EL PASO – UTEP Volleyball (18-8, 9-5 Conference USA) will host a pair of matches against Liberty, Nov. 10-11, in Memorial Gym. Friday's match is set for a 6 p.m. first serve, while Saturday's contest is slated for 1 p.m. Five Miners will be honored for "Senior Day" on Saturday.
TICKETS
For the matches in 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. Group tickets are also available for $5 (minimum of 10 tickets).
SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 10
Match 27 vs. Liberty – 6pm |
Stream:
ESPN+ |
Live Stats |
Promo: Heroes Night
Saturday, Nov. 11
Match 28 vs. Liberty – 1pm |
Stream:
ESPN+ |
Live Stats |
Promo: Senior Day
HITTING WITH CONSISTENCY
UTEP is hitting .274 paced by eight Miners who are killing it at or above the mark.
Danika Washington (.413) leads the team among players with at least 150 kills. The UTEP offense sits 20th in the nation in hitting percentage.
BLOCK PARTY
The Miners registered a season-high 18 blocks in the 3-1 win against San Francisco on Aug. 31. UTEP posted at least 10 blocks on 17 occasions – most recently stuffing 10 blocks in a sweep victory over Chicago State.
Kaya Weaver (113) leads the charge among players with at least 70 blocks. Nationally, UTEP is 12th in team total blocks (244) and 24th in blocks per set (2.62).
BALANCED ATTACK
UTEP showed a balanced attack versus Chicago State as
Torrance Lovesee led the charge with 15 kills (5.00 kills/set) and a .429 hitting clip.
IN THE CUSA SPOTLIGHT
- Danika Washington was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week (Sep. 11) after picking up 17 blocks at the Bobcat Invitational, averaging 1.42 blocks per set. Washington totaled 35.5 points that included 27 kills with a .489 hitting percentage and was named to the Bobcat Invitational All-Tournament Team.
- Kalia Kohler was named Freshman of the Week (Sep. 11) after she averaged 5.54 assists per set through 13 sets leading the Miners to wins over Ohio and William & Mary. In a 6-2 system, she registered 20 or more assists in each match while she helped the UTEP defense to a .241 hitting clip. Kohler also racked up four aces, two kills and 20 digs on the weekend.
- Kohler earned her second CUSA Freshman of the Week award (Oct. 2) after her performance was influential in the Miner's success with a pair of sweeps over Jacksonville State. She led UTEP with a total of 29 assists (5.80/set) across the weekend and combined with Mattie Gantt for over 55 percent of assists in a 6-2 system. Kohler produced a .448 hitting clip and racked up one kill, three service aces and two digs in six sets.
- Gantt and Kohler split the Setter of the Week honor (Oct. 9) as they combined for 82 percent of the team's assists in a 6-2 system. Gantt averaged 5.08 assists per set while Kohler averaged 5.87 in a 3-1 week for the Miners. Gantt recorded 61 total assists including 20 in their win over FIU on Sunday while Kohler collected 88 total assists as she reached a new career-high with 30 in a five-set loss to New Mexico State.
- Kaya Weaver was named Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 9) as she played a major role in helping the Miners go 3-1 over the week, posting a team-high 24 blocks and 32 kills in 15 sets. The sophomore middle blocker averaged 1.56 blocks per set in their split with New Mexico State and 1.67 blocks per set in the back-to-back sweeps over FIU. In total, Weaver collected a team-high 47.5 points, three assists, three aces and three digs.
- Washington earned her second Defensive Player of the Week honor (Oct. 23) and was a dominating force for UTEP as she picked up 11 blocks in back-to-back sweeps over Louisiana Tech, averaging 1.83 blocks per set. To go along with her strong defensive performance, she also added 15 kills and hit .565 to register 20.5 points for the Miners.
- Kohler earned her third Freshman of the Week honor (Oct. 23) as she put on a big performance averaging 6.00 assists per set in a 6-2 system in a pair of sweeps over Louisiana Tech at home. She led the Miners with a total of 36 assists over the weekend and helped the offense to a .344 hitting percentage. Kohler also recorded three aces and eight digs.
MINER RANKINGS
In Conference USA, UTEP is ranked in the top three in seven categories:
1. Team Total Blocks (254, 12th NCAA)
1. Blocks per Set (2.62, 24th NCAA)
2. Team Service Aces (183, 23rd NCAA)
2. Aces per Set (1.89, 23rd NCAA)
3. Hitting Percentage (0.274, 20th NCAA)
3. Match W-L Pct. (0.692, 64th NCAA)
3. Opp Hitting Pct. (0.195, 118th NCAA)
UTEP has three players ranked in the top 10 in four categories in the conference:
Statistic
|
Player
|
CUSA Rank
|
Value
|
Blocks per Set
|
|
2
3
|
1.20*
1.14*
|
Hitting Percentage
|
|
3
|
0.413**
|
Total Blocks
|
|
2
5
|
113*
98
|
Total Digs
|
|
5
|
305
|
** NCAA Top 20
* NCAA Top 100
THE OPPONENT
Liberty
- Liberty is entering the weekend at 15-11 and 8-6 in Conference USA.
- Madison Blane leads CUSA in both blocks per set (1.34) and hitting percentage (.423).
- Kamryn Bacus is ranked second in CUSA in both kills per set (3.63) and points per set (4.41). She scored 20 or more kills in both matches at Sam Houston two weeks ago and scored her 1,000th career kill on Oct. 20 against FIU.
- Delaney Dilfer is ranked second with 10.90 assists per set in CUSA matches. She registered back-to-back 50-assist matches at Sam Houston, tying her season high with 55 on Oct. 28. She needs 40 more assists to become the 10th active NCAA Division I player with 4,000 career assists.
- Kate Phillips is fourth in CUSA in conference-only kills per set (3.50) and is tied with Madison Blane for the team lead for most 10-kill matches in CUSA play (10).
- Friday will be the first meeting between the Miners and the Lady Flames.
Give a gift to UTEP Women's Volleyball by donating to the Point Miners Club.
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.