UTEP Miners

UTEP VB NOTES | WEEK TEN | LA TECH / MIDDLE TENNESSEE

EL PASO, Texas- The UTEP volleyball team will host its final weekend home stand of the season when LA Tech and Middle Tennessee make their way to the Sun City. The Miners will face the Lady Techsters (6-17, 1-8 C-USA) on Friday at 6 p.m. (MT) and close out the weekend with a Sunday meeting with Middle Tennessee (6-18, 2-8 C-USA) at noon, both matches will be played in Memorial Gym.  
 

UTEP return home after a weekend on the road when they faced league leaders No. 1 WKU and No. 2 Rice. The Miners fell to the undefeated Hilltoppers 25-22, 25-11, 25-17 last Friday at the E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, KY. The team then hopped on a plane to Houston, Texas, to face Rice. The Miners got off to a slow start in the first set, but rebounded in the next two to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Rice won the next two sets as the Owls to edge the Miners 3-2 (25-8, 22-25, 20-25, 25-16, 15-12) on Sunday in Tudor Fieldhouse. The Owls avenged their Sept. 22 loss to the Miners, their lone league loss. The Orange and Blue saw key performances from Macey Austin, who notched 30 kills between the two games, Cheyenne Jones, who posted 18 kills on the weekend, and Dania Orozco, who picked up a career-high 17 digs against Rice.

The Miners and Lady Techsters will be competing for their second conference win, while Middle Tennessee will be playing for a third league victory.

Sunday's match will be Senior Day for the team and seniors Amanda King and Dania Orozco will be celebrated. UTEP will also celebrate Middle Tennessee's lone senior, Sloan Sullivan, during the pregame introductions.  

LIVE STATS VS LA TECH: http://www.sidearmstats.com/utep/wvball/

LIVE STREAM VS LA TECH: http://conferenceusa.com/watch/?Live=3438

LIVE STATS VS MIDDLE TENNESSEE: http://www.sidearmstats.com/utep/wvball/

LA TECH Scouting Report

Series: Friday's match will mark the sixteenth match between the Miners and the Lady Techsters, with UTEP holding an 8-7 overall record versus LA Tech. They first met at the North Texas Classic in Denton, Texas in 1994, when LA Tech won in a 3-1 fashion. The last meeting between the foes was in 2015, when LA Tech took the match 3-0. The Lady Techsters are 6-17 overall and are 1-8 in C-USA play. 

LADY TECHSTER Notables

Offensively, LA Tech will consist of Marta Monne and Gina Cortesi. Monne leads the team with 251 kills this season (3.10 kills/set). She also has 228 digs (2.81 digs/set) defensively. Cortesi also has 202 kills this season (2.43 kills/set). Setting up the offense is Brooke Short, who has dished out 700 assists (8.54 assists/set) and ranks 10th in C-USA. Cater Mirich, Jacie McClure, and Alyssa Zucco will also lead the charge defensively. McClure leads the team with 261 (3.11 digs/set) this season, sitting in ninth among the conference leaders. Mirich has 186 digs (2.27 digs/set) and Zucco has 115 digs (2.25 digs/set). Madeline Davis will also help lead the Bulldogs defensively will 88 blocks this season (1.00 block/set). Davis also ranks ninth in the league in hitting percentage with a .342 clip. 

MIDDLE TENNESSEE SCOUTING REPORT

Series: Sunday's match will mark the sixth time that the Blue Raiders and the Miners have meet, with UTEP holding a 5-0 overall record versus Middle Tennessee. They first met in 1993 at the Saint Louis Invitational in Saint Louis, MO, with the Miners sweeping the Blue Raiders 3-0.  The last meeting between the Miners and the Blue Raiders was in 2015, when the Miners won the match 3-1. The Blue Raiders are 6-16 overall and 2-6 in C-USA play.

  

BLUE RAIDER 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. 

