Coming off of a very successful road trip, the Western New Mexico University volleyball team will look forward to being at home for the next four games beginning this weekend against Westminster and Colorado Mesa.
Westminster College (Utah) is in their first year in the RMAC and holds a 4-8 overall record and 1-3 mark in the conference. Their conference win was a big one at home over Colorado Mesa. Amara Culpepper leads the team in kills with 125 and is tied for the team lead in blocks with 37. Alyse Horton is second in kills with 105 and second on the team in digs with 138. Taylor Gustafson (221) and Jacey Saunders (183) lead the team in assists, while Megan Gallegos leads in digs with 188 and Kate Tsourmas is tied with Culpepper for the team lead in blocks with 37. WNMU and Westminster will play Friday night at 7 p.m.
Colorado Mesa comes in the following night on Saturday also at 7 p.m. The Mavericks opened with a strong non-conference schedule where they nearly defeated then ranked No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State before falling in five. They are 6-7 overall and 4-1 in the RMAC after posting a big five set win against Regis this past Saturday. The Mavericks have four players with over 100 kills led by Audrey Steinkirchner's 128. Erin Perez adds 127, Catie Breaux with 120 and Hattie Gianinetti with 115. Ali Svorinic leads the team in assists tallying 333, while Hana Peterman adds 195. In terms of defense, Taylor Woods has 149 digs to 145 for Kricket Adleman and in blocks Abby Ney has 29. Colorado Mesa took both games last year 3-0 in Silver City before the teams went five in the game in Grand Junction.
WNMU is off to a 10-3 overall start and 5-0 mark in the RMAC. They are the only team that is undefeated so far in RMAC play. The Lady Mustangs completed a long and lengthy road swing last week collecting wins against New Mexico Highlands (3-0), South Dakota Mines (3-1) and Black Hills State (3-1). Head Coach Jim Callender is now just nine wins away from 700 in his career.
Leeta Grap (Kamuela, HI/Hawaii Preparatory Academy), Shannon Rich (Folsom, CA/Folsom) and Heather Verrill (Barstow, CA/Barstow ) all have over 100 kills to start the season as Grap leads the way with 189, while Rich and Verrill add 102 apiece. Sheila Menezes (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Escola Estadual Prof. Antonio Ablas Filho) has 81 so far. Both middles Rich and Verrill are hitting over .300 with Rich at a .310 clip and Verrill at .309 which ranks them second and third in the RMAC, respectively. Grap is 48th nationally in kills per set (3.78) and third in the RMAC in both kills per set and points per set (4.13). Melanie Hughes (Riverside, CA/Martin Luther King Jr.) leads the way with 403 assists, while Chyler Imai (Kapaau, HI/Kohala) has added 93. Hughes is ninth in the RMAC in both aces per set (.34) and assists per set (8.06). Ashley Mataele (Laie, HI/Kahuku) leads in digs with 236, while Grap has 148 and Imai with 106. Mataele is fourth in the RMAC in digs per set (4.72). In terms of blocks, Verrill has 44 and Rich with 42, while Rich has 18 solo stops. Verrill is 10th in the RMAC in blocks per set (.88) and Rich is 14th in the RMAC in blocks per set (.84).
As a team the Lady Mustangs are first in the RMAC in digs per set (17.74), match win-loss percentage (.769), opposition hitting percentage (.136). WNMU is second in both hitting percentage (.196) and team attacks per set (38.64).