Nov. 4, 2005
San Luis Obispo, Calif. - Cal Poly's Vanessa Gilliam pounded out 30 kills and collected 34.5 total points to lead the Mustangs past Cal State Fullerton 3-1 (30-23, 27-30, 31-29, 30-26) in a Big West Conference volleyball match at Mott Gym Friday night.
The loss was the seventh out of the last eight matches for the Titans who fall to 12-12 on the season, and 3-7 in conference. Cal Poly improves to 16-5 overall and 9-3 in the Big West.
The games were relatively close with the Titans only managing to take game two 30-27. The tightest match of the night came as the Mustangs snuck one out 31-29 despite being out-hit .325 to .172.
Overall the Titans out-hit the Mustangs .177 to .171 but were out-killed 77-51. Brittany Moore and Alyssa Opeka led the way for the Titans as the two tallied 26 kills between them. Moore, who hit .323 on the night, nabbed a career-high 14 kills, while Opeka hit .375 to lead all players with 10 or more kills. Opeka's 12 kills came without a making error. Both Moore and Opeka had six block assists to lead all players in the losing effort.
Four Titans had double-digits in digs with sophomore Vanessa Vella setting another Titan record for single-season digs. Vella picked up 28 digs Friday night to improve her season total to 496. Last season, as a freshman, the libero set the single-season record of 479. Coming into this week, Vella was ranked 24 in the country in digs per game with 5.32.
Cal Poly's Chelsea Hays had 63 assists on the night, helping both Gilliam and Kylie Atherstone to 46 kills between the two hitters.
Atherstone (22) and Kristin Jackson (20) were two of four Mustangs to pick up double digits in digs for Cal Poly.
Fullerton's Danielle Hitzeman picked up her seventh double-double of the season collecting 10 kills and 15 digs.
Cal State Fullerton now travels to Santa Barbara where they will be taking on the Gauchos Saturday night on national television for the first time in the program's history. The game will be taped to be televised on Sunday afternoon on CSTV as their "Game of the Week." First sever is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.