Friday, November 9
Bozeman
7 p.m.
Montana State University
vs
Southern Utah
One Last Time
11/8/2012 2:25:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Montana State volleyball team will host its final two matches of the season in Shroyer Gym this weekend, beginning with Southern Utah on Friday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will celebrate Senior Night on Saturday, Nov. 10 when it faces Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. Saturday will mark the final home match for seniors Taylar Barney, Jennifer Lundquist and Macy Page.
CLICK HERE FOR THIS WEEK'S RELEASE (pdf)
ONE LAST TIME:
The Montana State volleyball team will host its final two matches of the season in Shroyer Gym this weekend, beginning with Southern Utah on Friday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. The Bobcats will celebrate Senior Night on Saturday, Nov. 10 when it faces Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. Saturday will mark the final home match for seniors Taylar Barney, Jennifer Lundquist and Macy Page.
CATCH THE 'CATS:
vs. Southern Utah:
www.msubobcats.com - (live stats)
www.americaonesports.com/bigsky.asp - (live web-streaming video)
vs. Northern Arizona:
www.msubobcats.com - (live stats)
www.americaonesports.com/bigsky.asp - (live web-streaming video)
QUICK RECAP:
For the fourth time this season, the Montana State volleyball team went out on the Big Sky Conference road and came away with a weekend split. The Bobcats opened the weekend with a 22-25, 25-15, 18-25, 25-19, 15-8 win over Weber State. Macy Page, Sarah Horton and Eli Svisco paced MSU with 17, 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Jennifer Lundquist dished out 50 assists and had four blocks, while Nicole Baker added a team-high 12 digs. On Saturday, the Bobcats dropped a 25-14, 25-13, 25-22 decision at Idaho State.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
* Eli Svisco, 6-0, Freshman, Outside Hitter, Castle Rock, Colorado
Svisco led the Bobcats in hitting percentage during its two road matches last weekend. The native of Castle Rock, Colo., posted a .213 attack mark, while averaging 2.38 kills and 1.50 digs per set. In MSU's 3-2 win over Weber State, Svisco notched 14 kills, a .320 attack, seven digs and a service ace. Against Idaho State, the 6-foot outside hitter registered five kills, five digs and four blocks.
* Macy Page, 6-0, Senior, Outside Hitter, Orem, Utah
Senior Macy Page paced the Bobcats offensively last weekend, notching a team-high 26 kills and 31.5 points in MSU's two matches. In Montana State's 3-2 win over Weber State, the Orem, Utah native logged 17 kills and five blocks. At Idaho State on Saturday, Page recorded nine kills and four blocks. For the weekend, she averaged a team-best 3.25 kills and 1.12 blocks per set, while hitting .190 from the field.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES:
No other team at the NCAA Division I level has moved up the NCAA RPI rankings like Montana State. From the final 2011 RPI ranking to this week's ranking, the Bobcats have moved up a whopping 160 spots. MSU finished last season ranked 304th in the RPI. In this week's listing, Montana State is ranked 144. The next biggest jump is 152 spots by Southern Illinois-Carbondale.
THE SCOUTING REPORT: (courtesy SUU/NAU SIDs)
Southern Utah (9-19, 5-11) will wrap up its slate of regular season road matches this weekend. Wins will be imperative for the T-Birds with a berth in the conference tournament compromised by a loss at either location. Southern Utah's success on offense this season has come from Analaine Mailoto with a team-best 383 kills and an average of 3.91 per set. Her average is currently third in the Big Sky with fellow Cashaana Renfro appearing in the top five of the league in blocks. Renfro has already matched her best season in blocks with 120 on the year and has set a new school record with 11 blocks at Eastern Washington. With the Big Sky Championship just two weeks away the Northern Arizona (20-5, 12-4) will play its final road matches of the regular season. NAU will play at Montana on Friday night, before traveling to Bozeman. The Lumberjacks sit in third place in the Big Sky and can tie the program record for most road wins in a season with a pair of victories this weekend. With its 3-1 win over Portland State last Saturday the Lumberjacks reached 20 wins for just the third time in program history. Janae Vander Ploeg averaged 4.00 kills and 2.08 digs per set while hitting .276 and leading NAU to a 2-1 record last week, totaling 48 kills with just 11 attack errors in 134 swings. NAU now ranks 32nd in NCAA Division-I with 2.65 blocks per set.
