To put it simply, the San Diego State women’s volleyball team byfar exceeded most people’s expectations this season. After winning 11matches last season and 16 the last two years combined, few thoughtthat toward the end of the 2000 season it would be making a run foran NCAA Tournament bid.
Head coach Mark Warner, as well as the players, knew they couldsucceed. Warner said before the season began, he projected 18 wins.After struggling to a 6-9 record to start the year, SDSU went on towin 12 of its last 17 matches to finish the year 18-14, including a9-5 record in Mountain West Conference play.
“No one expected anything from us except us,” said senior MonetSolberg. “We never stopped believing.
“Our main goal was to do better than last year and we succeeded.This was the most dedicated the team has been. We had a verysuccessful season as a whole … (but) it’s a shame we didn’t get a(NCAA Tournament) bid.”
The Aztecs merited consideration given that of their 14 losses,nine came to teams ranked in the Top 25 nationally.
On Oct. 21, SDSU won the match of the year, a thrillingcome-from-behind five-game win over then-No. 18 Utah.
On Nov. 10, the team nearly pulled off what would have been anupset for the ages, taking No. 5 Colorado State to the limit in afive-game marathon. With revenge on their minds, the Aztecs againgave the Rams all they could handle at the conference tournament twoweeks ago, but again fell short.
A season-ending loss to cross-town rival USD ended their hopes ofa postseason berth.
“The last game put a slight damper on an overall good season,”said senior Amy Hallquist. “Things just didn’t come together asplanned. It wasn’t the way I wanted to end the season.”
Outside hitters
Although the team’s season ended with a loss, Hallquist’s endedwith a personal victory as she earned a spot on the all-conferenceteam.
She ended the season averaging 2.83 kills per game, hitting at a.191 clip and a team-best 2.52 digs per game.
In the Utah match, with her parents in attendance from Phoenix,Hallquist set career highs with 19 digs and 25 kills. The kill totalwas the season-high for all Aztec
players.
Solberg led the Aztecs with a 2.99 kill per game average and wassecond in digging with 2.18 per game.
“This whole season was a highlight for me,” she said. “I finallyrealized my potential.”
After being recruited at William and Mary to be a team leader,injuries and disagreements with her coach prevented Solberg frombeing the player she was capable of. As a walk-on with SDSU lastseason, she worked hard to be a key player this season.
“All the work I put in finally paid off,” she said. “I couldn’thave asked for a better season.”
Nicole Akporiaye hit .263 on the year to lead the team and rankedninth in the conference. She also averaged 2.55 kills per game on theyear, including 22 in three matches at the Cornell Tournament.
Freshman Zlatina Anguelova saw a lot of playing time early in theyear while Warner tinkered with the lineup. Once he settled on aregular lineup, the Bulgarian native saw limited action. She was theteam’s leading hitter early on this year, as she led the team with 22kills and 17 digs in the Diggin’ Tournament at Cox Arena inSeptember.
Middle blockers
Senior Erin Grady emerged to become one of the leading blockers inthe nation. She closed out the 2000 season averaging 1.71 blocks pergame, ranking her second in the conference and third nationally.
In the final match of the season, Grady tallied five blockassists, giving her 167 on the year. That mark broke a 15-year-oldrecord set by Kris Morton (165) in 1985.
Grady has been invited to play in the European Exposure Tour inJanuary, with a chance to get picked up by a professional teamoverseas.
The season was also a coming-out for freshman Aspen McPartland.She was the runner-up for Freshman-of-the-Year honors and the onlyAztec player to make the all-tournament team at the MWC Tournament.
On the year, McPartland averaged 2.58 kills per game with a .205hitting percentage. At the Cornell Tournament, she earned MVP honorswith 33 kills at a .350 hitting clip.
Setter
In only her first season at SDSU, sophomore Melissa Wright isalready No. 9 in career assists, as she recorded 1,325 dishes on theyear. That total also stands as the sixth-best single season total inschool history.
Averaging 11.62 assists per game, Wright was also the team’s”ironman” as she played in 114 of the team’s 115 games on the season.
Wright, who transferred from Washington State before the season,was honored with a spot on the all-conference team.
Defensive specialists
At 6-foot-1, junior Katie Magnuson hardly looks like she should beplaying exclusively in the back row. And at 5-foot-8, junior JessicaAllen hardly looks like a volleyball player.
But Allen proved that size doesn’t matter as she was named the topdefensive specialist for the MWC.
She and Magnuson were the foundation of SDSU’s strong back line.They combined for nearly four digs per game, as the team averaged13.9 per game on the year.
The future
The Aztecs proved to themselves and rest of the volleyball worldthat they are not to be taken lightly. Even without Hallquist, Gradyand Solberg next year, the depth the team already possesses willallow it to continue at the level it established this season.
“The reason we stayed at the level we did was because the secondstring challenged the first team,” Solberg said. “We had to find waysto beat them (in practice) and that was important in our success.”
The youngsters will get their chance to shine next year. If thisyear’s team was indicative of their ability, SDSU’s future looksbright.
