Nov. 8, 2007
Match Notes - Prairie View A&M in PDF Format
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THE WEEK AHEAD FOR THE LADY BRONCS
After a 3-0 setback over the Bobcats of Texas State, the Lady Broncs will be taking to the road for the last week before the National Independent Tournament. The Lady Broncs will head to Prairie View, TX to face the Lady Panthers of Prairie View A&M for the second time this season.
The Lady Broncs posted a 3-0 victory over the Lady Panthers at the Prairie View A&M Tournament where UTPA captured the tournament on Sept. 14.
To conclude the 2007 season the Lady Broncs will be head to Orem Utah for the Independent Tournament. The Lady Broncs will be facing Independent teams such as Utah Valley, Chicago State, Cal State-Bakersfield, and others. The Lady Broncs have a strong chance of returning as Independent Champions.
HUBBARD BEGINS FIRST SEASON AT HELM FOR LADY BRONCS
Angela Hubbard begins her first season as the leader of the UTPA women's volleyball program as the first-year head coach became the fourth head coach in program history in March of 2007.
When Hubbard accepted the head coaching vacancy with the Valley's program, she became the youngest NCAA Division I coach in the country at the age of 25. Currently - there are three coaches in the country in the women's volleyball ranks that are 26 years old - Kristina Hernandez (Loyola/MD), Holly Strauss (Connecticut) and Nicole McRay (Georgia Southern).
The UTPA head women's volleyball coach helped the Lady Broncs to their first tournament title since the 2003 season when the Valley's team captured the Prairie View A&M Tournament championships with a perfect 4-0 record by defeating Prairie View A&M, Air Force Academy, Texas Southern and University of Texas at San Antonio.
BLAKELY BECOMES PROGRAM'S ALL-TIME LEADER IN CAREER ASSISTS
In just 170 matches, UTPA junior Chelsea Blakely became the program's all-time leader in career assists when the Houston, TX, product dished out her 2,493rd career assists in the first set of UTPA's 3-0 victory over Texas Southern at the Prairie View A&M Tournament. For her efforts, Blakely was selected as the Independent Player of the Week, which is the first time that a UTPA player had earn that honor since the 2005 season.
Blakely has posted a strong junior campaign as she has dished out 9.61 assists per game and recorded 18 matches of 30 or more assists for the Lady Broncs. She recorded a season-best mark of 59 assists in a four-game victory over BSU.
The UTPA junior earned her first piece of hardware at the Domino's Pizza Volleyball Invitational as Blakely was selected to the all-tournament team. This is the third straight season that Blakely has recorded over 600 assists in a season.
REED FINDING SUCCESS IN MIDDLE DURING ROOKIE CAMPAIGN
UTPA freshman Danielle Reed has made a strong transition from her nature outside hitter's position to the middle blocking position where she is averaging 1.44 kills to go along with a .195 hitting percentage and 0.71 blocks per game in 28 matches.
Reed has collected at least five kills in 16 of 28 matches this season and notched a career-high .636 hitting percentage versus Texas Southern with eight kills in 11 attacks. The UTPA middle blocker collected 11.0 blocks against Sam Houston State which were the third-most in Lady Broncs' single-match program history.
PHILLIPS LOOKING TO TAKE LEAD AS TOP UTPA OFFENSIVE THREAT
UTPA junior Kellie Phillips has put together strong offensive campaigns for the Lady Broncs in each of her three seasons as the program's starting outside hitter. The Lady Broncs' outside hitter moved up to fifth-place on the all-time kills record with 1,069 kills after surpassing both Danielle Holthe and Cathi Netemeyer. Phillips has become the fifth player in program history to record over 1,000 career kills.
The UTPA outside hitter has recorded seven double-doubles during her junior campaign, including an 18-kill, 14-dig performance against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Islander Holiday Inn Classic.. Phillips has recorded 20 or more kills on four occasions this season with a 27-kill effort against Birmingham-Southern to go along with a 14 dig performance.
The UTPA junior is making her way up the record books in kills, Phillips currently sits atop of the career record books in attacks per game with an 11.47 career attacks per game average and reached over 3,000 total attacks earlier this season.
TODDY STEPS UP TO THE PLATE AT LIBERO
UTPA sophomore Rebecca Toddy has done a tremendous job for the Lady Broncs at the libero position and continues to set new statistical highs in every trip to the court. The Rio Grande Valley product was recently selected as the Libero of the Tournament at Prairie View A&M where she averaged 5.19 digs per game, including a career-high 30 digs in UTPA's five-set victory over the Air Force Academy.
Toddy was recently selected as the Independent Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts at Prairie View A&M. This season, Toddy has recorded 22 matches of 10 or more digs, including a double-digit performance in nineteen of the last twenty matches where she is now averaging 4.28 digs per game.
SCHNEYER SHOWCASES ALL-AROUND SKILLS IN THE MIDDLE
UTPA junior Deanna Schneyer has been one of the top blockers for the Lady Broncs in each of her first three seasons with the program, but her talents have been put to the test this season as she returned as the program's only experienced player in the middle.
The UTPA middle blocker was selected as the Most Valuable Player at the Prairie View A&M Tournament after she averaged 3.25 kills per game to go along with a .333 hitting percentage or higher in each of the Lady Broncs' four matches at Prairie View A&M.
Throughout the Lady Broncs' 28 matches, Schneyer has done a tremendous job on both the offensive and defensive sides of the net. Offensively - the UTPA middle blocker currently leads the team with a .242 hitting percentage while ranking second in total kills with 244. Schneyer has also notched a team-high 0.78 blocks per game.
