Proietto Named Student-Athlete of the Week

November 20, 2017 12:51 PM | General, Men's Swimming & Diving, Rifle, Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Volleyball, Wrestling

Varsity Sports Report

By: WVU Athletic Communications

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Following his victory in the men's platform dive, senior Michael Proietto of the WVU swimming and diving team has been named the West Virginia University Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

The Aston, Pennsylvania, native earned three top-four finishes at the Frank Elm Invitational in Piscataway, New Jersey, on Nov. 17-19. Proietto earned a first-place score of 309.80 on platform. Additionally, Proietto also earned a runner-up finish on 3-meter (328.65), while placing fourth on 1-meter (342.20).

Proietto, who is the school record holder on 1-meter, led the WVU diving team to a total of five top-four finishes during the three-day meet.

This Week in Women's Soccer: The Mountaineers' 2017 season has come to a close.

Last Week in Women's Soccer: No. 7-ranked and second-seeded WVU bowed out of the 2017 NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 loss to No. 10 Penn State on Sunday, Nov. 19, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium … the Mountaineers advanced to the third round for the third straight season following a thrilling, 4-3 penalty kick shootout win over No. 22 Rutgers on Nov. 17, also at Dick Dlesk Stadium … the teams played to a 0-0 (2OT) draw … on Friday, WVU needed PKs to move past RU, connecting on its first, third, fourth and fifth chances, while sophomore Rylee Foster turned away the Scarlet Knights' first and fifth attempts … WVU outshot RU 19-1, placing six shots on-frame, and finished with an 11-0 edge in corner kicks … on Sunday, junior Sh'Nia Gordon gave WVU an early lead in the 34th minute, but PSU answered with a pair of goals before halftime and a third in the 55th minute … PSU finished with a 10-9 shot advantage … Foster made three saves, and PSU finished with two … WVU also earned a 6-3 edge in corner kicks.

Notes: WVU concludes its season with a 16-4-3 mark and a 7-1-1 showing in Big 12 play … appearing in their 18th straight NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers are 20-17-4 in all-time tournament matches … Sunday marked the final Mountaineer career match for seniors Michaela Abam, Heather Kaleiohi, Alli Magaletta, Amandine Pierre-Louis and Carla Portillo … Abam finishes her four-year career ranked No. 3 in program history with 42 goals and No. 4 with 100 (42 G, 16 A) points … she also ranks No. 2 with 417 career shots … Abam is the most experienced player in the program's 22-year history, having seen time in 95 career matches … Portillo ranks No. 2 with time in 94 matches, and Pierre-Louis is No. 3 with time in 92 matches.

This Week in Women's Basketball: West Virginia heads to Paradise Jam for a trio of games in Melbourne, Florida … the Mountaineers will open the tournament on Thursday with a noon matchup against Butler … the team will take on Drexel at 3:30 p.m. on Friday … a rivalry tilt with Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday will cap the action for West Virginia.

Last Week in Women's Basketball: No. 12/15 WVU capped a three-game homestand with a pair of wins at the WVU Coliseum … on Tuesday, the Mountaineers downed Sacramento State, 101-47 … Teana Muldrow (27 points, 12 rebounds) and Naomi Davenport (22 points, 11 rebounds) each had a double-double in the win … WVU then topped North Florida, 87-59, on Sunday … Katrina Pardee had a career-high 20 points in the win … Chania Ray grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds.

Notes: The Mountaineers surpassed the century mark for the second straight game with a 101-47 win over Sacramento State on Tuesday … it marks the first time in program history WVU has scored 100 or more in back-to-back games .. it is also the first time since 1992 that WVU has posted 100 points in the WVU Coliseum on multiple occasions … West Virginia has won 34 consecutive nonconference games inside the WVU Coliseum dating back to Nov. 24, 2013 … the Mountaineers' last loss against a nonconference opponent at the WVU Coliseum came to Ohio State on Nov. 8, 2013, with WVU falling, 70-61 … West Virginia moved up one spot to No. 12 in the AP Rankings, released on Monday … it marks the Mountaineers' 100th all-time AP ranking … Sunday marked the third time in the 2017-18 season Teana Muldrow was the scoring leader for the Mountaineers, as she tied for the team high with 20 points … it was the 18th time in her career she has led WVU players in scoring … Muldrow led the Mountaineers with 23.5 ppg and 10.5 rpg, earning College Sports Madness Player of the Week honors … Muldrow has now made a field goal in 48th consecutive games and has grabbed a rebound in 76 straight contests … Katrine Pardee set a career high with 20 points on Sunday … she also tied her career high with four 3-pointers made against UNF … Chania Ray had a career-best 11 rebounds… she has now grabbed a rebound in 39 straight games.

