Oct. 7, 2008
Holding Court With … Ashley Rhoades
Up Next For Lobo Volleyball
Match #17 — at Wyoming
Thursday, Oct. 9 7 p.m. (MDT)
UniWyo Sports Complex Laramie, Wyo.
Live Stats, Video and Audio: Links available on www.GoLobos.com.
UNM vs. Wyoming: The Lobos are 24-34 against Wyoming in a series that dates back to 1977. UNM is 8-18 in Laramie and the teams split last season’s matches with wins on the home court. The Lobos’ 3-0 win in Albuquerque on Sept. 21, 2007 ended a 10-match losing streak to the Cowgirls. UNM has not won in Laramie since Nov. 9, 2001.
Up Next: The Lobos will be at Colorado State on Sunday, Oct. 12. The match against the No. 13 Rams will be at 1 p.m. in Moby Arena and telecast on CBS College Sports.
QUICK HITS
Fairchild Reaches 1,000 and Leads MWC … Senior All-America candidate Jeanne Fairchild continues to lead the Mountain West Conference in kills (4.67 ps) and points (5.05 ps) this season. Fairchild ranks sixth in the nation in kills per set coming into the week. The Albuquerque native reached the 1,000-kill career mark at UNM on Saturday against Utah with her final kill of the third set. Fairchild had five more kills in the match to move to 1,005 kills at UNM.
Lobos Among Tops In Attendance … New Mexico jumped into the Top 30 in national attendance this week after two successful crowds last week against BYU and Utah. The Lobos had a season-high 2,236 fans on Thursday and 2,028 on Saturday in Johnson Center. UNM is averaging 1,266 fans over the first five matches of the season which ranks 29th overall and second in the MWC. The Lobos have been a part of three of the top 100 attended matches this season in Division I.
NCAA RPI Announced … The first official NCAA Volleyball RPI report was released on Oct. 2. The Lobos are currently ranked 70th. Colorado State is the top MWC school at 4th with Utah at 45th, UNLV at 60 and BYU at 65. Unofficially, RichKern.com has the Lobos ranked 68 and the Lobos’ Pablo ranking is 35.
Quickest to 30 … Head coach Jeff Nelson has a shot at reaching his 30th win as a Lobo on Thursday in his 46th match with the program. If the Lobos beat Wyoming on Thursday, Nelson will match former Lobo head coach Laurel Brassey Iverson getting her 30th win in 46 matches, the quickest by a Lobo coach.
Lobo Volleyblog … This week’s blog is from freshman middle blocker Ashley Rhoades.
About New Mexico (13-3, 3-2 MWC) … The Lobos are tied for third place in the MWC with TCU and Utah, following Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Utes … All-America candidate Jeanne Fairchild leads the Lobos with 4.67 kills per set, while sophomore Jade Michaelsen leads the setters with 10.79 assists per set … Defensively, junior Anna Lehne leads the front row with 1.24 blocks per set, while senior Gayle Tripp runs the back row with 4.83 digs per set … Taylor Hadfield has the best hitting percentage at .320 … Sophomore Lisa Meeter leads the team will 12 aces, while senior Sarah Kwasigroch, freshman Allison Buck and Michaelsen have 11 service aces each … UNM leads the Mountain West Conference in opponent hitting percentage, kills and assists … UNM did not drop a set to start the season at 24-0, a school record. The NCAA record is 105 consecutive by Florida in 2003 … The 8-0 season start ranks fourth-best in program history … UNM finished their 11-match September road trip with a 9-2 record … The Lobos are racking up travel miles this season. UNM will add 1,170 miles this week, traveling to Laramie and Fort Collins. The current mileage tally by the end of the week will be 9,545 miles. Add on the 13,790 miles from the trip to Argentina at the beginning of Summer Break and the Lobos have logged 23,515 miles from May 27-Oct. 12, 2008.
About Wyoming (3-10, 2-2 MWC) … The Cowgirls are 3-2 in their last five matches, under the direction of first-year head coach Carrie Yerty … Transfer Dani Bedore is leading Wyoming offensively with 3.06 kills per set and a .226 attack percentage … Senior Tasha Weishahn is the lead setter for the Cowgirls with 9.68 assists per set … Seniors Carissa Lee and Samantha Eley lead the back row defense with 2.78 and 2.40 digs per set, respectively … A key win for UW this season was beating Utah in Laramie on Sept. 20, 3-0 … The Cowgirls also took nationally-ranked Colorado State to five in Fort Collins.
All-Time vs. Wyoming (24-34; H: 14-14, A: 8-18, N: 2-2)
(Click on the full release for the complete listing of results)
Lobos on Television … The Lobos’ next televised match is set for Sunday, Oct. 12 on CBS College Sports Network when the Lobos travel to Colorado State. The third televised match is Nov. 1 at BYU on BYU-TV, with the final regular season televised match set for Nov. 6 vs. Colorado State on The Mtn. So far, UNM is 1-0 on television this season with a 3-0 win over BYU on Oct. 2.
MWC Players of the Week … Setter Jade Michaelsen was named the Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Week on Sept. 29 along with CSU’s Tessa Nelson. It is the first weekly honor of Michaelsen’s career.
Michaelsen was the second Lobo named to receive the weekly honor this season. Jeanne Fairchild was named MWC Player of the Week on Sept. 8. For Fairchild, it is the second weekly honor of her career.
It is the first time that UNM has had two MWC Players of the Week selected in one season. UNM players have only been selected three times in the league’s 10-year history.
Fairchild Pounds 1,000 Kills … Senior outside hitter Jeanne Fairchild reached the 1,000-kill career plateau with 24 kills against Utah on Oct. 4. She needed 19 kills coming into the match to join the 1,000-kill club. Fairchild now needs 118 kills to crack the top five on the UNM career kills list.
UNM Career Kills
1. Tania Gooley – 1,579 – 1991-94
2. Maria Gurreri – 1,473 – 1987-90
3. Pauline Manser – 1,229 – 1988-91
4. Kim Hicks – 1,131 – 1980-81, `83
5. Amber Smith – 1,122 – 1996-99
Closing In: Jeanne Fairchild – 1,005 – 2006-present
Digging With Tripp … Senior libero Gayle Tripp needs 109 digs to become the Lobos career leader, moving past Sharon Browning (1,504; 1989-92). Tripp moved into second place on the New Mexico career digs list in 2007 during Game Two of the Nov. 17 match against Colorado State. Tripp joined the UNM 1,000-Dig Club on Saturday, Oct. 13, against UNLV. She now has 1,394 career digs.
UNM Career Digs
1. Sharon Browning – 1,504 – 1989-92
2. Gayle Tripp – 1,394 – 2005-present
3. Tania Gooley – 1,113 – 1991-94
4. Alicia Bergmann – 1,059 – 1992-95
5. Maria Gurreri – 1,048 – 1987-90
Gretchen Gegenfurtner – 1,048 – 1993-96
MWC Career Digs
1. Jada Walker, UNLV – 2,055 – 2004-07
2. Aimee Cordeiro, SDSU – 1,975 – 2004-07
3. Connie Dangerfield, Utah – 1,570 – 2003-04, `06-07
4. Gayle Tripp – 1,394 – 2005-present
5. Calli Corley, TCU – 1,351 – 2005-07