Nov. 15, 2009

LOGAN, Utah -

Complete Release in PDF Format

Release #12 • 11/15/09
Nov. 16 * No. 3 HAWAI'I * 7:00 p.m.
Nov. 19 * NEVADA * 7:00 p.m.

THIS WEEK
Utah State (14-13, 5-9) will conclude Western Athletic Conference play this week with a pair of home matches against No. 3 Hawai'i (25-2, 15-0) on Monday, Nov. 16 and Nevada (11-18, 7-8) on Thursday, Nov. 19 with both matches beginning at 7 p.m.

LOOKING AT UTAH STATE
Utah State is 14-13 on the season and 5-9 in WAC play following a four-set win at San Jose State and a three-set loss at Hawai'i last weekend. USU is led by sophomore outside hitter Liz McArthur who is hitting .179 and averaging 3.81 kills, 1.68 digs and 0.48 blocks per set, while sophomore opposite side hitter Emily Kortsen is hitting .215 and averaging 2.09 kills, 2.44 digs and 0.56 blocks per set. Junior middle blocker Shantell Durrant is also playing well for USU as she is hitting .290 and averaging 1.73 kills and 1.11 blocks per set. As a team, Utah State is hitting .202 on the season as compared to a .196 hitting percentage for its opponents.

UTAH STATE IN THE WAC
Since joining the WAC prior to the 2005 season, Utah State has had a winning league record every season except one as it went 11-5 in 2005 and 2007, 9-7 in 2008, and 6-10 in 2006. Overall, USU is 42-36 (.538) in WAC play which includes a 27-11 (.711) home record and a 15-25 (.375) record on the road.

RANKING UTAH STATE IN THE WAC
As of Nov. 15, Utah State ranks third in the WAC in hitting percentage (.202), fourth in assists (11.21), fourth in kills (12.18), fourth in blocks (2.34), fifth in service aces (1.22), and fifth in digs (13.54). Individually, junior libero Christine Morrill leads the WAC with 4.64 digs per set, while junior setter Chelsea Fowles ranks third in assists (9.77) and third in service aces (0.32). Sophomore outside hitter Liz McArthur ranks fourth in points (4.30) and fourth in kills (3.81), junior middle blocker Katie Astle ranks sixth in hitting (.308), and junior middle blocker Shantell Durrant ranks seventh in hitting (.290) and eighth in blocks (1.11).

AGGIES AMONG THE BEST BLOCKING TEAMS IN THE NATION
Utah State ranks fourth in the WAC and 60th in the nation with 2.34 blocks per set, while junior middle blocker Shantell Durrant ranks eighth in the WAC and 80th in the nation with 1.13 blocks per set.

FOWLES & MORRILL NAMED PRESEASON ALL-WAC
Junior setter Chelsea Fowles and junior libero Christine Morrill were both named to the 12-person WAC preseason team in 2009. Fowles was one of just two setters named to the preseason team, while Morrill was the only libero listed among the group. Other players named preseason all-WAC in 2009 are Krista Altermatt (New Mexico State); Lindsay Baldwin (Nevada); Aneli Cubi-Ontineru (Hawai'i); Stephanie Ferrell (Hawai'i); Kelli Goodan (New Mexico State); Kylie Harrington (Nevada); Amber Kaufman (Hawai'i); Dani Mafua (Hawai'i); Anna McKinney (Idaho); and Kanani Danielson of Hawai'i who was named the preseason player of the year.

UTAH STATE RETURNS FIVE PLAYERS WHO HAVE EARNED ALL-WAC HONORS
Utah State returns five players who have earned all-WAC honors as juniors Katie Astle (MB), Chelsea Fowles (S) and Christine Morrill (LIB) all earned second-team all-WAC honors in 2008, while sophomore Emily Kortsen (OPP) was named to the league's all-freshman team. Redshirt junior Danielle Taylor (MB) earned second-team all-WAC honors in 2007 before missing the 2008 season with an injury.

NEXT WEEK
Utah State is vying to be one of the six teams to participate in the 2009 WAC Volleyball Tournament that will be held from Nov. 23-25 at The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The top two seeds in the tournament receive a bye into the semifinals, while seeds three through six will compete to see who advances into the semifinal bracket.

