FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton will hit the road for the second consecutive week as they head to the College of Charleston Classic to take on Stetson, Wake Forest and the host Cougars beginning Friday afternoon from TD Arena.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON CLASSIC:
The Titans will travel to Charleston, S.C. this weekend and take part in the College of Charleston Classic. Fullerton will open the tournament against Stetson from TD Arena and close out action Saturday with matches against Wake Forest and hosts College of Charleston.
FOLLOW THE TITANS:
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans), Instagram (@FullertonTitans), and YouTube.com (YouTube.com/csfathletics). In addition, the volleyball team has established its own official Twitter page (@FullertonVB).
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Television: None
Streaming Video: The Titans finale against College of Charleston on Saturday afternoon will be live streamed. Link will be available at www.FullertonTitans.com.
Audio Webcast: None
Live Stats: Live in-game stats for all four of the Titans matches this weekend are available at www.FullertonTitans.com
TICKETS:
Tickets for all Titans home games can be purchased online at fullertontitans.com, or at the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Ticket Office, located in the Titan House on campus off of Gymnasium Drive on the northeast side of Titan Gym. Game day sales and will call tickets will open an hour prior to the scheduled time at the specific venue.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON CLASSIC: AN INSIDE LOOK
Stetson enters the weekend having won five of their first six matches to start the 2014 season. It is the best start in the school's history. The Hatters took home The Citadel Invitational title last week, winning all three matches in the tournament. The Hatters disposed of Charleston Southern in four sets to open the competition and followed that with a sweep of North Carolina A&T. In the title game, the Hatters got 14 kills apiece from McKenna Foster and Shelby Connors and 45 assists from Kayla Weller to defeat hosts The Citadel and claim the tournament title. Overall, the Hatters won nine of the 11 sets they played and had Connors, Alexa Drost and Madison Akins named to the all-tournament team. In addition, the Hatters welcomed back preseason all-conference selection Tiffany Creamer back to the lineup on Saturday after she missed the first four matches of the season due to injury. Friday's match will be the first ever between the Titans and the Hatters.
Wake Forest has started the season with six wins in seven matches. The Demon Deacons opened the year with a pair of victories at the Houston Tournament to finish tied for first with the host Cougars. Jazmen Russell earned tournament MVP honors. A week later, the Demon Deacons hosted the Deacon Invitational, where they won all four matches to take home the tournament crown. Caroline Wolf took home tournament MVP honors while Russell and Matalee Reed each earned spots on the all-tournament team. The Demon Deacons defeated North Carolina Central and Davidson on the first day and concluded the tournament with wins over Presbyterian and Wofford. Russell currently leads Wake Forest averaging 4.00 kills per set, having smashed down 92 in 23 sets played. As a team, Wake Forest is averaging 12.69 kills per set and is hitting a combined .234 while holding opponents to a .155 hitting percentage. On defense, the Demon Deacons are averaging 14.31 digs per set and 2.58 blocks per set. The Titans and Wake Forest met for the first time in 2013 with Fullerton scoring a five-set victory to close out the Fullerton Classic at Titan Gym. In that match, Holland Crenshaw was one of three Titans with double-digit kills, recording 10 with a .421 hitting percentage to go along with a team-high four blocks.
College of Charleston won two of their three matches at the Bulldog Invitational hosted by Georgia, their only loss coming to the host Bulldogs in the finale. The two victories helped the Cougars get back on track after dropping three of their first four matches to start the 2014 season. Sophomore middle blocker Maddie Hills and senior right-side hitter Cara Howley were each selected to the all-tournament team. The Cougars followed the Bulldog Invitational with a win/loss against Charleston Southern in a midweek road contest. The Cougars were picked as the preseason favorites to win the Colonial Athletic Association for the third consecutive season. They received six of a possible nine first-place votes from the conference head coaches and had 62 total points, 10 ahead of James Madison, which received two first-place votes. This season, the Cougars are led by Melissa Morello, who is averaging 3.27 kills per set through seven matches. Sloane White, who was selected to the preseason All-CAA team, is third on the team with a 2.40 kills per set average. The Titans and Cougars have met only once prior to Saturday's match. Fullerton closed out the Four Points Sheraton Titan Classic with a four-set victory over the Cougars on Sept. 2, 2006, back when teams played to 30 points per set. The Titans went on to finish the 2006 season with a 17-12 record, which is tied for the fourth most wins in the program's history.
