Nov. 2, 2010

LOGAN, Utah -

Complete Release in PDF Format

Release #11 • 11/2/10
Nov. 4 * BOISE STATE * 7 p.m.Nov. 6 * IDAHO * 7 p.m.

THIS WEEK
Utah State (17-7, 5-6) returns home for a pair of Western Athletic Conference matches this week as it hosts Boise State (17-10, 4-7) on Thursday, Nov. 4 and Idaho (10-11, 5-5) on Saturday, Nov. 6 with both matches beginning at 7 p.m.

AGGIES ON THE INTERNET
All of Utah State's home matches are available to watch live via the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com. Fans can also follow all of the action on the internet via GameTracker, a service that provides play-by-play updates of the match along with updated stats.

LOOKING AT UTAH STATE
Utah State is 17-7 on the season and 5-6 in the Western Athletic Conference after posting a pair of road wins against San Jose State (3-0) and Fresno State (3-2) last weekend. USU is led by junior outside hitter Liz McArthur who is hitting .222 and averaging 4.14 kills, 1.83 digs, 0.45 blocks and 0.42 service aces per set. Sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen is hitting .235 and averaging 2.17 kills and 0.81 blocks per set, while senior setter Chelsea Fowles is hitting .315 and averaging 9.75 assists, 2.22 digs, 0.88 kills, 0.75 blocks and 0.34 service aces per set. As a team, Utah State is hitting .227 on the year as compared to a .173 hitting percentage for its opponents.

UTAH STATE DURING ITS LAST 13 MATCHES
Utah State is just 6-7 in its last 13 matches after starting the season with 11 straight wins. During its last 13 matches, USU is hitting .209 and its opponents are hitting .182. USU is also averaging 12.08 kills, 1.55 service aces, 13.88 digs and 2.98 blocks per set, while its opponents are averaging 13.18 kills, 1.31 service aces, 15.29 digs and 2.40 blocks per set. During its first 11 matches of the year, Utah State hit .249 and its opponents hit .163. Also during its first 11 matches, USU averaged 13.07 kills, 1.49 service aces, 13.30 digs and 2.67 blocks per set, while its opponents averaged 12.05 kills, 1.05 service aces, 12.35 digs and 1.92 blocks per set.

UTAH STATE HAS FIFTH-BEST START IN SCHOOL HISTORY
With its 17-7 record Utah State is off to the fifth-best start to a season in school history. USU's 1978 AIAW National Championship team holds the school record for best start to a season with 26 straight wins, while the 1977 team won its first 18 matches and the 1979 AIAW National Runner-up team won 20 of its first 21 matches. USU's 2000 team also had a solid start to the season as it won 18 of its first 23 matches.

FOWLES BECOMES UTAH STATE'S ALL-TIME ASSISTS LEADER
Senior setter Chelsea Fowles became Utah State's all-time assists leader on Oct. 6 in a four-set win at Idaho as she dished out 47 assists to move ahead of Carrie Steverson (1988-91) who held the record with 3,942 career assists. Overall, Fowles now has 4,178 career assists which ranks 10th all-time in the history of the WAC. Fowles also ranks fourth all-time at Utah State with 113 career service aces.

MORRILL BECOMES UTAH STATE'S ALL-TIME DIGS LEADER
Senior libero Christine Morrill became Utah State's all-time digs leader on Oct. 15 in a four-set loss at Nevada as she had 13 digs to move ahead of Kelsi Peterson (2003-06) who held the record with 1,614 career digs. Overall, Morrill now has 1,689 career digs which ranks as the second-most among active players in the WAC and fourth all-time in the history of the conference.

ASTLE RANKS AMONG TOP 10 ALL-TIME AT UTAH STATE IN BLOCKING
Senior middle blocker Katie Astle ranks fourth all-time at Utah State in block assists with 297 and sixth all-time in total blocks with 309.

MCARTHUR RANKS AMONG TOP 10 IN KILLS AND ATTEMPTS
Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur ranks eighth all-time at Utah State in kills with 902 and ninth all-time in total attacks with 2,594.

RANKING UTAH STATE IN THE WAC
As of Monday, Nov. 1, Utah State ranks first in the WAC in service aces per set (1.52), first in blocks per set (2.84), fourth in hitting percentage (.227), fifth in kills per set (12.54), fifth in assists per set (11.54) and fifth in digs per set (13.61). Individually, junior outside hitter Liz McArthur ranks first in service aces per set (0.42), third in points per set (4.80) and third in kills per set (4.14). Senior setter Chelsea Fowles ranks second in service aces per set (0.34) and sixth in assists per set (9.75). Senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant ranks second in blocks per set (1.38). Senior libero Christine Morrill ranks fourth in digs per set (4.52). Senior middle blocker Katie Astle ranks sixth in blocks per set (1.15) and sixth in hitting percentage (.302), and sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White ranks seventh in service aces per set (0.26).

