· Match notes (.pdf)
· Tournament Central
No. 4 UTSA to host annual postseason event for third time in school history
Convocation Center — San Antonio, Texas
Match 32: Friday, Nov. 17, No. 5 Texas State (14-16, 10-6), 6:30 p.m.
Match 33: Saturday, Nov. 18, Semifinals, No. 1 Stephen F. Austin/No. 8 Northwestern State winner, 5 p.m.
Match 34: Sunday, Nov. 19, Championship Match, 2 p.m.
SLC TOURNAMENT COMING TO TOWN: UTSA (19-12) hosts the Southland Conference Tournament for the third time in school history this weekend. The Roadrunners, who previously hosted the annual postseason event in 1992 and 2003, finished third in the SLC West Division at 11-5 and earned the league’s No. 4 seed. UTSA will play I-35 rival No. 5 Texas State (14-16) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday for second time in eight days. Friday’s victor will face the winner between top seed Stephen F. Austin and No. 8 Northwestern State at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The championship match is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday and the winner of that contest will earn the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.
ON THE WEB: Every match of this weekend’s tournament will be carried live at the Southland Conference’s official tournament Web Site (southland.org).
SCOUTING TEXAS STATE: Texas State enters Friday’s match with a 14-16 overall record and finished the regular season with a 10-6 mark in SLC action. The Bobcats hold a 41-10 edge in the all-time series, but the two programs have split the past four meetings. This season, the I-35 rivals have split a pair of five-game matches. Texas State rallied from a 2-0 deficit on Oct. 5 at Strahan Coliseum, while the Roadrunners survived two match points and won one of the most dramatic contests in the series’ 51-match history last Thursday at the Convocation Center.
HOME COOKIN’: UTSA has won eight consecutive home matches and the Roadrunners now have a 10-2 record at the Convocation Center this season. It is the third consecutive season that UTSA has posted 10 home wins. Dating back to 1989, the Roadrunners have won more than 62 percent of their home matches (149-91/.621). Since 1998, that mark stands at nearly 71 percent (78-32/.709).
UTSA AND THE SLC TOURNAMENT: The Roadrunners have appeared in 12 postseason tournaments since joining the Southland Conference in 1991. UTSA has an 8-11 mark in its 19 all-time matches and played for the league title two times. The Roadrunners won the 2000 SLC Tournament Championship with a four-game victory against Lamar and were swept by Texas State in last year’s final. Since 2000, UTSA has won six of 10 tournament matches.
PICARD LEADS FOUR ROADRUNNERS ON ALL-SLC TEAMS: Senior middle blocker Connie Picard led a quartet of UTSA players named to the All-Southland Conference teams, the league office announced on Thursday. Picard became the 11th Roadrunner in school history to be named to the conference’s first team and it marks the fourth year in a row that a UTSA student-athlete has represented the program on the SLC’s top squad. Also earning postseason honors were seniors Meagan Daniel and Erin McMillan, who were third-team selections, and senior DeeDee Strickland was an honorable mention choice.
TEAM LEADERBOARD: Senior Connie Picard is hitting at a SLC-best and UTSA single-season record .356 clip on the strength of a team-high 458 kills (3.7 pg/eighth SLC) and she also leads the Roadrunners and ranks fifth in the league with 139 total blocks (29 solos/110 assists). Freshman Shannon Walker leads the squad with 36 service aces and senior DeeDee Strickland has a team-high 1,232 assists (9.9 pg/eighth SLC). Senior Erin McMillan, who has posted double-figure digs in 42 of her last 43 matches (dating back to Oct. 21, 2005), has a UTSA single-season record 701 digs (5.6 pg/fourth SLC).
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior Connie Picard, who is on pace to shatter UTSA’s single-season record for hitting percentage (.356), has a team-high 458 kills this year. That total ranks seventh on the school’s single-season chart and she needs 22 winners to move into sole possession of sixth place. Her 139 total blocks and 110 block assists this year rank in a fifth-place tie on the school’s single-season list. Picard needs just four total blocks to move in fourth place and 10 to rise into third. With seven more block assists, she will move into fourth place on UTSA’s single-season list and nine would push her into third. Senior DeeDee Strickland’s 1,232 assists this season has pushed her career total to 5,361 and she is 79 helpers away from breaking Natasha Biggers' all-time mark of 5,440 set from 1997-2000. Strickland’s season total also ranks in an eighth-place tie on UTSA’s chart and she now holds four of the top nine marks in school annals. The four-time All-SLC choice needs just 41 more assists to move into sole possession of seventh place and 63 to slide into sixth.