INCHING TO CLINCHING:
Four of the six Big Sky Conference Tournament berths have been secured by Idaho State, Portland State, Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. Two spots remain open. Montana State and North Dakota are in the driver's spot and control their own destiny. Two wins in the next four matches by either team will clinch a berth. The Bobcats hold the tiebreaker over North Dakota by virtue of MSU's sweep over UND this season. Southern Utah and Sacramento State are currently three games behind both MSU and UND.
WE LIKE IT HERE:
Shroyer Gym, Home of the Bobcats, is one of the toughest venues west of the Mississippi. Over the past few decades, Shroyer Gym and the Bobcat faithful have made Montana State one of the top 50 venues in the nation in terms of attendance. The annual 'Shake Shroyer' match has consistently drawn one of the top crowds in the Pacific Northwest and Big Sky Conference. On Monday, Oct. 15, 2012, over 1,500 fans filed into Shroyer for the annual Cat-Griz clash. MSU's largest attendance in Shroyer occurred as 2,371 spectators witnessed the Bobcats defeat Northern Arizona on Nov. 1, 2003. The largest crowd in the State of Montana and Big Sky Conference history also belongs to the Bobcats as 6,378 fans jammed Worthington Arena on Nov. 15, 2002.
ISN'T SHE GRAND?:
Montana State starting libero Nicole Baker went over the 1,000 dig plateau last weekend, becoming just the seventh player in Bobcat history to accomplish the milestone. In all, she posted 17 digs (2.15 dps) on MSU's two-match tour of the I-15 corridor. Baker established herself as one of the top defensive players in the Big Sky Conference last season, after averaging a whopping 5.0 digs per set in league play. In addition, the Pleasanton, Calif., native recorded 514 digs to set a new Montana State mark for digs in a single-season. The old record of 495 digs had been held by Kandice Kelly since the 2005 campaign. Baker notched a career-best 30 digs against Northern Arizona, last year. Currently, she is averaging a team-best 3.85 digs per set, which ranks fifth among the Big Sky leaders. She has registered 20 matches in double-digits saves, including a season-best 27 digs in MSU's win over Niagara in early September.
A LENDING HAND:
Senior Jennifer Lundquist has seen her assists per set average rise along with MSU's season successes. Last fall, the Surrey, British Columbia native averaged 9.11 assists per game. This season, Lundquist is currently sixth in the Big Sky Conference averaging 10.46 assists per contest. Against Montana on Oct. 15, she dished out a career-high 64 assists. In addition, Lundquist is a triple threat on the court as well. She has posted seven double-doubles this fall and is averaging 2.37 digs and .54 kills per game. Her current .285 attack mark leads the team and she has committed just 17 hitting errors on 137 attempts.
HORTON HEARS A ...WHOOT:
Montana State volleyball standout Sarah Horton's 38-kill output against Montana on Oct. 15, is the highest single-match total at the NCAA Division I level and across 32 conferences this season. She currently leads the Big Sky in kills and points in both overall and league matches. Horton is currently averaging 4.15 kills and 4.67 points in Big Sky contests. Those numbers also rank 43rd and 51st in the nation, respectively. In addition, she ranks fifth in the league in aces at .31 per outing. Horton's current season total of 399 kills is the highest offensive production at MSU since Anne Watts recorded 459 kills in 2000. Horton, who still has at minimum four matches remaining, has an outside shot at the school-record of 547 kills in a season set by Diane Terrall in 1980.
TURNING THE PAGE:
Prior to this season, senior Macy Page had totaled 113 career kills, including a career-best 17 kills against Loyola. She had also played in 170 sets and averaged .66 kills per outing. Now, in just her senior season alone, the Orem, Utah, native has recorded 307 kills and is averaging 3.16 kills per set. Page set a new career-high of 27 kills in MSU's win over Eastern Washington.
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