RECAPPING LAST WEEK
Utah State went 1-1 on the road last week as it defeated San Jose State in four sets and lost at third-ranked Hawai'i in three sets. Against the Spartans, sophomore outside hitter Liz McArthur had 20 kills and hit .304 (20-6-46) in the match, while junior middle blocker Shantell Durrant had seven kills and four block assists, and hit .538 (7-0-13). Junior libero Christine Morrill added a career-high tying 29 digs. USU hit .229 (50-18-140) in the match as compared to a .210 (58-25-157) hitting percentage for SJSU. Against the Rainbow Wahine, McArthur had seven kills, while junior middle blocker Katie Astle had six kills and three block assists, and hit .500 (6-1-10). USU hit .153 (24-11-85) in the match and UH hit .426 (52-12-94).

MORRILL TIES CAREER-HIGH WITH 29 DIGS AT SAN JOSE STATE
Junior libero Christine Morrill tied her career-high with 29 digs against San Jose State on Nov. 5 in Utah State's four-set win. Morrill also had 29 digs against Boise State during the 2008 season.

MCARTHUR SETS SCHOOL RECORDS AGAINST LOUISIANA TECH
Sophomore outside hitter Liz McArthur set a school-record for kills in a three-set match with 25 against Louisiana Tech on Oct. 29. McArthur also tied the school-record for attempts in a three-set match with 54 against the Lady Techsters. Former USU All-American Amanda Nielson held both of those records as she had 24 kills in a three-set win against Idaho in 2007 and had 54 swings against Utah Valley in 2007.

MORRILL TIES SCHOOL-RECORD AGAINST LOUISIANA TECH
Junior libero Christine Morrill tied a school-record for digs in a three-set match with 20 against Louisiana Tech on Oct. 29. Former Aggie Kelsi Peterson was the most recent USU player to record 20 digs in a three-set match as she did it during the 2006 season.

UTAH STATE IN THE DEE GLEN SMITH SPECTRUM
Utah State is 80-35 (.696) at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum during the last 10 years, which includes a 61-29 (.678) record against conference opponents and a 27-11 (.711) mark against WAC foes. Thus far this year, Utah State is 6-3 at home.

UTAH STATE DURING ITS LAST FIVE MATCHES
During its last five matches, in which it has gone 2-3, Utah State is hitting .171 and averaging 12.69 kills, 15.06 digs, 2.06 blocks and 1.62 service aces per set, while its opponents are hitting .250 and averaging 15.12 kills, 16.31 digs, 2.34 blocks and 1.50 service aces per set.

SCOUTING NEVADA
Nevada is 11-18 on the season and 7-8 in WAC play following a four-set loss to New Mexico State and a three-set win against Louisiana Tech at home last weekend. The Wolf Pack, who are 2-8 on the road this season, are led by junior outside hitter Kylie Harrington who is hitting .160 and averaging 3.53 kills and 2.19 digs per set. As a team, UN is hitting .181 on the season as compared to a .216 hitting percentage for its opponents. Nevada returns six starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's team that went 12-17 overall and finished in a tie for fifth-place in the WAC with a 7-9 league record. Devin Scruggs is in her 13 season as a collegiate head coach at Nevada.

VERSUS THE WOLF PACK
Utah State is 10-19 all-time against Nevada, which includes an 8-5 record at home. Nevada won the first meeting between the two teams in Reno in five sets.

SCOUTING HAWAI'I
Hawai'i, who is ranked No. 3 in the nation, is 25-2 on the season and 15-0 in WAC play following a pair of road wins at Boise State (3-0) and Idaho (3-0) last weekend. UH is led by sophomore outside hitter Kanani Danielson who is hitting .328 and averaging 3.93 kills per set. As a team, the Rainbow Wahine are hitting .321 on the season as compared to a .142 hitting percentage for its opponents. UH returns four starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team that went 31-4 overall and tied for first-place in the WAC with a 15-1 league record. Dave Shoji is in his 34th season as head coach of Hawai'i and has an overall record of 1,009-175-1.

