SMU Volleyball Travels to Take on UTEP, Tulane
Sep 27 | Volleyball
Sept. 27, 2007
SMU at UTEP and Tulane Game Notes
Download Free Acrobat Reader
2007 Season Stats
Download Free Acrobat Reader
DALLAS (SMU)-- The SMU volleyball team hits the road this weekend, taking on the UTEP Miners in El Paso Friday at 8:00 p.m. and the Tulane Green Wave Sunday in New Orleans at 1:00 p.m. The Mustangs are 10-6 entering the weekend, 0-2 in conference play.
LAST TIME OUT: The Mustangs opened conference play with two tough matches against conference favorite Marshall at home and against East Carolina on the road. SMU fought hard in both matches, with three players recording double-doubles against Marshall (Kathryn Wilkerson, Stefanie Kons and Caitlin Rainbird) and two recording double-doubles against East Carolina (Wilkerson and Rainbird). Two Mustangs also notched new career highs against the Pirates. Sophomore libero Candice Davis made a career-high (and new school record) 35 digs in the five games against East Carolina and junior Natalie Peters pounded out career-high 23 kills in the match.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION: UTEP is off to a slow start, having lost all three of its conference matches and holding a 6-8 record overall. The Miners are in the middle of a seven-match losing streak they will look to snap Friday against SMU. Amy Sanders leads the Miners¡¦ offense with 3.64 kills per game and 32 service aces, while libero Elsa Reyes leads the defensive effort with 183 digs (3.66 per game). As a team, the Miners average 2.12 blocks per game and 13.18 kills.
Tulane is first in the C-USA both in overall record and in conference play, going 13-3 on the season and 3-0 in the conference. The Green Wave is riding a four-game winning streak heading into this weekend¡¦s action. As a team, Tulane leads the conference in assists (14.74 per game) and kills (16.17 per game), and is second in the conference in hitting percentage (.260). Junior Jen Linder leads the conference in hitting percentage (.475) and has amassed 114 kills on the season while classmate Sara Radosevic leads C-USA in service aces, averaging 0.76 per game.
ABOUT THE SERIES: SMU has taken on the Miners 18 times before, with the Mustangs holding the series advantage, 13-5. The teams last met at Moody Coliseum Oct. 20 of last year, with SMU winning the match, 3-1. The Green Wave holds the all-time edge over the Mustangs, 2-4, with Tulane winning the match last season, 3-1, at Moody.
OTHER NOTES:
-Candice Davis is currently ranked 68th in the country in digs per game, as of 9/23, and is ranked first in the conference in digs per game, averaging 5.02 per game.
-Davis set a new school record in digs for a five-game match with 35 against East Carolina, Sept. 23, 2007.
-Natalie Peters set a new career-high in digs against East Carolina last week with 23.
-Kathryn Wilkerson and Rachel Giubilato currently lead the league in double-doubles, each with 10.
-As a team, the Mustangs lead the conference in digs with 19.02 per game. SMU is also second in the conference in blocks (2.52 per game) and third in kills (15.61 per game).
-As of 9/23, the Mustangs are 12th in the country in digs per game and 57th in kills per game.
For the complete schedule and results, and for live stats of the matches, log on to SMUMustangs.com.
