2016 LMU VOLLEYBALL NOTES Gersten Pavilion | One LMU Drive | Los Angeles, CA 90045 | www.LMULions.com | @LMULions @LMU_Volleyball | WVB Contact: Tyler Geivett | tgeivett@lmu.edu | (310) 338-7638
LMU (6-3) | DAYTON (11-0) | SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (8-3) | YOUNGSTOWN ST. (6-5) September 16-17, 2016 | Flyer Classic | Dayton, Ohio | Match 10-12 | Away 3 | Neutral 3-4
QUICK HITS ◊ LMU fell out of the AVCA Top-25 rankings after playing last week at #25 in the rankings, but is receiving votes in the poll … is picked to finish fourth according to the annual preseason coaches poll … made its 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament last year, including its third in the last four years (2012, 2014, 2015) ... went 24-9 overall last year, including 13-5 in the WCC to claim a share of third place in the conference standings … reached the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history (1996) ... dropped the Sweet 16 match to Kansas (3-1) … swept #6 Stanford to advance to the Sweet 16 - the highest-ranked opponent to ever fall to the Lions (previous: 3-2 at #9 Hawaii on 9/23/05) ... including last year, each of LMU’s last three tournament runs started at Stanford ... was one of four WCC teams in the NCAA Tournament (LMU, BYU, USD, SCU), with BYU also reaching the Sweet 16 ... has recorded back-to-back 20+ win seasons for the first time since 1999-00 ... posted 10+ WCC wins in consecutive years for the first time since 1996-97 … 24 victories were the most since recording 26 in 2003 ... third-place finish was the best for the Lions since finishing third in 2003 ... 13 WCC wins were the most since 1996 (14-0) ... is 299-155 (.659) at home since 1982. ◊ TOM BLACK served as an Assistant Coach with Team USA, helping the US to a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics … worked directly with the setters with Team USA. ◊ KRISTEN CASTELLANOS was named to the Pioneer Classic All-Tournament team after tournament at Denver ... recorded fourth-most aces for single match in program history (6) vs. Niagara on 8/27 ... most since Betsi Metter had six vs. College of Charleston on 9/14/13. ◊ JAMIE LEA was named preseason All-WCC. ◊ TESS REID posted a double-double in five of her first six collegiate matches. ◊ SARAH SPONCIL earned Pioneer Classic MVP after tournament at Denver … garnered AVCA All-Region and honorable mention All-America honors last year … listed on ESPNW’s 2016 Top-12 Players to Watch list … is a preseason All-WCC selection. ◊ JOE TRINSEY served as an Assistant Coach with Team USA, helping the US to a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. THIS WEEK LMU volleyball will once again hit the road this week, traveling to Dayton, Ohio for the Flyer Classic hosted by the University of Dayton … LMU will open play at Dayton on Friday at 3 p.m. before playing neutral matches against Southern Illinois (7:30 a.m.) and Youngstown State (1 p.m.) on Saturday. LION TRACKS LMU went 2-1 last week serving as partial host of the LMU/Long Beach State Invitational … the Lions opened tournament play on Thursday at Long Beach State, dropping a three-set match … LMU then rebounded to post sweeps over Harvard on Friday and Duke on Saturday to close the weekend … Sarah Sponcil collected 36 kills over the course of the three matches last week (4.00 per set), registering a .280 hitting percentage and making just 13 errors on 82 swings … the native of Phoenix, Ariz. posted 21 digs (2.33 per set) while also managing three blocks. LET’S SETTLE THIS ON NEUTRAL GROUND LMU has historically been extremely impressive in matches played at neutral sites, in which neither team is playing on their home court ... the Lions, who are 2-0 so far this year in neutral matches, went 4-1 in neutral matches last year after finishing 2014 with the same 4-1 record ... LMU was 1-1 in neutral contests in 2013 after finishing 2-3 in 2012 ... 2011 saw the Lions go 4-2 in neutral matches, while they were 6-2 in 2010 ... overall, LMU is 124-59 (.678) in neutral contests since the 1983 season, including having posted perfect neutral records in eight of those 33 seasons ... over that span, LMU has had only five seasons with losing records in neutral matches. READY FOR THE BRIGHT LIGHTS The West Coast Conference unveiled its 2016 broadcast schedule for volleyball, and the Lions are scheduled to host a pair of ESPN televised matches … LMU will welcome perennial power San Diego Tuesday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m., while defending WCC Champion and NCAA Sweet-16 participant BYU plays at LMU Tuesday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m … LMU’s match this week at Dayton will also air live on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel Northeast Ohio. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A! After completing his third year serving as LMU head volleyball coach in 2012, Tom Black accepted an assistant coach position under head coach Karch Kiraly with the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team ... Black, who has continued in his head coaching duties at LMU while serving on the Team USA staff, helped guide the United States to a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by way of a victory over Netherlands ... under his title with the National Team, Black’s primary responsibility was working with the setters and the team offense.