UTEP KEEPS PACE WITH CONFERENCE LEADER IN SET ONE

The Miners kept pace with the league-leader WKU in set one, tying with the Hilltoppers six times before pulling away to a 11-7 lead behind kills by Mallory Yost, Cheyenne Jones, and Macey Austin. WKU called a timeout and recorded its first block assist when they returned to the court, but consecutive kills by Austin and Jones and a WKU attack error kept the Miners up 14-8. UTEP would notch two more points from Kylie Baumgartner's kill and Ashley Grzebeniak's service ace, but WKU would begin to spark a run. Five more Miner points were secured, three coming from kills and a service ace by Arellano and two coming from a Yost kill and WKU attack error, to keep UTEP up, 21-18. The Hilltoppers scored five unanswered points before Arellano stopped the run with a kill, but WKU got right back to its run to close the set 25-22. 

The Hilltoppers returned to take set two, but UTEP stayed competitive in set three before ultimately falling 25-17. 

The Orange and Blue still put up good numbers, with Macey Austin recording 10 kills, her eighth double-digit kill match in a row, to lead the team while Cheyenne Jones added nine kills of her own and Briana Arellanorecorded six. Arellano also picked up six digs and served up an ace. Amanda King dished out 23 assists while also pacing the team in digs with eight and one solo block. As a team, the Miners saw 30 kills, 28 assists, five service aces, 32 digs, and one solo block while the Hilltoppers saw 47 kills, 41 assists, eight service aces, 49 digs, and eight total team blocks.

RICE SLIPS BY UTEP

The UTEP volleyball team got off to a slow start in the first set, but rebounded in the next two to take a 2-1 lead in the match, however, Rice won the next two sets to edge the Miners 3-2 (25-8, 22-25, 20-25, 25-16, 15-12).Macey Austin led the Orange and Blue with 20 kills and fashioned a .273 hitting average (44 total attempts). It was Austin's fourth most kills of 2017, as she's hit 20-plus in three previous matches. 

OROZCO DIGS DEEP

Senior Dania Orozco recorded a season-high 17 digs against Rice on Sunday, marking her fifth double-digit dig match this season. The El Paso native also recorded a season-high six assists against the Owls. Orozco now has 122 digs on the season, ranking second on the team behind Niki Cebak.

YOU GOT SERVED

After serving up seven aces against Rice on Sunday, UTEP broke the century mark for aces recorded with 101 this season. Cheyenne Jones had three of the seven aces against the Owls. Briana Arellano paces the Miners with 22 service aces, while Niki Cebak is close behind with 21 this season. 

AUSTIN THROWS DOWN ANOTHER 20 VERSUS OWLS  

Less than a month after she recorded her career-high 27 kills against Rice in the Conference-USA opener, Macey Austin returned to throw down 20 kills against the Owls last Sunday. The sophomore's showing marked her fourth match with 20 or more kills this season.

HISTORY REPEAT?

Last season when the Miners were facing LA Tech, Middle Tennessee, FIU, Florida Atlantic and Marshall in the final stretch of the season they went 3-2 and made it into the conference tournament. UTEP got wins over Middle Tennessee, FIU and Florida Atlantic, but dropped in four sets to LA Tech and three to Marshall.

THE LAST RUN FOR KING AND OROZCO

Two seniors will be playing in their last pair of weekend home matches. Senior setter Amanda King and defensive specialist Dania Orozco, both transfers who joined the team last season, will be honored during Sunday's match against Middle Tennessee. King has recorded 570 assists (8.26 per set) and 117 dogs while Orozco has recorded 122 digs on the year.

GAME DAY PROMOTIONS

This weekend's home stand will give fans two opportunities to enter the matches free of charge. First, Friday's match is dubbed as "Halloween Fright Night" and fans wearing a costume will get in free. The intermission between the second and third sets will feature a costume contest. Sunday's match is Senior Day, fans can enter the celebration of seniors Amanda King and Dania Orozco for free if they wear orange. 

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