Air Force Academy

Oct. 29, 2007

The Air Force volleyball team closes out its home slate with a pair of Mountain West Conference matches this week (Nov. 1-2). The Falcons will host UNLV on Thursday, before closing out their second season at Clune Arena with their Senior Night Celebration on Friday against San Diego State. Both matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m., and will be available via GameTracker and video streaming.

Weekly Release 11: UNLV; San Diego State
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OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE

UNLV improved to 8-2 in the conference (17-3 overall) after sweeping No. 18 Colorado State on Oct. 25. Maria Aladjova leads the team with 4.53 kills per game, while Lauren Miramontes tallies a 4.34 total. San Diego State, which is 11-8 overall and 3-5 in Mountain West Conference action, hasn't played since Oct. 19, as the recent wildfires near the campus caused the cancellation of last weekend's matches. SDSU is led by Stephanie Darnell, who averages 3.28 kills per game.

SENIOR SALUTE

The Air Force program will honor three of its own prior to Friday's match with San Diego State. Morgan Dolan, Rebecca Gerton and Kim Kallabis will be recognized in a special Senior Night Celebration.

CLIMBING UP THE LADDER

To date, freshman Nichole Stilwell has assisted on 55 blocks, which is just four shy of entering the Falcons' NCAA Division I single-season record book. Tiffany Bishop and Kristin Hamlett are currently tied for 10th, with 59 assisted blocks during their respective 2002 and 2004 seasons.

KALLABIS IS CLIMBING

Having collected 589 assists so far this season, senior setter Kim Kallabis has already surpassed her best single-season output of 547. The additional assists place Kallabis ninth in the Academy's Division I Single-Season record book. She moved over Kristin Huitt's 2001 total of 552 to take control of ninth-place following the Oct. 19 match and is now just 19 shy of eighth-place.

AROUND THE BLOCK

As a team, the Falcons accounted for 6.0 team blocks (two solo, eight assisted) to nearly match the Cougars' team total of 6.5 (13 assisted) in the match at Provo on Oct. 26. In fact, the Falcons were out-blocking the Cougars midway through the final game.

YOUNGSTERS SHINE

Air Force ended the second game of its Oct. 26 match at BYU with a lineup that consisted of five freshmen and one senior. Morgan Dolan was the backbone of a rotation that included Jessica Hellmann, Caroline Kurtz, Nichole Stilwell, Kelly Spencer and Julia Hansen. Together, one of the youngest lineups to take the floor this season, made the Cougars earn each of its final points.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

The Falcons nearly took a game from Utah on Oct. 27. Air Force played catch-up throughout the set, finally tying the game at 19 off of a block by Jessica Hellmann and Jocelyn Booker. The Utes regained the lead, but the Falcons kept them at 28 while scoring four straight points to even things up once more.

NOW SERVING

Backed by the luck of the coin toss, Air Force has earned the right to the first serve in 20 of 26 matches. In addition, the Falcons have served first in the fifth-game during three of four such games.

WE'VE GOT SPIRIT, YES WE DO!

The Air Force volleyball staff began a new tradition at TCU on Sept. 21, as they unveiled the new "Spirit Award". The honor is given to the athlete that shows the most team spirit during a match. Jessica Hellmann was the most spirited during the Falcons' match at BYU, while Kelly Spencer, who won over some Utah "superhero" fans, claimed her fourth honor of the season.

REACHING THE PLATEAU

Six Falcons have already accounted for over 100 kills this season - two more than the number of players that accomplished that feat all of last season. Katie Batchelder leads the team with 209 kills, while Caroline Kurtz (170), Nichole Stilwell (166), Michelle Harrington (159), Kristina Stewart (127) and Jasamine Pettie (115) have also entered triple-digit tally club.

DIGGING IT UP

Air Force has seven players with at least 100 digs. Katie Batchelder leads the team with 186, while Caroline Kurtz has accounted for 184. Kim Kallabis (145), Morgan Dolan (132), Rebecca Gerton (122), Kristina Stewart (118) and Kelly Spencer (104) have all reached the 100-dig totals.

A HELPING HAND

With 1,400 career assists, senior Kim Kallabis has cemented her spot on the Academy's all-time top-10 list and continues to inch closer to the ninth spot. With 123 helpers during the four-match weekend on Sept. 14-15, Kallabis displaced Michelle Clark, who was on the team during the 1987-88 seasons, and had held 10th place with 1081 assists. Since entering NCAA Division I, only three other Falcons (Kristin Huitt, Tharommony In and Carly Siefken) have made the program's all-time assist list, although Katherine Dehne spent the all but one year at the Division I level (the team moved from Division II prior to the 1996 season. Kallabis is now just 35 assists shy of the ninth-place spot.

NOW SERVING...

In Mountain West Conference matches, Rebecca Gerton is third with 0.37 aces per game and just 0.02 shy of the second spot. Stephanie Stanford is currently sixth with a 0.32 average that includes her four-ace output at TCU. Katie Batchelder sits in ninth in the aces-per-game category for all matches with 0.30 aces per game.

TAKING IT MATCH BY MATCH

Katie Batchelder's 29 kills against Marist remains the third-best single-match total in the MWC. In addition, Batchelder leads the conference with seven aces against Quinnipiac and is ranked fourth with a 31.5 point-total against Marist. Air Force's 95 total digs against North Carolina A&T is ranked fourth, while its 15 total aces against Quinnipiac is tied for second and its 14 against Texas Southern is third. In Mountain West Conference matches, Stephanie Stanford is second in the league with a four-ace output against TCU.