NATIONAL RANKINGS
As of Monday, Nov. 1, Utah State ranks 10th in the country in blocking (2.84). Individually, junior outside hitter Liz McArthur ranks 21st in the nation in points per set (4.80), 23rd in service aces per set (0.42) and 27th in kills per set (4.14), while senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant ranks 12th in blocking (1.38).

RECAPPING LAST WEEKEND
Utah State went 2-1 last week as it lost to No. 5 Hawai'i (3-0) at home and defeated San Jose State (3-0) and Fresno State (3-2) on the road. Senior middle blocker Katie Astle led USU against Hawai'i with six kills and five blocks, while fellow senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant had seven kills and four blocks. Astle hit .417 (6-1-12) in the match and Durrant hit .462 (7-1-13). USU finished the match with a .061 (29-22-115) hitting percentage and Hawai'i hit .159 (39-22-107). Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur had 12 kills against San Jose State, while sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White had 11 kills. Astle and Durrant each added five kills and five blocks. USU finished the match with a .230 (38-12-113) hitting percentage and SJSU hit .079 (37-28-114). Senior setter Chelsea Fowles had a career-high 17 digs and added a career-high tying eight blocks against Fresno State, while Astle added six kills and a career-high tying 10 blocks. McArthur led the team with 16 kills, while White added 10. Senior libero Christine Morrill posted 30 digs, while sophomore libero Laurel Bodily added 11. USU hit .195 (49-18-159) in the match and FSU hit .110 (57-37-181).

FOWLES AND ASTLE RECORD CAREER-HIGHS AT FRESNO STATE
Senior setter Chelsea Fowles had one of her best overall matches of the season on Oct. 30 in a five-set win at Fresno State as she recorded a career-high 17 digs and tied a career-high with eight blocks. Senior middle blocker Katie Astle also had a career-night against the Bulldogs as she tied her career-high with 10 block assists, while senior libero Christine Morrill had 30 digs, which are the second-most in her career.

UTAH STATE IN THE DEE GLEN SMITH SPECTRUM
Utah State is 86-40 (.683) at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum during the last 10 years, which includes a 64-33 (.660) record against conference opponents.

UTAH STATE IN THE WAC
Utah State is 48-43 (.527) in WAC play including a 30-15 (.667) home record and a 18-28 (.391) record on the road.

UTAH STATE ON THE ROAD
Utah State is 58-82 (.414) in road matches during the last 10 years, which includes a 39-59 (.398) record in conference matches. This year, USU is 7-3 on the road with wins at Utah (3-1), Arizona State (3-0), Montana (3-1), Brigham Young (3-2), Idaho (3-1), San Jose State (3-0) and Fresno State (3-2), and losses at then No. 5 Hawai'i (3-0), Boise State (3-2) and Nevada (3-1).

SCOUTING BOISE STATE
Boise State is 17-10 on the season and 4-7 in the Western Athletic Conference after losing a pair of matches last week to Fresno State (3-2) at home and at Hawai'i (3-0). The Broncos are 6-5 in road matches this year and are led by senior middle blocker Alisha Young who is hitting .340 and averaging 3.21 kills and 1.08 blocks per set. As a team, BSU is hitting .230 on the season and its opponents are hitting .173. The Broncos return six starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team that went 8-22 overall and finished in a tie for fourth-place in the WAC with a 7-9 league mark.

VERSUS THE BRONCOS
Utah State is 14-18 all-time against Boise State, which includes an 8-3 record at home. Overall, USU has won 13 of the last 16 matches played in the series, including eight of the last 11 since joining the WAC. BSU won the first meeting between the two teams this year in five sets in Boise.

SCOUTING IDAHO
Idaho is 10-11 on the season and 5-5 in the Western Athletic Conference after losing to Hawai'i (3-0) at home in its last match. The Vandals are 4-4 on the road this year and are led by redshirt freshman outside hitter Allison Walker who is hitting .217 and averaging 3.79 kills, 1.07 digs and 0.46 blocks per set. As a team, Idaho is hitting .177 on the season and its opponents are hitting .193. The Vandals return two starters and seven letterwinners from last year's team that went 15-15 overall and finished in third-place in the WAC with an 11-5 league mark.

VERSUS THE VANDALS
Utah State is 17-17 all-time against Idaho, which includes a 9-5 record at home. USU won the first meeting between the two teams in Moscow in four sets, and Idaho won the last meeting between the two teams in Logan (10/19/09) in five sets.

DUBOSE THIRD-WINNINGEST COACH IN SCHOOL HISTORY
Fifth-year head coach Grayson DuBose is already one of the winningest coaches in school history with his 73-70 (.510) record as those 73 wins rank third all-time in USU history behind Marily McReavy and Mary Jo Peppler who went 209-65-6 (.757) from 1976-81, and Burt Fuller who went 84-70 (.545) from 2001-2005.