RECAP OF THE SDSU - USD 2014 CLASSIC
The Cal State Fullerton women's volleyball team split four matches over the weekend down in San Diego for the SDSU - USD 2014 Classic hosted by the University of San Diego and San Diego State. The Titans opened the weekend with a four-set loss to Northwestern at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Freshman Niki Withers led the Titans with her second 20-kill performance of the season while recording a .227 hitting percentage against the Wildcats. McKenna Painton led the defense with 15 digs while setter Mackenzie Olsen dished out 35 assists.
Things went better for Fullerton on the second day as they made their way to Aztec Court on the campus of San Diego State. They opened the day with a four-set win over Villanova, powered by junior Holland Crenshaw's career-high 18 kills while hitting .385. She was one of four Titans to record double-digit kills. Freshman Stephanie Buss had her best match as a Titan; recording 13 kills while hitting a spectacular .571, committing just one error in 21 attacks. She also led the team with five blocks (one solo). Olsen recorded her first double-double of the year, recording a season-high 43 assists to go along with 12 digs.
The Titans followed that match up with a sweep of Brown in the nightcap, a match in which Fullerton trailed only once. They held the Bears to 13 points in the opening set, the fewest for a Titans opponent in a game so far this year. Withers led the way with 14 kills while Crenshaw contributed with 13 and a .591 hitting percentage along with four blocks to lead the team. The Titans outhit the Bears .337 to .165 in the match and hit at a .423 clip in the opening set.
Fullerton finished off the weekend with a matchup against the co-host Aztecs. After taking the first set, the Titans struggled with their offense and hit just .185 as a collective for the match. Withers had 12 kills; marking the seventh straight match the freshman has recorded double-digit kills. Crenshaw was the only other Titan in double digits with 10 kills while Olsen had 36 assists.
MAKING QUITE THE IMPRESSION
For the second consecutive week, Cal State Fullerton's Niki Withers was named the Big West Conference Freshman Player of the Week, it was announced Monday.
Withers had another outstanding week for the Titans; recording 57 kills in four matches for Fullerton at the SDSU – USD 2014 Classic. Withers led the team in kills in three of the four matches and averaged 3.80 kills per set. She has recorded double-digit kills in all seven matches to start the season.
In Fullerton's tournament opener against Northwestern, Withers scored her second 20-kill performance of the season in a four-set loss to the Wildcats. She had a .227 hitting percentage in the match and also added four digs and two blocks for the Titans.
On day two, Withers recorded a combined 25 kills for the Titans as they scored a pair of victories over Villanova and Brown. She hammered down 14 kills and hit .286 in the team's win over Brown and added three digs and three blocks.
DEFENSE IS THE KEY
The Titans currently sit atop the Big West Conference rankings in digs, averaging 15.08 per set. They are led individually by sophomore libero McKenna Painton, who leads the conference with a 4.52 digs per set average. She is second in the conference with 113 overall digs in 25 sets, trailing UC Irvine's Arden Davis and her 120 digs in four more sets played. At the net, the Titans are tied for third in the conference, averaging 2.20 blocks per set. Freshman Stephanie Buss leads the Titans in that category with a 1.16 blocks per set average and is one of just two freshmen ranked in the top-10 of the Big West Conference rankings.
NATIONAL RANKS
The first NCAA statistical report was released this week and the Titans were ranked in the top-100 of a number of categories:
• The Titans as a team are ranked 50th in the nation in overall kills, having tallied 336 through the first seven matches of the season. The mark also ranks second in the Big West.
• Fullerton ranks 60th in the nation with 309 total assists through the first seven matches of the season.
•The Titans also rank in the top-100 in total team blocks (74th, 55.0), total digs (79th, 377), and kills per set (80th, 13.44).
• On the individual side, Niki Withers is ranked 29th in the country with 100 overall kills, 59 behind national leader Vendula Strakova of Hampton University. Her 4.00 kills per set average ranks 53rd in the nation.
• Along with leading the Big West, McKenna Painton is ranked 62nd in the nation with her 4.52 digs per set average. Her 113 digs rank second in the conference and 41st in the country, 58 behind leader Payton Harris of Mississippi State.
•Setter Mackenzie Olsen has dished out 241 assists through seven matches for the Titans. That mark ranks 68th in the nation while her 10.04 assists per set average is just inside the top-100, placing her 93rd.
• Freshman Stephanie Buss has recorded 29 total blocks, ranking her third in the conference and 55th in the nation.
CAROLYN ZIMMERMAN:
Entering her 13th season at Cal State Fullerton, Carolyn Zimmerman possesses an all-time record of 173-186 (.481). The sixth head coach in Fullerton's 37-year history, she is the winningest (.481) head coach in CSF volleyball program history.