VERSUS THE RAINBOW WAHINE
Utah State is 8-37 all-time against Hawai'i, which includes a 4-12 record at home. The last time the two teams played in Logan was on Oct. 16, 2008 with UH winning in three sets. The last time USU won a match versus Hawai'i was on Nov. 11, 2007 as the Aggies shocked then No. 10 Hawai'i in three sets (30-28, 31-29, 30-27) to snap an 108-conference match home winning streak for the Rainbow Wahine. It was also the first win for USU against UH in its last 20 meetings overall. The last time the Aggies defeated the Rainbow Wahine at home was on Nov. 12, 1981 in Logan in five games.

UTAH STATE VERSUS NATIONALLY RANKED TEAMS
Utah State is 10-51 (.164) against ranked opponents over the last 10 years. Overall, USU has won two of its last six matches against ranked teams. The last time Utah State played a ranked team was on Nov. 8, 2009 in Honolulu, when it lost to Hawai'i, 3-0.

FOWLES THIRD ALL-TIME AT UTAH STATE IN ASSISTS
After recording 56 assists last week, junior setter Chelsea Fowles now ranks third all-time at Utah State with 3,203 assists. Fowles is now 330 assists shy of tying Lori Sargent-McKnight (1996-99) for second-place with 3,533 career assists. Carrie Steverson (1988-91) holds the all-time school record with 3,942 career assists.

MORRILL RANKS SECOND ALL-TIME AT UTAH STATE IN DIGS
With 39 digs last week, junior libero Christine Morrill now ranks second all-time at Utah State with 1,239 career digs and is now 375 digs shy of tying Kelsi Peterson (2003-06) for the school record with 1,614 career digs.

ASTLE AND MORRILL NAMED TO KENT STATE MIZUNO OPEN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Utah State's Katie Astle and Christine Morrill were both named to the Kent State Mizuno Open All-Tournament team this past weekend as Utah State defeated Butler (3-1) and Robert Morris (3-0), and lost to Kent State (3-2). Astle hit .419 (15-2-31) during the tournament and averaged 1.36 kills and 1.09 blocks per set, while Morrill averaged 3.67 digs per set. Other members of the all-tournament team included Gina Vera of Butler, and Lauren Jones, Meredith Paskert and Arjola Prenga (MVP) of Kent State.

DURRANT NAMED TO WEBER STATE INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Utah State's Shantell Durrant was named to the 2009 Best Western Canyon Pines Weber State Invitational all-tournament team as she helped USU to a 1-2 record as it defeated host Weber State (3-1), and lost to Gonzaga (3-2) and Utah Valley (3-1). Durrant, a junior middle blocker from American Fork, Utah (American Fork HS) hit .294 (24-9-51) during the tournament and averaged 1.85 kills, 0.92 blocks and 0.46 digs per set. Her best match of the weekend was against Gonzaga as she had a career-high 10 kills and tied her career-high with five block assists, while hitting .333 (10-3-21). Joining Durrant on the all-tournament team was Caitlin Cozad of Gonzaga, Caitlyn Anderson and Chelsea Bair of Weber State, and Chelsea Fa'alogo, Camie Manwill and Kayli Broadbent (MVP) of Utah Valley.

McARTHUR NAMED MVP OF FIESTA BOWL TOURNAMENT; FOWLES AND DURRANT NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Utah State's Liz McArthur was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2009 Fiesta Bowl Tournament hosted by Northern Arizona University this past weekend as Utah State won the tournament championship by defeating The Citadel (3-0), Wyoming (3-1) and NAU (3-1). Utah State had two other players honored as Shantell Durrant and Chelsea Fowles were both named to the all-tournament team. Other members of the all-tournament team included Dani Bedore and JennaRae Jester of Wyoming, Lauren Campbell of Northern Arizona and Jessica Maas of The Citadel. McArthur hit .360 (43-11-89) during the tournament and averaged 4.30 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.60 blocks per set. Against Northern Arizona, McArthur recorded a career-high 23 kills to go along with six digs and three block assists. Durrant was named to an all-tournament team for the second time this year after being named to the Weber State Invitational all-tournament team. In the Fiesta Bowl Tournament, Durrant hit .353 (16-4-34) and averaged 1.60 kills and 1.70 blocks per set. Fowles hit .294 (9-4-17) during the tournament and averaged 9.36 assists, 1.00 digs, 0.82 kills, 0.45 service aces and 0.36 blocks per set.