MCARTHUR NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK TWICE THIS YEAR
Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur has already earned WAC Player of the Week honors twice this season, winning the award on Aug. 30 and Sept. 6 as she was named the Most Valuable Player of both the Utah Classic and the Arizona State Sheraton Classic.

VARIOUS AGGIES NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS IN 2010
Utah State had several players named to various all-tournament teams during the 2010 non-conference schedule as it won the Utah Classic, Arizona State Sheraton Classic and the Montana Invitational. It is the first time in school history that a USU team has won three preseason tournaments in one year. Below is a listing of which USU players were named all-tournament this season.
Utah Classic ... Liz McArthur (MVP), Christine Morrill, Josselyn White.
Arizona State Sheraton Classic ... Liz McArthur (MVP), Christine Morrill.
Montana Invite ... Shay Sorensen (MVP), Chelsea Fowles, Christine Morrill.
Utah State Invitational ... Liz McArthur, Christine Morrill.

UTAH STATE RETURNS FIVE PLAYERS WITH ALL-WAC HONORS
Utah State returns five players who have earned all-WAC honors as seniors Katie Astle (MB), Chelsea Fowles (S) and Christine Morrill (LIB) all earned second-team all-WAC honors in 2008, while junior Emily Kortsen (OPP) was named to the league's all-freshman team that year. Junior Liz McArthur (OH) was the only Aggie to be honored in 2009 as she earned second-team all-WAC honors.

UTAH STATE RECEIVED VOTES IN TOP 25 FOR FOUR STRAIGHT WEEKS
Utah State's women's volleyball team received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 for four-straight weeks from Sept. 6 through Sept. 27. USU entered the polls on Sept. 6 with nine votes to rank 32nd, followed by 23 votes on Sept. 13 to rank 28th. USU then got 14 votes on Sept. 20 to rank 29th and seven votes on Sept. 27 to rank 35th. Prior to this year, the last time a USU volleyball team received votes in the Top 25 poll was at the beginning of the 2002 season when it was ranked 36th in the preseason. USU's 2000 team was ranked as high as 18th in the country and finished the year ranked 22nd, while the 2001 team finished the year ranked 21st as both teams advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

NEXT WEEK
Utah State will play its final home match of the season on Friday, Nov. 12 when it hosts Nevada at 7 p.m. Prior to the match, USU will honor its four seniors (Katie Astle, Shantell Durrant, Chelsea Fowles, Christine Morrill).

PLAYER NOTES
#2 Chelsea Fowles - Recorded a career-high eight blocks at BYU and had a career-high 17 digs at Fresno State and tied her career-high with eight blocks against the Bulldogs... Had a season-high 60 assists against Utah Valley...Tied her career-high with a .833 (5-0-6) hitting percentage against Fresno State (9/30)... Has posted at least five kills in eight matches this season and double-digits in digs seven times... Has notched at least two service aces in 10 matches this year and at least three aces in four matches... Has four or more blocks in six matches this season... Hitting .213 during her last five matches, while averaging 8.71 assists, 2.65 digs, 0.59 kills, 1.00 blocks and 0.35 service aces per set.

#3 Tumua Etimani - Made her first career start against UC Riverside and had four kills, five digs and three blocks in the match.

#4 Laurel Bodily - Had a season-high 14 digs against Loyola Marymount and tied her career-high with three service aces at BYU... Has posted at least five digs in 24 of 27 matches this year... Has eight double-digit dig performances this season and 15 in her career... Has notched at least two service aces in five different matches this year... Averaging 1.88 digs during her last five matches.

#7 Katie Astle - Had a season-high 10 kills against Montana... Tied her career-high with 10 blocks at Fresno State (10/30)... Has notched at least six kills in 13 matches this year and has hit over .300 13 times... Has recorded at least four blocks 15 times this year... Hitting .328 during her last five matches, while averaging 1.71 kills and 1.41 blocks per set.

#8 Kassi Hargrove - Had career-highs with five digs against Loyola Marymount and two service aces against Utah Valley.

#10 Shay Sorensen - Had career-highs with 16 kills at BYU and five blocks against Temple... Has seven double-digit kill performances thus far this year and has notched at least four blocks six times on the season... Has hit at least .200 16 times this year... Hitting .159 during her last five matches, while averaging 2.00 kills, 1.07 blocks and 0.20 digs per set.

#12 Emily Kortsen - Had season-highs with nine kills and four digs against Utah.

#14 Christine Morrill - Had a career-high 32 digs against Utah Valley... Has recorded double-digits in digs in 20 matches this year and has nine 20 dig matches on the season... Has posted at least two service aces in five matches this year... Averaging 4.24 digs and 0.29 service aces during her last five matches... For her career, she has 88 career double-figure dig matches and 26 career 20-plus dig matches.

