Falcons Set to Travel to BYU, Utah
10/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 12, 2010
The Air Force volleyball team heads back out on the road this week, traveling to Utah for a pair of matches against Mountain West Conference foes. The Falcons open the trip against BYU in Provo on Thursday, Oct. 14, before concluding the weekend at Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Falcons' match with the Cougars is slated to begin at 7 p.m., while the contest against the Utes will start at 1 p.m.
Match Notes 08: at BYU; at Utah 
SO LONG, FAREWELL
This will mark the Falcons' final trip to Utah for Mountain West Conference matches. Beginning with the 2011 season, BYU will play volleyball in the West Coast Conference, while Utah will join the Pac-10 Conference.
COACHING CONNECTIONS
Air Force head coach Matt McShane has a coaching history with both of this week's opponents. McShane began his coaching career at BYU, serving as an assistant coach from 1980-82. He also spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Utah (2001-04), helping the Utes to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
FALCON COURT IS THE PLACE TO BE...
The Falcons set a new East Gym attendance record on Oct. 9, as 1,284 fans packed into Falcon Court at East Gym to watch Air Force take on Wyoming. It is the second time in five home matches this season that Air Force has surpassed the 1000-fan mark. In fact, it marked the second-largest crowd ever to watch an Air Force volleyball match on Academy grounds.
THIS MATCH WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER "A"
Annalyse Schmitt stepped up big for the Falcons against Wyoming on Oct. 19, as she led all players with 14 kills. It was the fourth time this season that Schmitt had surpassed the 10-kill mark ... and the first time in a three-set match. Highlighting her outing was a stretch of five consecutive kills by Schmitt, as she helped the Falcons from a 9-8 deficit to a 14-10 lead in the second set.
NO ANSWER FOR FRICK
Emily Frick hit a career-best .600 against 17th-ranked Colorado State, as she accounted for six kills on 10 attempts, while committing no errors. That is the best single-match percentage by any Air Force player this season. The performance helped the senior bump her season average up 213 points.
MOVING ON UP
Bolstered by a team-high 13 digs against Wyoming on Oct. 9, Caroline Kurtz moved into third on the program's Division I all-time list for career digs. She surpassed the 740 digs that Kristen Huitt collected from 2000-03. The landscape of the all-time top-five digs list is still changing, as Kelly Spencer is just 20 shy of tying for fourth with 720 digs.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
With 227 digs so far this season, Kelly Spencer is just three digs away from cracking the single-season Division I top-10 list.
AROUND THE MOUNTAIN
In the Mountain West Conference, Caroline Kurtz is ranked second in the kills, with a per-set average of 3.58, and fourth in points-per-set with a 3.89 average. Kelly Spencer is ranked seventh with 3.44 digs per set, while Nichole Stilwell's hitting percentage of .286 is ranked ninth. Jessica Hellmann is also ranked among the league leaders in assists per set, with a 5.23 average (ninth). As a team, Air Force is ranked fifth in service aces (1.09 per set).
WHAT'S ON DECK
The Falcons return to the Academy to close out the first half of Mountain West Conference action on Thursday, Oct. 21. Air Force will host San Diego State at 7:30 p.m., in a nationally televised match on The Mtn. - MountainWest Sports Network. It will also be the Falcons' PINK match, so fans wearing pink will receive free admission to the match.
