Nov. 7, 2006
Fullerton, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton volleyball team (16-9, 5-6) has four remaining matches in 2006, all of them on the road. This weeks opponents include the UC Irvine Anteaters (9-15, 4-6) and the Long Beach State 49ers (18-5, 8-2). The Titans are looking for their 17th win for just the second time in the program's existence and their sixth conference win, to tie a school record. Fullerton is 6-5 in matches away from Titan Gym and 2-5 in true road games.
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ON THE AIR: All of the remaining Titan volleyball game will be brought to you live on fullertontitans.com by play-by announcer Patrick Alog. Also, all Big West Conference matches can be seen live on BigWest TV. With a subscription, you can watch the action as it happens, right from your personal computer. Just go to bigwest.org/tv for more details.
LAST WEEK: Despite hanging tough on Friday night in a four-game loss (28-30, 30-27, 16-30, 30-32) to nationally-ranked Cal Poly, the Titan weekend shaped up pretty well as they defeated UC Santa Barbara (23-30, 30-25, 30-22, 19-30, 15-10) for the first time ever, to snap a 52-match losing streak.
Breanna Trudeau was the star all weekend, posting a career-high 23 kills against the No. 19 team in the country, then followed it with an 18-kill performance against the Gauchos in the historic win on Senior Night. For her efforts, she was named Big West Player of the Week.
Seniors Trudeau, Danielle Hitzeman, Amanda Pfielschiefter and JENNA CARNEY were all honored prior to Saturday night's match, as the Titans were playing in front of the home crowd for the last time in 2006.
With the win on Saturday night, the Titans upped their overall record to 16-9, tying for the school's second-best win total in the program's 30-year existence, and are just one league win away from tying the all-time conference win total in the school's history.
VERSUS THE ANTEATERS: Cal State Fullerton is 29-34 since 1982 versus UC Irvine and is currently riding a small 2-game winning streak against the foes down the freeway. The Titans swept UCI in their meeting on Oct. 21 at Titan Gym as Three Titans finished in double-digits in kills, with fresman Deven Bukoski leading the way with 13. Bukoski earned her tenth double-double of the year as she scooped 10 digs as well. Brittany Moore hit a season-high .688 in the match and and tied Trudeau with 11 kills. It snapped the Titans' season-high five game losing streak.
VERSUS THE 49ERS: Fullerton has beaten Long Beach just four times in 53 meetings since 1980. And with the Titans' victory over Santa Barbara lat week, Long Beach State now has the longest winning streak versus the Titans at 48 straight matchs. In their last meeting, Fullerton kept up with the 49ers, but Long Beach swept the Titans at Titan Gym on Oct. 20. Deven Bukski led the Fullerton offense, tallying 12 kills in 33 attempts. Breanna Trueau was right behind her with 10 kills of her own. Amanda Pfielschiefter hit .400 to pace the Titans, with eight kills.
QUICK HITS: &\#149; The Titans are looking to win consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 21. Since snapping a season-high five-game losing streak, The Titans are 3-2 with four matches to play.
&\#149; Vanessa Vella is digging her way into the Big West Conference record books. She currently sits just 32 scoops away from cracking the top 10. With 1,540 and four matches to go, the libero will close in on the top spot held by UCSB's Kristin Nelson (2001-04) with 1,711. In all likelihood, Vella will likely break the record, early on next season.
&\#149; With 61 digs over two matches last week, Vanessa Vella upped her digs per game average to 5.45, jumping her back to the No. 1 spot in the conference. Vella currently has 480 digs on the season, the second-best season total in the program's history. The libero also holds the No. 1 spot and the No. 3 spot in the single-season record book.
&\#149; With a victory on Oct. 28 over Pacific, Cal State Fullerton insured just its third-ever winning season in the program's existence. The Titans have now tied the 1996 team with the second-highest win total with 16. Fullerton needs just two more victories in its remaining four matches to tie the best-ever win total set by Fran Cumming's 1981 team that posted a 18-17 record.
&\#149; Fullerton's current .640 winning percentage is the highest mark in the school's history. The 1996 team (16-13) holds the record by putting up a .552 percentage.
&\#149; This year's team started off 5-0, tying a school record (1985, 87, 96) with most consecutive wins to start a season. Then later posted a seven-match winning streak from Sept. 8 to Sept. 21, the best-ever streak in the program's history. The winning streak was snapped by Cal State Northridge on Sept. 23 as the Matadors downed the Titans, 3-1 in Northridge. The team would go on to the school's best-ever start at 12-1 before earning their second loss.
&\#149; The Titans recorded 14 straight winning games from Sept. 8 to Sept. 16 over a span of five matches to set a new school record. The old record was held by the 1996 squad, which posted 12 wins in a row from Oct. 9 to Oct. 14 over a span of four matches.
&\#149; The Titans were 11-0 in tournament play this season, winning three tournament titles (Four Points Titan Classic, Comcast Logo Invitational, and the Holiday Inn Fullerton Classic) in a season for the first time in the history of the program. Fullerton also competed in the Long Beach State Tournament, going 2-0. The Titans did not place in the tournament because they did not play a full tournament schedule. The Titans lost just 6 of 39 games in tournament play.
&\#149; Sophomore Brittany Moore was just the sixth Big West Player of the Week in the program's existence on 9/4/06, and first since 2004 (Lauren Goins, OH). Breanna Turdeau became the Titans' seventh on 11/6/06.
&\#149; The team's 28-29 record over the past two seasons has given them the best winning percentage (.491) in back-to-back years in the program's 30-year existence. With 28 wins from 2004 to 2005, and 16 victories so far in 2006, the squad has amassed 44 wins, the most wins in any three-year period in the program's history.
&\#149; The 2006 Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll has predicted a fifth place finish for the Titans - their highest preseason ranking ever. The Titans have never won more than 6 conference matches in the history of the program.