AGGIES WIN FIRST PRESEASON TOURNAMENT SINCE 2005
Utah State's Fiesta Bowl Tournament Championship last weekend is its first since the 2005 season when USU won the Hurricane Invitational hosted by Tulsa University.

FROM THE STATE OF UTAH
Of the 15 players on Utah State's roster, 10 are from the state of Utah. Those 10 players from the "Beehive State" are juniors Katie Astle (Sandy), Shantell Durrant (American Fork), Whitney Mendivil (Pleasant Grove), Christine Morrill (Neola), Danielle Taylor (Springville) and Lori Wilson-Beckstrom (Provo), sophomore Liz McArthur (St. George), and freshmen Sami Brunatti (Draper), Shay Sorensen (North Ogden) and Josselyn White (Smithfield).

AGGIES ON THE INTERNET
All of Utah State's home matches are available to watch live via the internet at www.UtahStateAggies.com. Fans can also follow all of the action on the internet via GameTracker, with up-to-date score and stats.

PLAYER NOTES
#2 - Chelsea Fowles - Named to the WAC's all-preseason team in 2009 after earning second-team all-league honors in 2008... Ranks third all-time in school history with 3203 career assists... Currently ranks third in the WAC with 9.77 assists per set and third in service aces (0.32)... Had career-highs with nine kills and 17 attempts against Boise State... Had a season-high 59 assists at home against Idaho... Had a career-high seven block assists against Brigham Young... Hitting .298 on the season and averaging 1.71 digs, 0.53 blocks and 0.74 kills per set... Was named to the Northern Arizona all-tournament team.

#4 - Laurel Bodily - Recorded a season-high 16 digs against Boise State and has posted double-digits in digs in seven matches this year... Is averaging 1.97 digs per set.

#5 - Danielle Taylor - Earned second-team all-WAC honors as a sophomore in 2007... Had a season-high eight kills against New Mexico State... Hitting .197 on the season and averaging 1.20 kills and 0.60 blocks per set.

#7 - Katie Astle - Had a career-high 12 kills at Louisiana Tech... Hitting .308 on the season to rank sixth in the WAC... Averaging 1.52 kills and 0.85 blocks per set... Was named to the Kent State Mizuno Open All-Tournament team.

#8 - Kassi Hargrove - Had a season-high 15 assists against The Citadel... Averaging 2.00 assists and 0.29 digs per set.

#10 - Shay Sorensen - Had a season-high seven kills against The Citadel... Hitting .290 on the season and averaging 1.17 kills and 0.42 digs per set.

#12 - Emily Kortsen - Had a career-high 15 kills against Brigham Young and a career-high 17 digs at Kent State... Has recorded double-digits in kills nine times and double-digits in digs 15 times this season... Has posted double-digit digs in 11 of her last 15 matches... Hitting .215 on the season and averaging 2.09 kills, 2.44 digs and 0.56 blocks per set.

#14 - Christine Morrill - Named to the WAC's all-preseason team in 2009... Ranks second all-time in school history with 1,239 career digs... Tied her career-high with 29 digs at San Jose State... Has posted 20-plus digs 10 times this year and double-digits in digs in all 27 matches... Currently ranks first in the WAC with 4.64 digs per set... Was named to the Kent State Mizuno Open All-Tournament team.

#17 - Lori Wilson-Beckstrom - Had a career-high 15 kills against The Citadel and a career-high five block assists against Northern Arizona... Tied her career-high with five blocks at New Mexico State and had a career-high five digs against Boise State... Hitting .096 on the season and averaging 1.31 kills, 0.50 digs and 0.43 blocks per set.

