Oct. 26, 1999
The Schedule
Thursday, October 28, 1999 vs. Cal Poly @ The Thunderdome, 7:00 p.m. Saturday, October 30, 1999 vs. Idaho @ Memorial Gym, 7:00 p.m.
UCSB Defeats LMU, Nevada and Utah State
The Gauchos opened last week's play with a five-game victory over Loyola Marymount Tuesday in Los Angeles 15-3, 11-15, 13-15, 15-11, 15-2. UCSB needed to rally from a two games to one deficit to defeat the Lions in hostile territory. Senior Charlene Conley led the Gaucho comeback with 13 kills in games four and five. Friday, the Gauchos defeated Nevada in three games 15-2, 15-2, 15-13, led by Jutta Weissenborn's career best 23 kills. UCSB closed the week with a sweep over Utah State 15-5, 15-11, 15-5.
The Queen's Court
UC Santa Barbara head coach Kathy Gregory became the 14th Division I women's volleyball coach in history to record 600 career victories when the Gauchos defeated the University of Illinois in this season's opener. Currently the tenth-winningest active coach in the nation, Gregory enters this weekend's play with a career record of 617-266 (.699) and is in her 24th season of coaching Division I women's volleyball, all at Santa Barbara. Gregory has guided UCSB to all 18 NCAA Tournaments, one of only four schools (the others are Pacific, Penn State and Stanford) to compete in every postseason since 1981.
The Poll
The Gauchos moved up one spot to eighth in the nation this week in the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Poll after defeating Loyola Marymount and sweeping a pair of Big West Conference matches at home against Nevada and Utah State.
Big West Standings Western Division W L Pct. Eastern Division W L Pct. Pacific 9 1 .900 Nevada 6 4 .600 Long Beach St. 9 1 .900 Utah State 6 4 .600 UCSB 8 2 .800 Idaho 5 5 .500 Cal Poly 8 2 .800 New Mexico St. 3 7 .300 CS Fullerton 2 8 .200 Boise State 3 7 .300 UC Irvine 1 9 .100 North Texas 0 10 .000
Probable Starters Notes #5 Brooke Rundle So. S Averaging 13.64 assists per game. #6 Roberta Gehlke Sr. OH Leads Big West in kills and digs per game. #8 Michelle Christ Sr. MB Hitting .308 on the season. #10 Jutta Weissenborn So. MB Leads Big West with 0.56 aces per game. #14 Charlene Conley Sr. OH Second on team with 3.00 kills per game. #16 Brooke Niles Fr. OH Leads team with .329 hitting pct. Reserves #3 Brieanna Lampe So. OH Averaging 1.70 kills and 1.43 digs per game. #20 Desireι Rook So. DS Had a career-best 16 digs vs. Florida. #2 Bridgett Geddes Fr. S/OH Team's back-up setter can also play outside. #7 Jill Grundstrom Fr. OH Has played in 18 games this season. #11 Sara Fredrickson Fr. MB Has 12 kills in 20 games played. #12 Danielle Bauer Fr. MB Had career-high 11 kills vs. North Texas #4 Deborah Samson Fr. DS A walk-on, will also compete in track and field.
Scouting The Mustangs
Cal Poly enters Thursday's match with a 16-4 overall record and 8-2 mark in Big West play. The Mustangs are riding a six-match win streak, their longest streak of the season. Cal Poly upset the Gauchos October 7th in San Luis Obispo in a five-game thriller. It was the Mustangs first win over the Gauchos since 1989. UCSB has won 28 of the 42 matches between the two schools, including 11 of the last 12. Senior middle blocker Kari DeSoto leads the Mustangs with 4.36 kills per game and junior Melanie Hathaway is tops on the Mustangs with 3.33 digs per game.
Scouting The Vandals
Idaho enters this weekend's play with a 14-9 overall record and 5-5 record in the Big West. Idaho currently is in third place in the Eastern Division, one game behind Utah State and Nevada. The Gauchos swept the Vandals last season at the Thunderdome, and have won all four meetings with Idaho. Senior outside hitter Shalyne Lynch leads Idaho with 3.38 kills per game while Heather Kniss paces the Vandals with 2.85 digs per game.
Twenty Spot
With two more victories the Gauchos will hit the twenty-win plateau for the 11th season in a row. In the 24 years of Gaucho women's volleyball, Kathy Gregory had guided the program to at least 20 victories 21 times. Two more victories will give the program 22 seasons of at least 20 victories.
G2K
With 380 kills already this season, senior outside hitter Roberta Gehlke now has 1,955 career kills, the most in Gaucho history and second most in the history of the Big West Conference. She recently passed Teee Williams-Sanders of the University of Hawaii, and needs only 45 more kills to become only the second player in the history of the Big West to accumulate over 2,000 kills. The Huntington Beach native has tallied double-digit kill totals in 20 of 21 matches this season.
Big West Career Kills 1. Tara Cross, LBSU 2,767 2. Roberta Gehlke 1,955 3. Teee Williams-Sanders, UH 1,873 4. Michelle Hansen, CP 1,810 5. Tiffany Neumeier, UN 1,779 6. Danielle Scott, LBSU 1,778 7. Antionette White, LBSU 1,717 8. Judy Bellomo, UCSB 1,651 9. Popi Edwards, UCI 1,590 10. Kristie Ryan, UCSB 1,547
UCSB In The National Statistics
(as of October 17th)
Individual
Roberta Gehlke (5.75 kpg-2nd)
Roberta Gehlke (4.41 dpg-14th)
Brooke Rundle (13.42 apg-19th)
Team
Hitting Pct. (.297-6th)
Kills (17.02-15th)
Assists (15.27-19th)
Born Again
Establishing herself as one of the Gauchos' main offensive threats, sophomore middle blocker Jutta Weissenborn has been phenomenal in UCSB's last nine matches. The native of Germany has tallied over half of her season total in kills (110 of 204) over UCSB's last nine matches alone. She was practically unstoppable in the Gauchos' sweep of Nevada last Friday, tallying a career best 23 kills and hitting .733 (23-1-30). She also leads the Big West with 0.56 service aces per game.
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