Central Coast Foes Visit Titan Gym This
Week Sept. 21, 2004 – Fullerton, Calif.
SERVICE!: The Cal State Fullerton women's volleyball
team (6-4 overall in 2004) looks to snap a three-match losing skid this
week as the Titans pick up Big West Conference play this weekend at Titan
Gym.
Fullerton opens the weekend against Cal Poly on Friday night (Sept. 24)
before hosting the preseason conference favorite UC Santa Barbara on Saturday
(Sept. 25). Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
SERIES RECORDS: Cal State Fullerton is just 2-34 against
the Mustangs since 1981 and have dropped the last 13 consecutive meetings
to Cal Poly... The Titans have never defeated UC Santa Barbara in women's
volleyball, going 0-47 since the first meeting between the two schools
in 1982.
MS. CONSISTENT: Cal State Fullerton senior Lauren Goins may not
have her picture in Webster's next to "consistent," but she
could be the poster child if she wanted to. Goins has posted double-digit
kills in nine of her first 10 matches (including the first seven straight)
and has a double-double on six occasions in 2004.
She's well ahead of last year's pace when she had just five matches of
10-or-more kills in the first 10 matches and in 18 overall.
GREAT WALL OF TITANS: Cal State Fullerton's blocking corps has
done an excellent job at the net this season, ranking second in the Big
West with 2.73 bpg. A large part of that is due to the trio of seniors
Carley Dial and Tiffany Dolven and junior Alyssa Opeka.
Dolven ranks second in the Big West Conference with 1.42 bpg while Opeka
(41 blocks, 1.11 bpg) and Dial (35 blocks, 0.97 bpg) are right behind
her.
GOING ALL IN WITH ACES: Serving has been a strength of
the Titans in 2004, and that is reflected in the most recent Big West
Conference statistical reports. Fullerton ranks second in the league with
2.03 per game and the Titans have two players rank among the top 10 in
the individual category: Alyssa Opeka stands fourth at 0.51 pg while Jenna
Carney ranks seventh at 0.43 pg.
FOR OPENERS: Cal State Fullerton continued a string of futility
in Big West Conference/PCAA openers since joining the league 1985, going
a combined 0-20.
GOINS THE DISTANCE: Cal State Fullerton senior outside
hitter Lauren Goins continues to climb the record books in three different
categories.
Her 136 kills this season gives her 879 for her career and places her
firmly in fifth place all-time and just 56 more kills out of fourth. If
Goins matches her offensive output from last season (300 kills), she would
become only the fourth player in Fullerton history to reach the 1,000
kill mark.
In other record book news, Goins' 792 digs puts her in ninth place on
that all-time list (18 short of eighth) and she needs just two more service
aces to move into seventh on that career list.
ABOUT THE TITANS: Cal State Fullerton returns eight letterwinners
from last year's squad which went 8-22 overall (2-16 in the Big West),
including five players who started 20 or more matches in 2003. The roster
is very balanced with a good mix of experience (seven upperclassmen, including
four seniors) and youth (eight freshmen and sophomores). Fullerton also
returns a potent offense with the returners accounting for just ovr 92
percent of the offense last season, 96.5 percent of the team's blocks,
and just under 52 percent of the digs from 2003.
TITANS PICKED NINTH IN PRESEASON COACHES POLL: Cal State
Fullerton was picked to finish ninth in the Big West Conference this season
according to a poll of the league's head coaches. The Titans, who finished
10th last season, received 21 points to finish ahead of UC Riverside –
the source of Fullerton's only two conference wins in 2003.
UC Santa Barbara received nine first-place votes and was picked to repeat
as league champs for a third consecutive season with 99 points.
