SERVICE!: The Cal State Fullerton women’s volleyball
team (10-10 overall, 3-8
in the Big West) come back home for the start of a four-game home stand
beginning with Big West competitor UC Riverside on Thursday night (10/28)
followed by UC Davis on Friday night (10/29).
The Highlanders of UC Riverside come to Titan Gym in ninth-place in the
Big
West with a 10-11 overall record and a 2-9 conference record. Riverside
is coming off of a 1-1 weekend where they swept Cal Poly 3-0 in San Louis
Obispo, then were swept in Santa Barbara 3-0 by UCSB.
Fullerton is riding a four-game winning streak against the Highlanders
and is
7-3 lifetime going into Friday night’s match. The Titans downed
Riverside in their last meeting 3-0 (30-24, 30-28, 30-25) Oct.1 at the
Student Recreation Center.
UC Davis (1-16) lost three straight to Idaho at the Pavillion on Saturday
and are scheduled to play Tuesday at home versus Sacramento State.
Friday night will mark the first meeting between UC Davis and Fullerton.
HOME SWEET HOME: With a 9-2 record at Titan Gym, Fullerton
has its best record at home since the 1996 season. The `96 squad finished
9-3 at home en route to a 16-13 overall record … The Titans still
have 6 more matches at Titan Gym in 2004 … The Titans were close
to picking up their tenth win on 10/16, but the Idaho Vandals squeeked
out a fifth-game win to beat CSF 3-2 giving Fullerton only their second
loss at home.
IMPROVING: With Fullerton’s three conference victories
in 2004, the Titans have already notched as many conference wins as the
last two seasons combined. Fullerton was 2-16 in 2003, and 1-17 in 2002.
Both teams finished in 10th in the conference.
With its 10-10 overall record, CSF has reached ten or more victories for
the first time since the 1997 team was 12-18 and only the 8th time in
the 29 years of the sport ... This is the first 10-win season for Carolyn
Zimmerman in her three years as Titan head coach.
CLIMBING THE LADDER: Senior Lauren Goins put her mark
in the Titan record books Friday night against UC Santa Barbara. Goins
became only the fourth
Titan to reach the 1,000-kill mark and the first to reach the plateau
since Megan Sabo reached it in 2000… Susan Herman (1986-89) holds
the all-time CSF kill record with 1,534.
Goins is also moving up a couple of other lists tallying 21 more digs
this past weekend to give her 894 in her three-plus years in a Titan jersey.
That puts her in
a tie for fifth all-time with Angela Lightfoot from the 1988-91 seasons.
She also moved into sole possession of fourth place in career services
aces with her four this past weekend. She now has a team-leading 31 aces
on the year and 99 for her career.
ON THE ATTACK: Senior Carley Dial continues to strike
the ball well for average. Her .323 (150 kills, 43 errors and 331 attempts)
hitting percentage is good for seventh place on the Big West leader board…
Senior outside hitter Lauren Goins places ninth on the Big West kills
per game list. She is slamming 3.75 kills per game with a team-leading
278 kills in 74 games. Goins is 117 kills ahead of her next closest teammate
Alyssa Opeka who has 161.
CAN YOU DIG IT?: Cal State Fullerton freshman libero
Vanessa Vella is quickly making a name for herself as one of the best
diggers in the Big West Conference and in the school record books. Vella's
329 digs have her just 16 digs shy of moving into the top five on Fullerton's
single season record books. Her 4.45 dpg rank her fourth in the Big West
entering play this weekend, five hundredths of a
dpg behind Jessica Hammerich (4.50) of CS northridge in third place.
ALL IN WITH A PAIR OF ACES: Serving has been one of the
strengths for the
Titans in 2004, and that is reflected in the most recent Big West Conference
statistical reports. Fullerton ranks second in the league with 1.86 per
game and the Titans have two players among the top 10 in the individual
category: Lauren Goins ranks fifth at 0.42 pg while Alyssa Opeka stands
tenth at 0.34 pg. Goins
31 total aces puts her forth in the conference in service aces, one of
four players with 30 or more.
GREAT WALL OF TITANS: Cal State Fullerton continues to
play well at the net this season, out-blocking the opposition in nine
of the team's ten victories and ranking fourth in the conference with
2.49 bpg. This success is led by the play of senior Tiffany Dolven, who
ranks fourth in the league with 1.26 bpg and has the most block solos
(28) of any player in the Big West Conference. If Dolven continues her
pace of 1.4 solo blocks per match, she would move into the top-five on
the CSF single-season solo blocks list.
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 18 of the Titans' 20 matches (including the first seven straight)
and has had 13 matches of 10-or-more digs (including a season-high 23
digs against Arizona State) … 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.
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 over 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.
