EL PASO – The UTEP volleyball team (8-7, 2-0 Conference USA) will host a pair of matches against LA Tech on Friday (Sep. 30) at 6 p.m. MT and North Texas on Sunday (Oct. 2) at 12 p.m. MT at Memorial Gym.
Tickets start at $8 and can be purchased through the Eisenberg Family Ticket Office by calling (915) 747-UTEP, emailing tickets@utep.edu, visiting www.UTEPMiners.com/Tickets or in person at 201 Glory Road (Brumbelow Building, UTEP campus) Monday thru Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Season tickets are also still on sale. Group tickets are also available for $5 (minimum of 10 tickets).
Friday, Sep. 30
6 p.m. vs. LA Tech | Memorial Gym | CUSA.tv | Live Stats
Sunday, Oct. 2
12 p.m. vs. North Texas | Memorial Gym | CUSA.tv | Live Stats
Hitting with Consistency
Seven Miners are swinging better than .200 after 15 matches. Alianza Darley (.230) leads the team among players with at least 70 kills.
Block Party
The Miners registered a season-high 15 blocks against Portland State on Sep. 2. UTEP posted at least 10 blocks in nine matches this season. Alianza Darley (78), Serena Patterson (45) and Sara Pustahija (32) each tallied at least 30 blocks to lead the charge.
Miner Rankings
In Conference USA, UTEP is ranked in the top three in nine different categories:
1. Team Service Aces (123, 3rd NCAA)
1. Team Total Blocks (159.0, 3rd NCAA)
1. Team Assists (748, 4th NCAA)
1. Team Kills (789, 12th NCAA)
2. Team Total Attacks (2,089, 24th NCAA)
2. Blocks per Set (2.48, 47th NCAA)
3. Aces per Set (1.92, 27th NCAA)
3. Team Digs (884, 31st NCAA)
3. Opp Hitting Percentage (.173, 57th NCAA)
UTEP has three players ranked in the top ten in seven different categories in the conference:
Balanced Attack
Over 15 matches, three Miners are blasting home at least 2.0 kills pet set. Torrance Lovesee (139 kills, 2.53/set) leads the way with Sara Pustahija (152kills, 2.45/set) and Serena Patterson (155 kills, 2.42/set) getting after it as well.
Scouting LA Tech (7-9, 1-1 C-USA)
The Lady Techsters are hitting .192 as a team, and four players have at least 100 kills. Andrea Spasojevic leads the way with 149 kills (2.76 kills/set). Ashley Jones directs the offense with 333 assists (8.54 assists/set). McKenzie Johnson sets the tone defensively with 243 digs (4.05 digs/set).
The Series vs. LA Tech
UTEP is 12-8 against LA Tech. The Miners swept the Lady Techsters in back-to-back matches last season in Memorial Gym. UTEP has won the last six meetings consisting of five straight sweeps.
Coach Wallis on LA Tech
"LA Tech is coming in 1-1 in the conference this season and they just got a big win over Charlotte, which is a good win for them. And, you know, they're showing some progress there. They're more athletic than they've been in years past. They're a little bit more skilled in some positions that have been bothering them in years past. And so, they're going to be a tough opponent to play against, for us, because they extend a lot of rallies. They're good defensively. They keep the ball in play. They don't make a lot of hitting errors and they make you play defense, and they'll tip and throw and then they'll snap some balls from the back row, and they'll try to put some pressure on you on the left and right. They have more arms, but they play a style of volleyball that can bother us if we're not careful because we are so high kill and high pressure, if we're not playing very well defensively and we're making errors from the service line and attacking it, then they can give us some fits and they're capable of it. So, and they've played everybody tough. I mean, if everybody has played, they've played tough, even though their record doesn't show a lot of wins, they play people tough. We're looking forward to competing against them. They're very emotional. We've got to make sure we're not emotional because they're a very high emotion team. They play really hard for their coach and Amber (McCray) gets them to play really hard. We're looking forward to facing them on Friday and trying to get to 3-0 in the conference.
Scouting North Texas (8-9, 2-0 C-USA)
The Mean Green are hitting .209 as a team. Treyaunna Rush leads the way with 232 kills (3.87 kills/set). Ceci Harness directs the offense with 430 assists (7.17 assists/set). Aleeyah Galdeira sets the tone defensively with 281 digs (4.68 digs/set).
The Series vs. North Texas
North Texas is 11-10 against UTEP. The Miners swept the Mean Green in back-to-back matches last season in Memorial Gym. UTEP has won four of the last five meetings.
Coach Wallis on North Texas
"We'll have to turn around on Sunday against a very athletic North Texas team, maybe one of the most athletic teams we've faced this year. Even considering some of the really good teams we play, they're super athletic in a lot of positions. They're very similar to us in a lot of ways. They're in a 6-2 system. They're in offense with multiple setters and multiple attackers, and they're very, very high risk-high reward. They're coming at you. They're hitting the ball hard. They're a good blocking team, long, athletic and so in some ways it's a little bit of a mirror image of each other, and it's going to come down to in this match, who can sustain good volleyball for longer, because it's going to be fireworks. There's going to be a lot of fireworks. There's going to be a lot of big blocks, big, nasty, awesome kills. I mean, there's a bunch of athletes in the gym on Sunday that are going to be really testing each other. And so, whoever can sustain good volleyball, long rallies, make the right choices a little bit longer, is going to come away with the victory on Sunday."
For complete coverage of UTEP Women's Volleyball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @utepvb (Instagram) @UTEPVolleyball (Facebook) and @UTEPVB (Twitter) or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.
