Oct. 19, 2007
SERVICE! The Titans compete in the Delta Country this weekend, traveling north to visit UC Davis (3-17, 0-8) on Friday night and Pacific (11-5, 5-3) on Saturday in a pair of Big West Conference tilts. With a pair of victories this weekend, the Titans could tie the school record for most conference wins with six and sweep the season series from both the Aggies and Tigers.
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VERSUS UC DAVIS: The Titans beat the Aggies in the conference opener back on Sept. 21 at Titan Gym, 3-0 (30-16, 30--26, 30-22), snapping a two-match losing streak. Fullerton is 4-2 all-time against Davis dating back to 2004's first meeting. This is UC Davis' first season in the Big West Conference.
VERSUS PACIFIC: The Titans are just 5-42 all-time against Pacfic but have taken four of the last five meetings from the Tigers, including the last three matches. The Titans snapped a 0-41 skid against Pacific in 2004 with a five game victory in Fullerton. Fullerton defeated the Tigers in their meeting back on Sept. 22, 3-1 (30-27, 30-28, 16-30, 30-24). at Titan Gym.
LAST WEEK: The Titans let an upset of then-first-place UC Irvine get away on Thursday night before rallying from a 2-1 deficit to beat UC Riverside on Saturday night. Tied at one game apiece, the Titans led the Anteaters, 29-26, in pivotal game No. 3. But UCI won 6 of the next 7 points for a 32-30 victory and rolled on to the victory.
The tables were turned on Friday as Fullerton rallied behind Brittany Moore, who capped a strong week with a career-high 30 kills. She made only 8 errors in 119 hitting opportunities for the week with a pair of kills-digs double-doubles.
DID YOU KNOW: Fullerton has never had more than six conference victories in the history of the program. Fullerton is currently 4-3 in league action and has nine more opportunities before the end of the regular season. The 2006, 2004 and 1996 teams have all reached the six-win mark.
CONCENTRATING ON HITTING NOW: Brittany Moore is getting a little help at the net this season with the emergence of sophomore Alex Wolnisty and newcomer Erin Saddler (a pair of 6-plus-footers). Moore split her court time over the past two seasons as a blocker and a hitter, and climbed the Fullerton blocking charts. Coming into 2007, the Orange, Calif. native ranks fourth all-time in total blocks and has tallied 254 to date, with 213 of those coming as assists and 41 of those solos. Moore leap-frogged Kristen Bowlin (1983) to take over the No. 9 spot on the career list for solos with four so far on the 2007 season. Moore currently leads the team and ranks third in the Big West Conference with 4.44 kills per game.
30 ROCKS: Brittany Moore became the first player since Megan Sabo in 2000 to record a 30-kill night for Cal State Fullerton when she set her career-high against UC Riverside at home on Oct. 12. Not only did she tally 30 kills, but the junior also collected 15 digs, 2 aces and 2 block assists in the five-game league victory. For her efforts on the week, Moore earned Big West Player of the Week recognition, sharing the honor with al Poly's Jaclyn Houston. Moore is the first person this to reach the 30-kill mark in the conference. She shared the old league-high with teammate Jennifer Francisco, having pounded 28 kills each within the three prior matches.
CHASING LEVEY: Now with 3,501 career assists, Julie Geissert is alone in the No. 2 spot on the the Cal State Fullerton Career list, and is just 120 sets shy of becoming the all-time assists queen. Last week, the Fresno naitive started tied with Stephanie Schrieve (3,388 assists from 1988-91), and with her first of 44 assists against UC Irvine last Thursday night, surpassed shrieve and inched closer to the No. 1 spot held by Kim Levey (3,621 assists form 1999-2002). One night later, against UC Riverside, Geissert set a career-high with 69 assists. Geissert, Levey, Schrieve (1988-91) and Melissa Blackler (1995-97) are the only Titans to ever amass more than 3,000 assists in a career at Cal State Fullerton. Geissert has posted 10.91 apg over her four seasons in a Titan uniform and currently ranks first all-time at CSF in assists per game among players having played 250 or-more games. So far this year, the setter has posted four 60+ assist night and seven matches with 50-or-more assists.
FRANCISCO, THAT'S FUN TO SAY: After spending the majority of her first three seasons in a Titan uniform dealing with injuries, Jennifer Francisco has finally been able to show what she is made of. The Junior posted a career-high 28 kills and hit .324 with 14 digs in the Titans' 3-2 loss to Cal State Northridge on Oct. 2, then followed that with a 24-kill performance four days later against UC Santa Barbara. The 28-kill performance was the best tally for any Titan player to that point. Over the past five matches, Francisco has supplied the most kills by any Titan (85) and the second most kills per game (4.25) over that span.
BREAKOUT SEASON: Sophomore Alex Wolnisty is second on the team in kills and kills per game while continuing to hold down the fort at the net as a middle blocker. Wolnisty has put up 207 total kills and 3.00 per game placing just 37 behind teammate Brittany Moore for the team lead. On Sept. 11, the Riverside native had a career night against San Diego State, blasting a career-high 18 kills (without an error) and hit a whopping .720 on the match without committing an error. That .720 mark is the best this season by anyone in the Big West Conference. She also added three blocks on the night. Wolnisty matched her career-high again on Oct. 12 vs. UC Riverside. She has 11 matches with 10-or-more kills, and six with five-or-more blocks.
THE ROOF IS ON FIRE: The Titans put up a whopping 20.0 team blocks on Oct. 2 against Cal State Northridge, led by middle blocker Alex Wolnisty. Wolnisty set a career high with 12 total blocks on the night and jumped into the record book as being one of only 10 Titans to ever collect nine or more block assists in a night. Setter Julie Geissert also got into the mix last Tuesday, stuffing seven blocks of her own, the second-highest figure for any Titan player this year. Freshman Erin Saddler also provided support at the net, tallying six blocks including two solos I the losing effort. The Titans have now averaged nearly 10.5 team blocks a match over the past five matches as opposed to 7.0 over the first 13 matches.