From:
http://www.nmstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=9552&SPID=584&DB_OEM_ID=1900&ATCLID=833976LAS CRUCES, N.M.-The New Mexico State volleyball team is undefeated after the first spring tournament of the season at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., March 24. The Aggies finished the day 10-0.
NMSU overpowered Arizona, Arizona State, New Mexico, UNLV and UTEP twice in a round-robin format with matches consisting of two games to 30 points.
Head coach Mike Jordan said he was pleased with the Aggies performance overall especially with the improvement of the team’s young outside hitters.
“I thought we were very good defensively and (junior defensive specialist) Jordan Bostic in particular,” he said. “We stuff blocked a ton of balls too, which is great. It's been a focus of ours and I've seen improvement.”
“It was great to play and get an idea of where we are. I'm pretty happy but we've still got a lot of work to do.”
NMSU returns to the court in Tucson when the Aggies meet Arizona and Northern Arizona, April 7, at 10:00 a.m.
Nebraska announced their fall schedule, to include:
The Huskers' final tournament before the start of Big 12 play will be the following weekend with the third-annual Players Challenge at the NU Coliseum on
Sept. 7-8. The field for that weekend's tournament will be NCAA qualifiers Duke, Louisville and
New Mexico State, although pairings for that tournament have not been determined.
Time to make those reservations!! ;)
NMSU Release today:
From
http://www.nmstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1900&ATCLID=830152Aggies Ready for the Spring
Courtesy: Rebecca Craig
LAS CRUCES, N.M.-The New Mexico State volleyball team begins the spring season with its first tournament, Saturday, March 24, in Tucson, Ariz. The Aggies play in two tournaments and host a match within the next month.
NMSU joins Arizona State, UNLV, New Mexico, UTEP and tournament host Arizona, Saturday, with play starting at 9:00 a.m. The Aggies return to Tucson, April 7, for matches with the Wildcats and Northern Arizona and the day begins at 10:00 am.
The Aggies head east for the Texas Tornados College Spring Tournament in Houston, Texas that starts at 9:00 a.m. NMSU is one of ten teams in the field that includes Oklahoma, Baylor, Southern California, Wichita State, Alabama, Houston, Rice, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
The spring season concludes for the Aggies when they host UTEP, April 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Pan American Center. Head coach Mike Jordan said the spring season allows the Aggies to face talented competition and that is especially helpful for the underclassmen.
“We’re going to get an opportunity to play lots of quality teams this spring and that’s what makes your team better,” he said. “This gives us a month to play and compete, which is great for our young players that don’t have a lot of game experience.”
Jordan said he is ready for play to begin but the Aggies have to replace three starters, seniors outside hitter Tanya Allen, outside hitter Alice Borden and setter Jackie Choi.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Jordan said. “I think we have a chance to be better next year, with our athleticism, but we have to find leadership this spring.”
Middle hitters junior Kim Oguh and sophomore Amber Simpson lead the 15 returning players along with Iowa State transfer Alyssa Gintant, who is a sophomore setter, into the spring.
Oguh and Simpson earned AVCA All-American honors in 2006 after guiding the Aggies to a remarkable season setting the school record for the most wins in a season with 33, which included snapping Hawai’i’s 114-conference win streak. NMSU also earned its first at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and was No. 23 in the final AVCA Top 25 Poll.
Ah, it's nice to be posting over here again!
First of all, if any of you are in Houston and want to see a match or so, check out the
Texas Tornados website. That is who is hosting the big tournament in April. Their facility is in northwest Houston.
For this weekend, the tourny is in Arizona. Where - I'm not sure but if any of my astute readers know, leave a comment. I'll email Coach with the where/when today.
Next - part of my quest in being a good volleyball fan is to learn as much as I can about the game. I've gotten a lot of great links from folks but, let's face it - unless you know the basics, reading some of the resources is like attempting to digest a 4th year bio-chemistry book.
I did a quick search last night and came up with a fabulous resource -
About.com's Volleyball section. Yep - that's where I'll be spending a bit of my time.
That's it for today - comments are ALWAYS welcome. And please, let me know who you are!
Granted, this volleyball fan is going thru a little bit of withdrawl right now. The schedule should be out in a few weeks and that will give me plenty to talk about.
As far as spring tournys go, I believe that they are/were scheduled to head to Texas and then to Arizona...or visa versa. If all works out and the stars are aligned, we might be playing UTEP in April at the Pan Am. The Italy trip should be in May some time.
I'm hopin that the media machine at NMSU starts to kick in and my email is full of wonderful volleyball announcements.
Don't know how much more I can take!
PS: I don't normally mention other sports here but how can I not say Congrats to the mens basketball team for winning the WAC and making it to the big dance.