2016 SCHEDULE
OVERALL: 6-3 | WCC: 0-0 | H: 4-1 | A: 0-2 | N: 2-0 Date Day Opponent Time/Result LMU Invitational 8/26 Fri. Illinois State W, 3-1 8/27 Sat. Niagara W, 3-1 8/27 Sat. #12 UCLA L, 3-1 Pioneer Classic (University of Denver) 9/2 Fri. at Denver 9/3 Sat. vs. Utah State 9/3 Sat. vs. Montana State
L, 3-1 W, 3-0 W, 3-0
LMU/Long Beach State Dual Invitational 9/8 Thu. at Long Beach State 9/9 Fri. Harvard 9/10 Sat. Duke
L, 3-0 W, 3-0 W, 3-0
Flyer Classic (University of Dayton) 9/16 Fri. at Dayton 9/17 Sat. vs. Southern Illinois 9/17 Sat. vs. Youngstown State
3:00 pm 7:30 am 1:00 pm
9/24 9/27 9/29 10/1 10/6 10/8 10/13 10/15 10/20 10/22 10/27 10/29 11/3 11/5 11/10 11/12 11/19 11/22
Sat. Tue. Thu. Sat. Thu. Sat. Thu. Sat. Thu. Sat. Thu. Sat. Thu. Sat. Thu. Sat. Sat. Tue.
at Pepperdine * San Diego * at Saint Mary’s * at Pacific * Portland * Gonzaga * at Santa Clara * at San Francisco * at San Diego * at BYU * Pacific * DiG PiNK Saint Mary’s * at Gonzaga * at Portland * San Francisco * Santa Clara * Pepperdine * BYU *
1:00 pm 7:00 pm 7:00 pm 12:00 pm 7:00 pm 12:00 pm 7:00 pm 1:00 pm 7:00 pm 12:00 pm 7:00 pm 12:00 pm 6:00 pm 12:00 pm 7:00 pm 12:00 pm 12:00 pm 8:00 pm
* - WCC Match | DiG PiNK - DiG PiNK Match
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2015 WCC STANDINGS
WCC OVERALL SCHOOL W L PCT W L PCT #9 BYU 0 0 .000 9 0 1.00 #17 Santa Clara 0 0 .000 9 0 1.00 Gonzaga 0 0 .000 6 1 .857 #10 San Diego 0 0 .000 5 2 .714 LMU 0 0 .000 6 3 .667 Pepperdine 0 0 .000 6 4 .600 Saint Mary’s 0 0 .000 5 4 .556 Pacific 0 0 .000 5 5 .500 Portland 0 0 .000 4 5 .444 San Francisco 0 0 .000 4 6 .400
WCC PRESEASON POLL
NO. SCHOOL (1ST-PLACE VOTES) 1 San Diego (7) 2 BYU (1) 3 Santa Clara (2) 4 LMU 5 Pepperdine 6 Pacific 7 Portland 8 Saint Mary’s 9 Gonzaga 10 San Francisco
POINTS 78 68 67 59 48 43 35 27 25 14
AHEAD IN THE WCC
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 Gonzaga vs. Creighton Arizona State vs. Santa Clara Portland vs. Troy San Francisco vs. UC Irvine Gonzaga at Nebraska CSUN at BYU Santa Clara at Boise State California at Pacific Stanford at Saint Mary’s Long Beach State at San Diego Pepperdine at Hawaii
8:00 am 11:00 am 2:00 pm 4:00 pm 5:30 pm 6:00 pm 6:30 pm 7:00 pm 7:00 pm 7:00 pm 10:00 pm