Coach Mike Carey following Sunday's win over North Florida: "I give North Florida a lot of credit. They played harder than we did, executed better than we did, and played with more heart than we did."

This Week in Volleyball: The Mountaineers (16-12, 4-10) will close their regular season slate with a pair of Big 12 matches in Kansas this week … West Virginia takes on Kansas State (10-18, 3-12) on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a 2 p.m. ET league title at No. 16 Kansas (22-6, 11-4) on Saturday, Nov. 25 … the Jayhawk Television Network, powered by Spectrum Sports, will televise Saturday's match … the contest will be streamed live through WatchESPN and the ESPN app.

Last Week in Volleyball: West Virginia dropped a hard-fought, four-set match to No. 19-ranked Baylor by a score of 3-1 at the WVU Coliseum on Sunday ... the Mountaineers fell to the Lady Bears in set scores of 25-27, 23-25, 25-22 and 25-21 … sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey recorded her 18th match in double figures, leading the Mountaineers with 20 kills on 45 swings ... Caffrey also added four service aces, totaling 45 on the year, to go along with eight digs in the match … sophomore right side hitter Natania Levak registered 12 kills, hitting a team-best .333 to round out the Mountaineers in double digits … senior outside hitter Morgan Montgomery also chipped in with nine, while senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan added seven ... West Virginia finished the night hitting .178 with 52 kills and 13.0 team blocks … senior setter Emma Anderson dished out 44 assists and added nine digs, while senior libero Gianna Gotterba led the floor defensively with 18 digs ... Swanegan led the Mountaineers with seven blocks, while Levak and freshman middle blocker Briana Lynch added five apiece ... following the match, the Mountaineers honored their 2017 senior class: defensive specialist Taylor Cross, Gotterba, Anderson, Swanegan and Montgomery.

Notes: WVU currently sits in a tie for fifth place with Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings … the Mountaineers will play against the Wildcats and the Jayhawks for the second time this season … WVU dropped a four-set battle to Kansas in its most recent meeting on Oct. 4, but picked up a five-set win over Kansas State (Oct. 21) later that month inside the WVU Coliseum ... through 28 matches, Caffrey leads the Mountaineers in kills with 347, sophomore setter Erin Slinde leads in assists with 889, freshman defensive specialist Alexa Hasting leads in digs with 284, and Swanegan leads in blocking at 127.0 … Caffrey also leads the squad with 45 service aces on the year … as a team, West Virginia is hitting .216 and holding its opponents to a .184 clip, while out-blocking its opponents, 240.0-226.0 … Caffrey continues to lead the Big 12 with 0.43 service aces per set and ranks inside the top 10 in points (sixth) and kills (eighth) … Slinde sits inside the top seven in assists (fifth) and service aces (seventh), averaging 9.46 assists and 0.24 service aces per set … Swanegan also ranks second in the league with 1.25 blocks per set.

Coach Reed Sunahara following Saturday's loss to No. 19 Baylor: "I thought we did some good things. It's disappointing that we came up short, but I thought we improved from the last game. That's a positive. Tonight was senior night, and I thought they played well. They never gave up. They kept fighting and fighting. We won the third, and I thought we played well in the fourth. We had a couple bad breaks here and there, but you can't do that against good teams."

This Week in Rifle: The top-ranked Mountaineers do not compete this week.

Last Week in Rifle: WVU participated in 2017 NCAA Champions Day at The White House on Friday, Nov. 17 … it was the team's second visit and first since 2014.

This Week in Wrestling: The Mountaineers open their 2017-18 home slate against No. 15 Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 25, and it is the first of two Dollar Days planned for the year ... all tickets and select concessions will be available for $1 each ... additionally, the first 150 fans in attendance will receive a free WVU WWE-style t-shirt.

