No. 14 Metro State will open the RMAC Tourna- ment on Thursday with a 12 p.m. (CST) match against Western New Mexico. The winner of that match will face the winner of Mesa State and UC- Colorado Springs in the semifinals.
Roadrunner Review:
Metro State won two RMAC matches last week to finish second in the conference during the regular season. The Roadrunners won in four sets over Regis on Tuesday. Four players reached double digits in kills, led by Bri Morley with 17. Julie Causseaux, Lisa Jones and Emily Greenhalgh each had 10.
On Saturday, Metro State finished the regular season with a four-set win at Colorado Christian. Morley had another stellar performance with 21 kills and Causseaux had 14 and Greenhalgh added 13. Darcy Schwartzman had 57 assists and eight digs, helping the Roadrunners hit .293.
Opponent Previews:
Western New Mexico: The Mustangs enter the RMAC tournament 13-11 overall and 10-8 in RMAC play. WNMU is led by Natali Murdock (OH, Sr.), who has posted an RMAC leading 4.26 kills/set (366 kills overall) and a team-high 23 service aces for the 2010 season. In 2009, Mur- dock led the Mustangs with 3.37 kills/game and in 2008 she was an All-RMAC second team selection. Angelina Pulu (OH, Fr.) has also been a key con- tributor to the Mustangs, averaging 3.39 kills/set (271 overall) and leading the team with 295 digs. Newcomer Alyssa Meihack (S, Fr.) took over the setting responsibilities this year, and has 835 as- sists in 86 sets. Jordan Johnson (MB, So.) leads the team with 83 blocks. Early this season, the Mus- tangs lost their first meeting with the Roadrunners in straight sets.
Series History:
Western New Mexico:
Overall: Metro State leads 7-2 In Denver: Metro State leads 3-1 In Silver City: Metro State leads 1-0 Neutral Record: Metro State leads 3-1 Last Metro State Win: 9/18/10 (3-0 in Denver) Last WNMU Win: 11/9/07 (3-2 neutral site) Longest Win Streak for Metro State: 3 (1981-04) Longest Win Streak for WNMU: 1 (2x, last 2007) Current Streak: Metro State, 3 wins Hendricks vs. WNMU: 5-2
RMAC Tournament History:
This is Metro State’s 14th appearance all-time in the RMAC Tournament. The Roadrunners have a record of 22-8 with five championships (2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009).
Metro State lost its only RMAC Tournament meeting with Western New Mexico in five sets in 2007. This is the third consecutive year and fifth time in the past six years that Metro State has earned the No. 3 seed.
Phan Ties Digs Record/National Player of the Week: Ngoc Phan recorded 30 digs in Metro State’s sweep at Chadron State on Oct. 30, tying the school record for digs in a three-set match. The record was set on Sept. 13, 1988 by Alica Nickel- son against Colorado State-Pueblo.
Phan was named AVCA National Player of the Week for her performance in the Oct. 30 match and her efforts on Oct. 29 when she had a career- high 36 digs in a five-set upset at No. 9 Nebraska- Kearney. She averaged 8.25 digs per set in the two matches, totaling 66 digs in eight sets played. She also had a .957 serve-receive percentage with just one error.
Metro State Breaks Attendance Record:
Metro State defeated Regis University in four sets on Nov. 2 in front of a school record crowd of 741. That total topped the previous record of 726 set on Nov. 11, 1994, against Regis.
Four Named All-RMAC:
The Metro State volleyball team placed four play- ers on the All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Confer- ence teams. Bri Morley and Julie Causseaux were both first team selections, while Ngoc Phan and Darcy Schwartzman both were third team picks. The last time Metro State had two players on the All-RMAC first team was 2005 when Stefanie Al- lison and Gabe Curtis both earned the honor.
Mapes Named Academic Player of the Year:
Metro State volleyball player Anna Mapes was named Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Player of the Year on Oct. 20. Lisa Jones was also named second team Academic All-RMAC and Ngoc Phan was named to the academic honor roll.
Mapes is the first volleyball player in school history to earn Academic Player of the Year honors. She joins Sas- cha Ruckelshausen (men’s tennis in 2008 and 2009) and Jesse Wagstaff (men’s basketball in 2009) as Metro State student-athletes to earn the award. The RMAC began awarding Academic Player of the Year in each sport dur- ing the 2007-08 academic year.
Mapes, a senior middle blocker from Chaska, Minn., carries a 3.89 grade point average in civil engineering tech- nology at Metro State. She also is working on a minor in mathematics. Off the court, her amazing story has in- spired many. After leaving volleyball following her soph- omore season at the University of Mississippi in 1998 to fight an eating disorder, Mapes returned to coaching in Durango, Colo., at the club level and eventually at Fort Lewis. Married and the mother of two, Mapes joined the Roadrunners as a student-athlete in 2008 and earned a medical redshirt with an injury. Last fall, she recovered and was named third team All-RMAC and first team Academic All-RMAC.
Her journey back to the court earned her the Comeback Award from the Sportswomen of Colorado in the spring of 2010.
Jones, a senior right side hitter from Pueblo, Colo., has a 3.64 GPA also as a civil engineering technology major and mathematics minor. For her career, she ranks in the top-10 in Metro State history in blocks, block assists, hit- ting percentage and points. This is the third time in her career she has earned academic all-conference honors.
Phan, a junior libero from Lone Tree, Colo., has a 3.44 GPA as a chemistry major. She is making her second ap- pearance on the academic all-conference list.
Metro State Volleyball History:
Metro State won its fifth RMAC Tournament champion- ship and advanced to its 10th consecutive (one of seven Division II schools to do so) NCAA Tournament last season. The Roadrunners have made 17 postseason appearances all-time and have a 9-17 record in those matches. Last year, Metro State won two matches in the NCAA Tournament, before falling to national champion Concordia-St. Paul in the Central Region championship. The two postseason wins were the most-ever for Metro State in one postseason.
No comments:
Post a Comment