#18 Liz McArthur - Tied her career-high with 25 kills against Utah and had a career-high 15 digs against the Utes... Posted 20 kills and 11 digs against Boise State for her 12th career double-double... Had a career-high five service aces against Weber State... Has recorded double-digit kills 21 times this year and double-digit digs seven times... Also has seven 20-kill matches on the season... Has seven double-doubles on the season... Has posted at least two service aces in 11 matches this year... Hitting .090 during her last five matches, while averaging 3.18 kills, 1.53 digs, 0.47 service aces and 0.41 blocks per set... For her career, she has 12 career double-doubles, 44 career double-figure kill matches, 12 career double-figure dig matches and has posted at least 20 kills in 15 matches.

#21 Shantell Durrant - Had a season-high 11 kills at Boise State and a career-high 10 blocks at BYU... Has recorded at least four blocks in 17 different matches this year and has posted at least five kills in 18 of USU's 24 matches... Hitting .421 during her last five matches, while averaging 1.59 kills and 1.47 blocks per set.

#23 Josselyn White - Had a career-high 15 kills against Utah Valley and tied her career-high with 12 digs against the Wolverines... Has two double-doubles this year as she has notched double-digits in kills 10 times and double-digits in digs five times... Has posted at least two service aces in six matches this year and at least four blocks in 11 matches... Hitting .196 during her last five matches, while averaging 2.18 kills, 2.29 digs, 1.06 blocks and 0.18 service aces per set.

HEAD COACH Grayson DuBose
Grayson DuBose is entering his fifth season as Utah State's head volleyball coach after being hired on March 27, 2006. In his four years at USU, DuBose (pronounced Do-Boz) has brought stability to one of the top programs in the WAC as he has coached one All-American, 11 all-WAC selections and 32 academic all-WAC honorees, not to mention the 2007 WAC Freshman of the Year. Utah State had its share of success in 2009 under DuBose as it finished the year with a 15-14 overall record, while sophomore outside hitter Liz McArthur was named to the WAC's second-team. USU also had nine players earning academic all-conference honors, while junior middle blocker Shantell Durrant was one of just three players in the WAC to earn academic all-district honors. In 2008, DuBose led Utah State to a fourth-place conference finish with a 9-7 league record and coached five players who earned all-league honors as senior Melissa Osterloh was named first-team all-WAC, sophomores Katie Astle, Chelsea Fowles and Christine Morrill were named second-team all-WAC, and Emily Kortsen was named to the WAC's all-freshman team. USU also had eight players earn academic all-WAC honors following the 2008 season. After being picked to finish seventh in the WAC prior to the 2007 season, DuBose led Utah State to a 17-13 record and a third-place conference finish with an 11-5 mark. Among those 11 league victories was one of the biggest wins in school history as he led the Aggies to a three-game sweep at No. 10 Hawai'i, snapping an 108-match home conference winning streak for the Rainbow Wahine. Following the 2007 season, DuBose had four players recognized by the WAC as senior Amanda Nielson was named to the league's first-team and an honorable mention All-American, while Osterloh and sophomore Danielle Taylor both earned second-team all-WAC honors. Also joining the list of honorees was Fowles who was named the freshman of the year in the WAC, while DuBose became the first volleyball coach in school history to garner conference coach of the year honors. Utah State also had plenty of success in the classroom during the 2007-08 academic year as nine players earned academic all-WAC honors, which were the most by any volleyball team in the conference. In his inaugural season at Utah State, DuBose inherited a team that lost four starters and seven quality letterwinners from an NCAA Tournament team that went 21-13 overall and finished in a tie for second-place in the WAC with an 11-5 league record in 2005. Despite all the turnover, DuBose led Utah State to an early 10-8 record, including a 3-1 mark in WAC play before numerous injuries and inexperience took its toll in the final six weeks. In 2006, DuBose coached two all-league players as Nielson earned second-team all-WAC honors, while Melissa Larson was named to the conference's all-freshman team. Utah State also had six players earn academic all-conference honors following the season. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Utah State, DuBose spent four seasons (2003-06) as an assistant on Brigham Young University's men's volleyball team. DuBose began his collegiate coaching career at Utah State from 1999-2000 as an assistant to Tom Peterson. During that time, the Aggies won the Eastern Division of the Big West Conference in 1999 and advanced to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2000, defeating Missouri in the first round. USU finished the 2000 season ranked 22nd in the country, the program's first-ever top 25 ranking. In his four seasons at Brigham Young, DuBose helped lead the Cougar's men's program to a 90-30 (.750) record, including a National Championship in 2004 and a second-place finish at the 2003 NCAA Tournament. During his time at BYU, he coached nine All-Americans, including the 2004 NCAA Player of the Year.