UTEP Miners

UTEP VB NOTES WEEK NINE | WKU | RICE

EL PASO, Texas-  The UTEP Volleyball Team will hit the road for two matches against two of the top three teams in Conference USA standings this weekend. The Miners will battle top-ranked and undefeated WKU on Friday, Oct. 20 at the E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, KY and then travel to third-place Rice to look for another upset against the Owls at the Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas on Sunday, Oct. 22. First serve against the Hilltoppers (21-2, 7-0 C-USA) is set for 5 p.m. MT while match-time against the Owls (16-5, 6-1 C-USA) is slated for 12 p.m. MT. 

The Miners (4-16, 1-6 C-USA) finished up an unusual three-game stretch in four days, something not done since tournament play in the preseason. The team was at home against North Texas on Friday and UTSA on Sunday, but fell to the Mean Green 4-1 and suffered a three-set loss to the Roadrunners. The Miners then hopped on a plane for Monday's match against Southern Miss, which was originally scheduled for Oct. 8, but was postponed due to Hurricane Nate. The Golden Eagles had a bye-week to their advantage, downing the Miners 3-0. The Miners saw a strong performance from Macey Austin through the three games, as the sophomore paced the offense with 44 kills (4.40 per set) through 10 sets. Briana Arellano helped the effort with 28 kills (2.80 per set) while Amanda King dished out 93 assists. Niki Cebak led the team in digs with 28 and Ashley Grzebeniak was close behind with 27. Freshman Mallory Yost notched three solo blocks and Cheyenne Jones recorded five block assists. 

UTEP will be looking for an upset when it goes against the undefeated WKU, while the Hilltoppers will be pushing to stay flawless in conference play. Rice will be vying to split this season's series after UTEP came away with the 3-2 upset in its conference opener on Sept. 22. 

LIVE STATS VS WKU: http://www.sidearmstats.com/wku/wvball/

LIVE STREAM VS WKU: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/?Live=3412

LIVE STATS VS RICE: http://www.riceowls.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=1549595&school=rice&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&

WKU Scouting Report

Series: The Oct. 20 meeting will mark the seventh meeting between the Miners and Hilltoppers, with WKU leading the all-time series 6-0. The programs first met on Oct. 19, 2014 in Memorial Gym with the Hilltoppers coming out on top, 3-0. UTEP and WKU met twice in 2014, two more times in 2015 and faced each other in a regular-season match in 2016 and at the Conference USA Tournament (Houston, Texas) on Nov. 18 – the last meeting between the two programs. WKU stands in first place in Conference USA with an undefeated league mark (7-0) and is 21-2 overall. 

HILLTOPPER Notables

WKU kept its 17-match winning streak alive after clipping FIU in three-straight sets (25-11, 25-14, 25-18) to stay undefeated against conference teams with a 7-0 record in conference and a 21-2 record overall. The Lady Toppers also received votes (92) from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) in the Top 25 poll. Leading the team against the Panthers was junior Rachel Anderson with 12 kills notching her 14th double-digit performance of the season. Anderson ranks third in hitting percentage (.428) in Conference USA. The Hilltoppers also feature Alyssa Cavanaugh, who is second in the league in kills with 313 at 4.06 per set. Senior Sydney Engle was named Defensive Player of the Week for the fifth time this season after collecting 22 digs, splitting 18 between two league matches, and was perfect in 22 serve-receive attempts across nine sets. WKU is ranked first in hitting percentage (.364) and fifth in service aces (1.34).

RICE SCOUTING REPORT

Series: The Oct. 22 meeting will mark the 44th meeting between the Miners and Owls, with Rice leading the all-time series 33-10. The programs first met on Oct. 1, 1983 at the Texas Centennial Open (Austin, Texas), with Rice coming out on top, 3-0. The two programs last met on Sept. 22, 2017 in Memorial Gym as the Miners upset the Owls, 3-2. Rice is currently 16-5 overall and 6-1 in Conference USA action.

  

OWL NOTABLES

Rice is second in Conference USA  (6-1) standings and 16-5 overall. The Owls rallied back after dropping the first two sets to claim a 3-2 win against UAB in Birmingham (21-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-17,15-12). Senior Portia Okafor led the Owls in both kills (17) and blocks (9) while hitting a team-high percentage (.567) versus the Blazers. Okafor is currently ranked ninth in blocks (1.00 per set) in C-USA. The Owls also have an offensive weapon in Nicole Lennon, who has knocked down 329 kills this season. Her 3.66 kills per set average puts her in sixth among C-USA rankings. Grace Morgan was one of four Owls with double-figure kills (12) against UAB. Morgan leads the team in hitting percentage (.380) and rates first in the league. The sophomore is also second on the team with 225 kills and 68 total blocks this season. Morgan garnered C-USA Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 9. Setting up the Rice attacks is Madison McDaniel, who has dished out 672 assists (10.84 per set) to rank fifth in the league. Picking up opponent attacks for the Owls is Lee Ann Cunningham. Cunningham has totaled 409 digs this season at 4.54 per set to rank second in conference. 

MINERS SNATCH A SET WIN FROM MEAN GREEN 

UTEP came out firing to take set one 30-28 against North Texas, giving the Mean Green their first set loss since Sept. 29. The league's second-ranked team bounced back, however, to take the four set victory (28-30, 25-12, 25-21, 25-23) on Friday in Memorial Gym. 

UTSA OUTRUNS UTEP

In a Texas showdown, UTEP suffered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-15) loss to Conference USA foe UTSA on Sunday in Memorial Gym. 

Sophomore Macey Austin hammered 13 kills against the Roadrunners to lead to Miner offensive effort, and Amanda King dished out 21 assists to lead the squad. Defensively, UTEP saw double-digit digs from Dania Orozco and Ashley Grzebeniak. Orozco picked up 10 digs while Grzebeniak led the team with 12. Aiding the defense was freshman Mallory Yost, who put together another nice blocking effort, notching the team's lone solo block and a block assist, while King teamed up for two block assists. The Miners saw service aces from Niki Cebak, Briana Arellano and Grzebeniak, who each had one.
 

ARELLANO NOTCHES SEASON-HIGH KILLS AGAINST NORTH TEXAS

Playing in-front of her hometown crowd, outside hitter Briana Arellano found the hardwood 14 times against North Texas on Friday, a season-high for the El Paso native. Arellano also served up two service aces for a season-high 17 points against the Mean Green. The sophomore has recorded 136 kills this season.
 

AUSTIN'S EFFICIENCY  

Macey Austin turned in a solid performance on Monday's match against Southern Miss, tallying 14 kills with only one error and hammered a career-high .565 clip, in the Miners' three set  (25-23, 25-14, 25-15)  loss. Austin hit above .300 through the Miners' three game run, first posting a .433 clip against North Texas on Friday, then a .321 percentage in the battle with UTSA on Sunday and ended it with her career-high .565. The Keller, Texas native notched 44 kills through the three games.  
 

MINERS IN CONFERENCE RANKINGS 

Macey Austin moved up and Amanda King joined the latest conference rankings, released Oct. 17. Ausin notched her seventh double-digit kill match in a row on Monday with 14 kills against Southern Miss to move up to seventh in Conference USA hitting leaders with 260 kills at 3.51 per set this season. King broke into the standings for assists after dishing out 93 assists through three games. King now has 510 assists, giving out 8.36 per set, on the season.