Oct. 3, 2000

The San Diego State women's volleyball team (8-9, 2-2 Mountain West Conference) travels to Las Vegas this weekend to face the UNLV Rebels (1-12, 1-3 MWC) on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 4 p.m. The match will be the first of three consecutive road conference contests for the Aztecs, who will also play at Wyoming and Colorado State (Oct. 13-14) prior to their next home appearance.

SERIES RECORD
San Diego State has won six of the previous seven meetings with the Rebels, including both matches during the 1999 season. UNLV's lone win in the series came in September 1998 at Las Vegas. The first two meetings between the Aztecs and Rebels came in 1985 when both were members of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now Big West) for volleyball.

SCOUTING THE REBELS
After losing its opening 12 matches this fall, UNLV got into the win column with a three-game win over Air Force last Friday night in Las Vegas. In that contest, the Rebels were led by outside hitters Leiana Oswald and Amber Graham with 14 kills apiece as they contributed to a season-high .390 hitting percentage.

Six of the Rebels' 12 losses have come at the hands of team ranked among the top 20 in the nation.

UNLV is led offensively by Oswald, a freshman, with an average of 3.33 kills per game and a .205 hitting percentage. Middle blocker Blair Wilkes, a sophomore transfer from Long Beach State, is hitting .252 and is the team's leading blocker at 0.83 bpg.

LAST WEEK
After a three-game loss to 20th-ranked Loyola Marymount last Tuesday, San Diego State rebounded with back-to-back three-game victories over Mountain West Conference foes New Mexico (15-8, 15-5, 15-10) and Air Force (15-6, 15-10, 15-7).

In the New Mexico match, the Aztecs were led by seniors Monet Solberg, and Amy Hallquist who had 16 and 14 kills respectively as the team had a season-high .454 hitting percentage.

Against Air Force, four Aztec reached double figures in kills led by Hallquist with 11. Solberg, Erin Grady and Nicole Akporiaye had 10 apiece for SDSU, which hit .345 for the match.

AZTECS IN THE MWC STATISTICS
The following players rank among the leaders in the overall conference statistics:
Hitting - Nicole Akporiaye, .282 (10th)
Assists - Melissa Wright, 11.55 apg (3rd)
Blocks - Erin Grady, 1.78 bpg (3rd)
Kills - Monet Solberg, 3.20 kpg (12th)
Service Aces - Jessica Allen, 0.51 sa/g (3rd)

In league games only, Aztecs among the leaders include:
Hitting - Amy Hallquist, .370 (5th)
Assists - Melissa Wright, 11.69 apg (4th)
Blocks - Erin Grady, 1.92 bpg (1st)
Kills - Monet Solberg, 3.70 kpg (7th)
Kills - Amy Hallquist, 3.46 kpg (8th)
Service Aces - Jessica Allen, 0.77 sa/g (4th)
Service Aces - Aspen McPartland, 0.54 sa/g (8th)
Digs - Monet Solberg, 2.50 dpg (11th)

SDSU NOTES
Amy Hallquist's .737 hitting percentage vs. New Mexico on Sept. 29 was a season team high. SDSU's .454 hitting percentage in that same match was also a season best for the Aztecs. Her .737 percentage is a conference best for a league match this season.

The team's .454 hitting percentage in the win over New Mexico is the best in the conference thus far into the 2000 campaign. The Aztecs hit a combined .399 over the two matches last weekend, averaging 19.33 kills a game and just over five blocks a game.

The Aztecs totaled 116 kills in their two matches vs. New Mexico and Air Force, their two best efforts in three-game matches this season.

Melissa Wright averaged 16.5 assists per game in the two matches this past weekend, almost five a game over her season mark of 11.55 apg. Wright's 54 assists vs. New Mexico is the best in the conference for a three-game match this fall. With 647 assists in her first season at SDSU, she has moved into the No.-10 spot on the Aztec career assist list. Melissa Dickson is currently in the ninth position with 980 assists.

San Diego State remains the only team in the MWC which has not been involved in a five-game match this season.

Senior Monet Solberg led SDSU in kills last week with a total of 38 in the team's three matches, an average of 4.22 per game.

Middle blocker Erin Grady averaged 3.33 blocks a game in the two league matches over the weekend, upping her season average to 1.78 bpg, a figure which ranks in the top 10 nationally.