#18 - Liz McArthur - Recorded a career-high 25 kills against Louisiana Tech to set a new school-record for kills in a three-set match... Named the MVP of the Fiesta Bowl Tournament hosted by Northern Arizona... Had a career-high 13 digs at Boise State... Tied her career-high with four blocks against BYU... Hit a career-high .625 (5-0-8) against The Citadel... Hitting .179 on the season and averaging 3.81 kills, 1.68 digs and 0.48 blocks per set... Has recorded double-digit kills 20 times this year and 20-plus kills seven times... Currently ranks fourth in the WAC in points (4.25) and kills.

#21 - Shantell Durrant - Recorded a career-high 11 kills and nine block assists against Brigham Young... Tied her career-high with 11 kills against Louisiana tech and nine blocks at Nevada... Hit a career-high .857 (6-0-7) against Idaho State... Named to the Weber State and Northern Arizona Invitational all-tournament teams... Hitting .290 on the season and averaging 1.73 kills and 1.11 blocks per set... Ranks seventh in the WAC in hitting and eighth in blocks.

#23 - Josselyn White - Had a season-high 10 kills against Utah and seven blocks at Nevada... Recorded a season-high six digs against Boise State... Hitting .124 on the season and averaging 1.34 kills and 0.71 blocks per set.

HEAD COACH Grayson DuBose
Grayson DuBose is entering his fourth season as Utah State's head volleyball coach after being hired on March 27, 2006. In his three years at USU, DuBose (pronounced Do-Boz) has brought stability to one of the top programs in the WAC as he has already coached one All-American, 10 all-WAC selections and 23 academic all-WAC honorees, not to mention the 2007 WAC Freshman of the Year. In 2008, DuBose led Utah State to a fourth-place conference finish with a 9-7 league record and coached five players who earned all-league honors as senior Melissa Osterloh was named first-team all-WAC, sophomores Katie Astle, Chelsea Fowles and Christine Morrill were named second-team all-WAC, and Emily Kortsen was named to the WAC's all-freshman team. USU also had eight players earn academic all-WAC honors following the 2008 season. After being picked to finish seventh in the WAC prior to the 2007 season, DuBose led Utah State to a 17-13 record and a third-place conference finish with an 11-5 mark. Among those 11 league victories was one of the biggest wins in school history as he led the Aggies to a three-game sweep at No. 10 Hawai'i, snapping an 108-match home conference winning streak for the Rainbow Wahine. Following the 2007 season, DuBose had four players recognized by the WAC as senior Amanda Nielson was named to the league's first-team and an honorable mention All-American, while Osterloh and sophomore Danielle Taylor both earned second-team all-WAC honors. Also joining the list of honorees was Fowles who was named the freshman of the year in the WAC, while DuBose became the first volleyball coach in school history to garner conference coach of the year honors. Utah State also had plenty of success in the classroom during the 2007-08 academic year as nine players earned academic all-WAC honors, which were the most by any volleyball team in the conference. In his inaugural season at Utah State, DuBose inherited a team that lost four starters and seven quality letterwinners from an NCAA Tournament team that went 21-13 overall and finished in a tie for second-place in the WAC with an 11-5 league record in 2005. Despite all the turnover, DuBose led Utah State to an early 10-8 record, including a 3-1 mark in WAC play before numerous injuries and inexperience took its toll in the final six weeks. In 2006, DuBose coached two all-league players as Nielson earned second-team all-WAC honors, while Melissa Larson was named to the conference's all-freshman team. Utah State also had six players earn academic all-conference honors following the season. Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Utah State, DuBose spent four seasons (2003-06) as an assistant on Brigham Young University's men's volleyball team. DuBose began his collegiate coaching career at Utah State from 1999-2000 as an assistant to Tom Peterson. During that time, the Aggies won the Eastern Division of the Big West Conference in 1999 and advanced to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2000, defeating Missouri in the first round. USU finished the 2000 season ranked 22nd in the country, the program's first-ever top 25 ranking. In his four seasons at Brigham Young, DuBose helped lead the Cougar's men's program to a 90-30 (.750) record, including a National Championship in 2004 and a second-place finish at the 2003 NCAA Tournament. During his time at BYU, he coached nine All-Americans, including the 2004 NCAA Player of the Year. DuBose graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in history in 1993 and then received his teaching certificate from Utah State in 1995. He and his wife Lenonnie have three children, Kline (11), Cassandra (9) and Jackson (5).