A FORCE IN THE MIDDLE: Senior Connie Picard, a preseason second-team All-SLC selection who earned first-team accolades on Thursday, has taken her game to the next level this season. The three-time all-league performer leads the league in hitting percentage (UTSA-record .356) and ranks second with 29 solo blocks. She also leads the Roadrunners in kills (458/3.7 pg/eighth SLC), total blocks (139/fifth SLC) and block assists (110). Picard has registered double-figure kills in her last 18 matches and in all but three contests this season. The Spring native has set or tied her career high for winners three different times this season, the last of which was 23 against Northwestern State (Oct. 13). She also had career bests with four solo blocks against Lamar (Nov. 4) and nine block assists against Sam Houston State (Sept. 23). With her performance this year, Picard has moved her name up the school’s all-time record book — total blocks (second/449), block solos (second/94), block assists (second/355), kills (sixth/1,383) and attacks (seventh/3,203).
MCMILLAN DIGS WAY TO HISTORY YET AGAIN: Senior libero Erin McMillan made history for the third time this season last Thursday night against Texas State. The San Antonio native broke her UTSA single-match record with 42 digs against the Bobcats and pushed her season total to a UTSA-record 667, breaking Shalynn McCoy’s 17-year-old mark of 651 set in 1989. McMillan previously had broke the single-match record with 41 against Utah Valley State on Sept. 29. She set the school’s career digs record on Oct. 14 against Central Arkansas, and after recording another 34 last Saturday against Texas-Arlington, she now has 2,246 in her four years, a number that ranks among the top 10 in NCAA history. McMillan, who owns four of the top seven single-season totals in school annals, has 701 digs this year and is averaging 5.6 digs per game (fourth SLC). She has registered at least 20 digs in her last 12 of her last 15 matches and 421 during that span (6.8 pg). The three-time All-SLC honoree has 10 30-dig performances this season, including a pair of 40-dig efforts, and has posted double-figure digs in 42 of her last 43 matches (dating back to Oct. 21, 2005). McMillan, who earned SLC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Monday, enters this weekend’s conference tournament riding a streak of four 30-dig performances in a row.
DANIEL PERFORMING AT HIGH LEVEL YET AGAIN: After missing five of six matches from Sept. 30-Oct. 14 (the first missed contests of her career), senior Meagan Daniel returned to the starting lineup on Oct. 20 as if she hadn’t missed any time at all. Daniel has led the Roadrunners in kills in six of eight matches since returning to the lineup (131/4.0 pg) and she also has recorded a team-best 11 service aces and ranks second with 134 digs (4.1 pg). The reigning Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year earned third-team All-SLC honors on Thursday. She is second on the squad with 383 kills (3.8 pg/fifth SLC), 35 service aces and 340 digs (3.4 pg) this season. The only three-time first-team all-conference performer in UTSA history, her name can be found all over the school’s career record book — attacks (first/5,106), kills (second/1,791), service aces (third/143) and digs (fifth/1,413).
CLASSROOM CHAMPIONS: Seniors Meagan Daniel and DeeDee Strickland were second-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI honorees, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced on Thursday, Nov. 9. Strickland was a third-team choice a year ago and both players have been Southland Conference All-Academic selections the past two seasons.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES: UTSA was picked to finish third in the West Division of the Southland Conference this season by both the league’s head coaches and sports information directors. The Roadrunners were slotted behind defending regular season champion Stephen F. Austin and 2005 SLC Tournament winner Texas State. Three UTSA seniors also were honored in the preseason polls. Outside hitter Meagan Daniel, the 2005 SLC Student-Athlete of the Year, and setter DeeDee Strickland were first-team All-SLC selections, while middle blocker Connie Picard was a second-team choice.
ROADRUNNERS SIGN THREE FOR 2007: UTSA announced Tuesday the signing of Valorie Rogers (Arlington, Texas/Sam Houston HS), Kendra Rowland (Antioch, Calif./Deer Valley HS) and Jordan White (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) to National Letters of Intent. The trio will join the Roadrunners for the 2007 season. Rogers is a 6-1 middle/outside hitter, while Rowland is a 5-11 outside hitter and White is a 5-9 setter.
HEAD COACH LAURA NEUGEBAUER-GROFF: A highly-respected coach and player who is legendary locally, Laura Neugebauer-Groff is in her fifth season at the helm of UTSA‘s volleyball program. Neugebauer-Groff, who collected her 300th career victory in last season’s season opener, has a lifetime record of 336-139 (.707), including an 80-77 mark at UTSA. She has led the Roadrunners to victories in more than 67 percent (43-21) of their matches at the Convocation Center during her tenure. In four-plus years as UTSA’s head coach, she has tutored 13 All-Southland Conference players and seven all-academic honorees, including 2005 SLC Student-Athlete of the Year Meagan Daniel.