MAYOR ON THE MOVE FOR THE LADY BRONCS IN SECOND SEASON
UTPA sophomore Noelle Mayor has made a smooth transition from her natural outside hitter's position to the right-side where she is averaging 1.43 kills, 1.99 digs and 0.50 blocks per game through 100 games played. This season, Mayor has surpassed all of her statistical marks from her rookie season with the Lady Broncs.
Mayor has recorded 16 matches of five or more kills, including a career-high 12 kills against The University of Texas at San Antonio at the Prairie View A&M Tournament. The UTPA right-side hitter has also stepped up her defensive presence on the floor as she has posted 11 or more digs in seven matches during her sophomore season, including a 19-dig high match against UT-Brownsville
LADY BRONCS MAKE HISTORY IN PAIR OF MATCHES
The Lady Broncs have defeated two opponents that they never triumphed over during their 20-history. The biggest victory at the Prairie View A&M Tournament came against The University of Texas at San Antonio where the Lady Broncs won in five sets en route to snapping a 27-match losing skid to the Roadrunners.
Also at that tournament, the Lady Broncs notched a five-set victory over the Air Force Academy, which was the first time in two tries that the Valley's program has recorded a triumph over the Falcons. It was also the first time in program history that the Lady Broncs have recorded a victory over a program from the Mountain West Conference.
LADY BRONCS ADD LOCAL FLAVOR TO ROSTER
The UTPA women's volleyball team is primarily made up of Texas talent with eight members of the Lady Broncs reigning from the Lone Star State. The Rio Grande Valley also plays the backyard to three student-athletes as Ytzsel Trinidad (Mercedes), Rebecca Toddy (McAllen) and Cassandra Trevino (Edinburg) all grew up within a stones throw of the UTPA campus.
UTPA LOOKS TO BECOME TOP INDEPENDENT PROGRAM
The UTPA women's volleyball program will look to rebound itself as the top Independent program in the country during the 2007 season. Over the course of the last two years, four Independent programs have found homes in conference affiliates in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2005 / Southland Conference), North Dakota State (2006 / Summit League), IPFW (2006 / Summit League) and South Dakota State (2006 / Summit League).
This season, UTPA will be the veteran of the Independent programs as the Lady Broncs will be joined by Utah Valley University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Savannah State, Providence and the newest member of the Independent nation - University of California-Bakersfield.
The 2007 National Independent Championships will be held in Orem, UT, hosted by Utah Valley University and will feature the home squad to go along with UTPA, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Providence and University of California-Bakersfield.
UTPA ADDS FAMILY TIES TO THE PROGRAM
UTPA newcomer Charity Cucancic comes to the Rio Grande Valley as one of the most promising players on the Lady Broncs squad as a setter. The Kirbyville, TX, native had ties with the Lady Broncs prior to joining the program as she is the niece of UTPA head women's volleyball coach Angela Hubbard.
LOGAN ENJOYING STANDOUT ROOKIE SEASON FOR UTPA
UTPA freshman Marci Logan had some big shoes to fill in her rookie season as she took over the role played by Heather Bravo as the sidekick to Kellie Phillips at the outside hitter's position. This season, Logan is averaging 2.40 kills, 0.57 digs and 0.29 blocks per game as a rookie.
This season, Logan has collected 11 matches of 10 or more kills, including three double-digit kill performances in the last four matches. The UTPA rookie had a career-high with 23 kills in the Lady Broncs' five-set battle over UT-Brownsville in their last home match of the season. Logan has recorded a hitting percentage of .200 or higher in ten matches this season and those numbers will only continue to grow with every trip to the starting lineup that the UTPA rookie makes.
TRINIDAD CONTINUES TO AID UTPA ON DEFENSIVE SIDE
Ytszel Trinidad continues to improve with every practice and the results show on the court as she has aided the Lady Broncs on the defensive side of the court as a defensive specialist. The UTPA libero has recorded double-digit digs in five matches, including an 18-dig performance against the recent victory over Birmingham-Southern.
PHILLIPS POSTS 3,000TH CAREER ATTACK; MOVES UP LIST
Junior Kellie Phillips continues to make a move to the top of the record books for the Lady Broncs in career attacks as the UTPA outside hitter collected her 3,000th career attack against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.. Heading into this week's match, Phillips has recorded 3,592 career attacks moving into third place on the all-time and surpassing 3,316-attack total by former standout Tanja Thomas.
LADY BRONCS SET TO TACKLE THE ROAD IN 2007
One of the first tasks that first-year head women's volleyball coach Angela Hubbard had to tackle when she arrived in the Rio Grande Valley in April was putting together the 2007 schedule for the Lady Broncs. Scheduling as an Independent is tough enough without any added obstacles, but with a lot of programs already set in their schedules, Hubbard was forced to play a lot of matches on the road in her first season.
The Lady Broncs will be on the road for 26 of their 30 matches this season - which is the most among all NCAA Division I programs in road matches. UTPA will play four matches on Sam Williams Court, and the only other NCAA Division I program to play just as few home matches is fellow Independent program Chicago State, who will play five home matches.
While the Lady Broncs are playing the majority of their matches on the road, they will not leave the State of Texas too much during the 2007 season as UTPA is only scheduled to make out-of-state trips. Scheduled trips to Illinois, Alabama and Utah (twice) are the only trips for the Lady Broncs out of the State of Texas.
LADY BRONCS EXCEED WIN TOTAL FROM 2006 SEASON
Last season, the Lady Broncs finished the season with six victories - three coming against NCAA Division I competition - whereas the 2007 version of the UTPA women's volleyball team has already surpassed that mark. Heading into the final half of the season, the Lady Broncs have plenty of chances to increase on that win-total from an upsetting last season.
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