Oct. 14, 2009
SERVICE: The friendly confines of Titan Gym beckon the Titan volleyball team this week as it hosts UC Riverside (2-13, 0-5) and Cal State Northridge (5-13, 1-4) on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The two teams are at the bottom of the Big West standings both overall and in league.
Fullerton saw its modest 2-match winning streak come to a screeching halt last weekend as the Titans remained winless on the road after a 3-1 loss at Pacific and a 3-0 sweep at UC Davis.
In Stockton on Friday, Erin Saddler had 15 kills and Kayla Neto had 10 kills and 4 blocks as the Tigers prevailed, 27-25, 27-25 and 25-14. Saddler had 18 kills while hitting .318 on Saturday but the Aggies came back to win 20-25, 25-16, 25-16, 27-25.
Complete Release in PDF Format
FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE: Listen to the audio webcasts of this weekend's volleyball matches live with Patrick Alog and Crysania Salcedo by clicking the audio link at the top of each page at fullertontitans.com. From there, pick the game you would like to listen to and you are there. Also you can follow live video streaks with the audio broadcast via subscription at bigwest.tv.
VERSUS UC RIVERSIDE: The Titans are 15-4 all-time against the Highlanders dating back to their first meeting in 1984. Fullerton has won the last eight consecutive meetings with Riverside and has not dropped a match since Oct. 28, 2004 in Titan Gym
VERSUS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: The Titans are 8-20 all-time against the Matadors dating back to 1980. The Titans win on Oct. 11, 2008, the first meeting of last year, snapped a five-match losing streak to the Matadors. The Titans swept the 2008 season series and has a two-match winning streak.
CONFERENCE ACTION: In 29 previous seasons, the Titans have just ONE winning conference schedule and that was produced by the 2008 squad. The Titans finished in fifth place with a 9-7 record - the most wins in league by and Fullerton volleyball team. Fullerton has never finished higher than fifth place in their conference and have accumulated an 85-394 (.177) all-time record dating back to 1980.
QUICK HITS:
&\#149; With their win over Cal Poly on Oct. 2, the Titans have now one 11-or-more games in each of the last six seasons. &\#149; The program has notched at least 14 wins in each of the last five season, the best stretch in terms of victories in the program's history. The next closest run was from 1995 to 1997 where the Titans posted 12, 16 and 12 wins in three straight years.
&\#149; The Titans have recorded 16-or-more wins just four times in the program's history (1981, 1996, 2006, 2008), 17-or-more twice (1981, 2006), and 18 once (1981).
&\#149; The Titans set a school record early this year by winning its first six matches of the season before dropping their Sept. 7 match to Oregon State. The 1985, 1987, 1996 and 2006 teams all won five matches in a row before losing their first matches.
&\#149; Fullerton is a 8-1 at home in 2009 and 3-1 in matches at neutral sites. Conversely, the Titans are winless in five true road games (New Mexico, Oregon State, San Diego State, Pacific and UC Santa Barbara).
&\#149; The Titans have not won more than two consecutive games since they opened the season with six straight victories.
&\#149; The Titans received six votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll on Oct. 5 after defeating Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara in Big West conference action. It was the first time in program history that the team had been recognized at that level. The team's stay in the "receiving votes" section was brief after falling to both Pacific and UC Davis the following weekend.
&\#149; After cracking the top 100 for the first time in the sport's history, The Cal State Fullerton volleyball team jumped 26 spots to No. 67 on the NCAA's RPI, their highest mark ever. The Titans have played two in the NCAA's Top 25 (Baylor - 15, Long Beach State - 21), three in the Top 30 (UCLA - 26), six in the Top 40 (New Mexico - 34, Pittsburgh - 36, Wisconsin - 37) and 7 in the Top 50 (UC Santa Barbara - 45). Fullerton is 4-3 against those schools in the RPI Top 50.
&\#149;The Titans are 14th in the nation in assists per set with 13.19 assists per set as a team. Texas A&M leads the nation with 14.25 assists per frame.
