Oct. 10, 2006
Fullerton, Calif. - The Titans begin a three-game homestand on Friday the 13th when they take on Northridge in their only match this week. The Titans are looking to even their conference record after dropping their last two attempts.
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Fullerton is amidst their longest losing skid of the season having dropped back-to-back conference matches against UC Santa Barbara and No. 20 Cal Poly over the weekend. The Titans have now lost three in a row, and four of their last five matches following the program's best-ever start at 12-1. The immediate road does not get any easier in the next couple of weeks as they take on Cal State Northridge (10-5, 3-1) and Long Beach State (12-4, 3-1) on the horizon.
A couple of freshman stood out on both Friday and Saturday with Deven Bukoski and Alex Wolnisty leading the way. Bukoski continued her solid play, posting her team-leading eighth double-double of the season against Cal Poly, and missing her ninth by one kill at Santa Barbara. The Hawaiian native tallied a team-leading 19 kills and 29 digs over the Titans' last two matches. Wolnisty led all the Titans in blocks, stuffing her share of nine total blocks, including a career-high five against the Mustangs.
ON THE AIR: Friday night's game from Titan Gym will be broadcast on fullertontitans.com by play-pby-play announcer Patrick Alog. Follow the link on the home page to hear all the action as it happens. You can also follwo the gave via streaming video by visiting www.bigwest.org/tv. The service is a subcription based throught the Big West Conference and CSTV.com
VERSUS THE MATADORS: The Titans are 6-17 all-time against CSUN since 1980. Fullerton has dropped the last two meetings, including the Sept. 23 match in Northridge. Brittany Moore and Amanda Pfielschiefter each collected 10 kills and Vanessa Vella led all players with 21 digs in the losing effort. The Titans lost the match after winning the first game, 30-26, 19-30, 28-30, 24-30.
RECORD BREAKDOWN:
OVERALL: 13-5
CONFERENCE: 2-3
NON-CONFERENCE: 11-2
HOME: 7-1
AWAY FROM HOME: 6-4
NEUTRAL: 4-0
TOURNAMENT PLAY: 11-0
TUESDAY: 0-1
THURSDAY: 2-0
FRIDAY: 4-2
SATURDAY: 7-2
IN THREE GAMES: 7-3
IN FOUR GAMES: 5-2
IN FIVE GAMES: 1-0
TITANS IN THE BIG WEST:
&\#149; As a team, the Titans did not hit very well last weekend versus Cal Poly and Santa Barbara, and slipped from No. 2 to No 5 in conference with a .211 hitting percentage. Brittany Moore and Amanda Pfielschiefter however, remain in the conference's Top 10. Moore is hitting .335, good for 4th in the league, while Pfielschiefter comes in at No. 7 at .311. With a pair of uncharacteristic matches by the Sophomore, Moore drops from 7th in kills per game to 10th.
&\#149; Julie Geissert, just the third Titan to ever accumulate over 2,000 assists, ranks 4th in the Big West with 11.76 assists per game, with the second-best total with 741. Cal Poly's Chelsea Hayes leads with 886 total assists.
&\#149; Fullerton is 2nd in the conference in serving, posting 1.86 aces a game led by libero Vanessa Vella (0.37 sapg), who sits in 5th place in the league in sapg and tied for 3rd in total aces with 22.
&\#149; Junior Vanessa Vella has had to do all the shoveling over the past two seasons - all alone. This season, she has had some help in the back-court with the help of newcomers Mounia Nihpali, and Deven Bukoski and returner Danielle Hitzeman who have each all registered over 185 digs so far. Vella leads the team with 303 total digs, and is No. 3 in the conference with 5.05 per game.
&\#149; Brittany Moore has a handle of the Titans' blocking, coming into this weekend's competition as the 9th-best blocker in the league with 1.08 bpg. The sophomore has 68 total blocks and has the 3rd-best total in league when it comes to the solo variety (13).
&\#149; Fullerton is holding its opponents to just a .134 attack percentage to lead the conference.