Falcons Return Home for Thin Air Challenge

The Air Force volleyball team (7-2) closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule this weekend, when it co-hosts the Thin Air Challenge with Denver on Sept. 15-17. The Falcons will kick off the tournament hosting the Pioneers on Thursday, Sept. 15, before welcoming UC San Diego and San Francisco to Cadet East Gym on Friday, Sept. 16, and Saturday, Sept. 17, respectively.

MATCH INFORMATION
The Thin Air Challenge, a tournament co-hosted by Air Force and Denver, will be held at the Academy's Cadet East Gym and the Pioneers' Hamilton Gym. All three Air Force matches, as well as the San Francisco/UC San Diego match, will be contested at the Academy. There will be live stats and video for all four East Gym matches, with Jason Carter and George Egan on the call for the three Air Force matches. Direct links can be found on the team's schedule page at GoAirForceFalcons.com. The matches will also be broadcast on the Mountain West App (available on Android, IOS, Apple TC, Roku, and Android TV).

SCHEDULE OF MATCHES – THIN AIR CHALLENGE
09.15	Denver at Air Force	1830	Live Stats	Watch
09.16	San Francisco vs UC San Diego	1100	Live Stats	Watch
09.16	UC San Diego at Air Force	1800	Live Stats	Watch
09.16	San Francisco at Denver	1800	--	--
09.17	San Francisco at Air Force	1200	Live Stats	Watch
09.17	UC San Diego at Denver	1500	--	--

Bolded matches will be held at Air Force

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Denver is 3-5 on the season after falling (0-3) to top-ranked Texas last Friday in Austin. UC San Diego, which will face San Francisco prior to taking on the Falcons, is 5-4 on the year following three five-set losses at its home tournament – Liberty, New Mexico, Pacific. San Francisco enters the weekend with a 7-1 record – one year after going 0-25 – after splitting a pair of home matches with CSUN (2-3) and Penn (3-0).

BY THE NUMBERS
Air Force is 36-14 all-time against Denver, while holding a 7-12 record against its I-25 counterparts at the Division I level. The Falcons have never faced UC San Diego and are an even 2-2 against San Francisco, with one of those victories coming at the Academy).

JUMPING FOR JOI
Joi Harvey is ranked among the top 20 in NCAA Division I with a 1.51 blocks-per-set average (17th). Her 56 total blocks are ranked second in the nation, while her 10 solo stops are tied for third and her 46 assisted stops are fourth.

STILL GOING STRONG
The Falcons' 7-2 start is the program's best nine-match opening to a season since 2016, when Air Force also won seven of its first nine matches. It is the third 7-2 start to a season for Air Force at the Division I level, as the 1999 team also tallied that mark to open the season.

AROUND THE CONFERENCE
Air Force is currently ranked second in the conference in blocks (2.57 per set) and aces (2.08), while holding top-five marks in opponent hitting (.165, third), team hitting (.238, fourth) and assists (11.68, fifth). Individually, Joi Harvey leads the league in blocks (1.51) and is ranked second in hitting (.437), while Caroline Reinkensmeyer is ranked among the MW Top 10 in both aces (0.46, sixth) and assists (5.49). Reinkensmeyer is one of two Falcons listed among the top of the conference in aces, as BrookeLyn Messenger is ranked 10th with a 0.41 average.

WHAT'S ON DECK
Air Force opens Mountain West play next week with a pair of road contests. The Falcons kick off conference action at Utah State on Thursday, Sept. 22, before traveling to Boise State on Saturday, Sept. 24.

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Players Mentioned

Joi Harvey

BrookeLyn Messenger

Caroline Reinkensmeyer

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