&\#149;Fullerton ranks 29th in the nation in kills per set. Its 13.83 kills per set is ultimately trailing Penn State's 15.07 kills per set national lead.
&\#149; Setter Andrea Ragan posted a career high 5 service aces on Sept. 19 against Fordham including three consecutive strikes within the first 10 points of the match.
&\#149; If the season ended today, the Titans' .219 team attack percentage would rank as the second-best attack percentage in school history, just .004 off the top spot.
&\#149; If the Season ended today, the Titans' 13.19 assists per set would rank as the third-best mark in school history.
&\#149; The Titans are averaging nearly 21 attack errors per match and committing 8 service errors per match through 16 contests in 2009. They committed as many as 33 attack errors and as many as 17 service errors in a match.
&\#149; The Titan blocking numbers though 18 matches (119.0 total team blocks) are on pace to be the fewest number of total blocks since 2002 (127.0). They are on pace to collect 199.0 through 30 matches.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Junior Erin Saddler continues to sit atop the Big West Conference leader board in kills with 301 total and 4.70 kills per set. She has 24 more total kills and 0.27 more per set than the next best hitter, Rebecca Saraceno of UC Santa Barbara. Her 4.70 kills per set coming into the week ranks her 6th in the nation according to the NCAA, and her 5.34 points per set also ranked her 5th nationally. Saddler has accumulated 301 kills (16.72 kills per match) and also has seven double-doubles (kills/digs). In the Titans' Sept. 3 match versus Montana, the Bellflower native had a career-high 27 kills, including 12 in the fourth and final set of the Titans' 3-1 victory. The junior also ranks 7th in the Big West in service aces hitting 21 total strikes (0.33 per set) trailing the league leader, Svenja Engelhardt (Pacific) by seven aces.
SETTING THEM UP: Sophomore Andrea Ragan remains atop of the Big West Conference standings and is ranking 14th in the nation with 11.55 assists per set. After a brief bump to the No. 2 slot two weeks ago, the leading setter now has amassed 739 total assists and has four double-doubles (assists/digs) to her credit.
CROTEAU CHALLENGING DIG RECORD: Junior libero Cami Croteau (Orange, Calif.) has embarked on a mission to break the Cal State Fullerton career dig mark set by her predecessor Vanessa Vella back in 2006. In three years in a Titan uniform, Vella posted 1,598 career digs in 316 career sets. Croteau, in her first two seasons, broke into the 1000-dig club and now, in her third year, sits just 272 digs away from the top spot with 1,326 career digs already to her credit. Croteau has collected 502 and 505 digs in her first two seasons,, respectively, good for third and fourth all-time in the Titans' single-season record book behind Vella's 581 and 538.
CROTEAU LEADS THE LEAGUE: Libero Cami Croteau came into the week leading the Big West Conference and ranking 28th in the nation with 4.98 digs per set and 319 total digs. She is tailing the dig machine from NJIT Sabrina Baby who is scooping 6.63 attack attempts per set to lead the nation.
WOLNISTY CHASES BLOCKING RECORD: Senior Alex Wolnisty (Riverside, Calif.) sits 33 block assists away from tying the Cal State Fullerton block assist mark of 294 block assists set last year by former teammate Brittany Moore. Wolnisty has had as few as 53 block assists her freshman year and as many as 96 as a sophomore and currently has 261 block assists in her career through 18 matches this season. The middle is also just 51 total blocks away from tying the all-time blocking mark set by Stephanie Scofield from 1988-1991. Scofield posted 363 total blocks in her four-year career over 442 sets. Wolnisty currently has 312 total blocks, and still needs to pass Tammy Miller (325, 1986-89), Brittany Moore (360, 2005-08) and Scofield for the record.
WITH ACCURACY: Senior Alex Wolnisty dropped two spots this week to No. 6 in the Big West Conference with a .317 attack percentage. The senior currently has 143 kills in 312 swings with just 44 errors. The Riverside native's best total attack percentage came last year when she hit a career-best .291, and is currently hitting .267 in her four-year career, ranking her second all time at Cal State Fullerton.