Last Week in Wrestling: Thirteen Mountaineers competed in a Gold and Blue singlet at the 2017 Lindenwood Open in St. Charles, Missouri, on Saturday ... redshirt freshman Matthew Schmitt went 4-1 in his pool to finish third at 133 pounds, moving to 9-2 on the year … junior Joe Wheeling and redshirt senior Parker VonEgidy claimed the 141-pound and 174-pound consolation titles, respectively … VonEgidy moved to 10-2 on the season, while Wheeling competed in his first open tournament of the year, going 4-1 at the event to move to 5-2 on the season.

Notes: Saturday marks the 11th all-time meeting between the Mountaineers and the Cornhuskers … the series dates back to 1980, with Nebraska owning a 9-1 advantage … WVU's last win against the Huskers came in 2002, as the Mountaineers took a 31-21 victory at home … the two squads last met in 2016, with Nebraska earning a 42-6 victory at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Nebraska … a trio of wrestlers rank inside the top 20 of their respective weight classes … redshirt senior Jacob A. Smith is ranked nationally in the top seven by a trio of media outlets at 197 pounds ... the Charleston, West Virginia, native appears at No. 6 according to The Open Mat and is ranked No. 7 by Intermat and FloWrestling ... redshirt junior Zeke Moisey comes in at No. 12 in FloWrestling's latest top-20 poll ... the Northampton, Pennsylvania, native also ranks No. 13 in the Intermat poll and checks in at No. 17 via The Open Mat at his weight class of 125 pounds ... At 133 pounds, Schmitt enters Intermat's poll for the first time in his career at No. 20.

Coach Sammie Henson following Saturday's Lindenwood Open: "These tournaments are tough, but these matches only make you sharper. We have to commit to the process, and I think we are making progress each and every week."

This Week in Swimming & Diving: WVU is off this week. The team next competes against Pitt on Saturday, Jan. 6, at the WVU Natatorium.

Last Week in Swimming & Diving: The Mountaineers competed at a pair of three-day meets from Nov. 17-19 … the WVU men's swimming team took eighth place at the Ohio State Invitational in Columbus, Ohio, while the women's team placed 11th … the Mountaineers earned a combined 11 top-10 finishes as a team ... the diving team participated at the Frank Elm Invitational in Piscataway, New Jersey, where the team performed 1- and 3-meter dives, as well as platform dives, earning five top-four finishes on the weekend.

Notes: Redshirt senior Nate Carr led WVU with three top-five finishes at the Ohio State Invitational, including fourth-place finishes in the 200 and 400 individual medleys and a five-place finish in the 200 breaststroke … freshman David Dixon and junior Morgan Carr placed third in the men's and women's 200 butterfly, respectively … redshirt junior Tristen DiSibio claimed seventh in the men's 100 breaststroke, while junior teammate Jake Armstrong followed close behind in eighth in the event … sophomore Morgan Bullock claimed seventh in the women's 200 butterfly, while junior Emma Harris posted an eighth-place finish in the women's 200 breaststroke … junior Merwane El Merini and senior Amelie Currat earned 10th-place finishes in the men's 50 freestyle and women's 200 backstroke, respectively … the Mountaineer men earned a team score of 184 during the three-day meet, while the women earned 80 points … senior diver Michael Proietto led WVU with three top-four finishes, including a victory on platform … Proietto also placed second on 3-meter and fourth on 1-meter … junior diver Austin Smith placed second on platform and third on 3-meter.

Coach Vic Riggs following the Ohio State Invitational: "We came into the weekend thinking we were prepared, and by our results, we were. The teams competed against some very good teams and did a great job. Our showing in the finals – and number of A Finals – against better teams compared to last year at this time is significantly better. We competed hard each session and got better at night when given the opportunity to improve. As a staff, you can't ask for more from a team."

Diving Coach Michael Grapner following the Frank Elm Invitational: "It's always nice to end on a positive note. Today's tower day was very successful. I could not be happier for Mike and Austin. Their hard work and commitment to training was evident in their performance today. Since we don't have a tower for training, we use our resources and do all of our tower training in the gymnastics gym."