentage (.203 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 seventh in hitting percentage with a .282 avg. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch stands sixth in assists, averaging 10.88 per game and Therkelsen is eighth in blocks per game (1.13).
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.
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 449 career blocks.
Sondrup also holds the UNM career block assist record with 419. 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.
Career Records
Senior Chelsea Sondrup has already set two new career records and is etching her name on a few other lists. Sondrup is eighth on the all-time Blocks per game page, averaging 1.13 in her 398 games. She has the eighth most games played and needs just five more to jump to fifth. She is ninth with 109 matches played, needing two to take sole posession of eighth. Sondrup also broke onto the career points list with her performance against New Mexico State, taking 10th place. She now has 1,153.5, just 20 behind ninth.
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 240. Therkelsen needs six blocks to take over fourth, 10 for third and 13 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. Therkelsen is also tenth in total blocks with 246. She could move higher this season if she maintains her current pace of 1.13 blocks per game throughout the final two matches of the season.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has gotten off to an unbelievable start as the setter for UNM. Through 100 games, Kwasigroch has dished out 1,088 assists, averaging 10.88 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.
Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch has placed her name in the season record book for assists and assists per game. She currently averages 10.88 assists per game, placing her sixth with fifth held by Jocelyn Funk (11.12). Kwasigroch has dished out 1,088 assists in her first year as a Lobo. She needs just 35 to tie for fourth, which she should accumulate this weekend. Karen Saavedra holds fourth with 1,123 while Janeele Torres sits third with 1,190.
Senior Chelsea Sondrup and junior Kelly Therkelsen are all over the blocking records. Sondrup, with 125 block assists so far, is second, needing six to tie her own record of 131, set in 2002. Therkelsen is right on her heels with 110, which ties her for third with Robyn Wentworth.
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 four blocks to set a new season record for total blocks, having 136 so far this season. Two 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 is tied for 10th with 113. Two more will give her sole possession of eighth and six more would place her seventh.
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.
HISTORY LESSON
Colorado State holds a 21-31 series lead against New Mexico. The Lobos are 12-12 in Albuquerque, 8-16 in Fort Collins and 1-3 at neutral locations.
New Mexico snapped the 18-match win streak the Rams had over the Lobos with a 3-1 at home on Oct. 22. CSU had previously won 13 of the last 16 by 3-0 margins. The first win of that streak came on Sept. 23, 1995, ending a five-match win streak UNM held over the Rams. The Lobos have a 10-match losing streak at Fort Collins. Their last win at CSU was in five games on Oct. 7, 1994.
Twenty-eight of the 52 matches between these two have resulted in sweeps. Colorado State has won 19 of those 28 matches.
Wyoming holds a 23-30 series advantage over New Mexico. The Lobos are 12-13 in Albuquerque, 8-15 in Laramie and 3-2 in neutral locations against the Cowgirls.
The Cowgirls have won seven straight matches against UNM and eight of the last nine. 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. 20, 2005. The Cowgirls rallied from a game one loss to take games two and three. UNM took game four 30-16 but couldn’t hold on in game five.
Colorado State Rams
Colorado State welcomes the Lobos, looking for their fourth consecutive win. The Rams, 16-7 overall and 9-4 in the Mountain West, just accomplished the impossible, beating then-16th-ranked BYU and Utah on their home courts. The Rams are even stronger at home, posting a 9-2 record overall. Both losses at Moby Arena were to MWC foes in BYU and UNLV.
As a team, CSU averages better numbers than their opponents in every category. The Rams average 16.09 kills per game, 14.88 assists per game, 1.42 aces per game, 14.33 digs per game and 3.42 blocks per game with a .224 hitting percentage.
Dre Downs and Katherine Whitney lead the Rams in two categories each. Downs has the best attack percentage at .332 and most blocks per game at 1.58. Whitney averages 3.94 digs per game and 0.35 aces per game. Tess Rogers and Casey Bauer top the team in kills per game, averaging 3.61 and 3.60, respectively. Ashley Fornstrom has dished out a team-high 939 assists, averaging 11.45 per game.
Wyoming Cowgirls
Wyoming hosts the Lobos, hoping to end a two-match losing streak. The Cowgirls, 9-15 overall and 4-9 in the Mountain West, are just 3-8 this season at home. However, two of their MWC wins were upsets of San Diego State and UNLV at University Sports Complex.
As a team, Wyoming averages worse numbers than their opponents in every category except aces. The Cowgirls average 13.85 kills per game, 12.48 assists per game, 1.71 aces per game, 14.90 digs per game and 1.90 blocks per game with a .185 hitting percentage.
Rachel Smith leads Wyoming in kills per game (3.92) while Andrea Seele has the best hitting percentage of everyday players at .280. Jessie Carlson averages a team-high 1.08 blocks per game while Tasha Weishahn has dished out 11.26 assists per game. Samantha Eley leads the team in aces per game (0.44) while Carissa Lee tops the team in digs per game (3.15).