Oct. 13, 2011
THIS WEEK IN TITAN VOLLEYBALL:
Friday, Oct. 14, vs. Pacific (Titan Gym), 7 p.m.
AUDIO / BIG WEST.TV
Saturday, Oct. 15, vs. UC Davis (Titan Gym), 7 p.m.
AUDIO / BIG WEST.TV"
LISTEN IN: This weekend's matches will have live audio broadcasts from Titan Gym with play-by-play announcers Casey Moran and Patrick Alog on the mic. Just go to fullertontitans.com and click the audio icon in the upper right-hand corner of the website and pick the event you want to listen to from your computer or smart phone.
WATCH THE MATCH: With a subscription, you can catch most Big West Conference volleyball matches and ALL of them played in Titan Gym. Just go to BigWest.tv to log in.
TITAN TUESDAY: She's a student-athlete by day, and a musician by night... Go check out our latest "Titan Tuesday" featuring freshman libero, Amanda Yamate. Click here to watch to video.
SERVICE: The Titans (8-9, 3-2) return home after three consecutive matches away from Titan Gym this week as they host the Tigers of Pacific (12-7, 3-3) and the Aggies of UC Davis (18-3, 4-2) this Friday and Saturday.
With a midweek win by UC Santa Barbara, the Titans sit a half game out in the Big West standings, with all nine teams within 2.5 games of first place. Santa Barbara, Long Beach and Davis all lead the league at 4-2. The Titans are 3-2 in conference action.
In her first match back after an injury, Caitlin Ledoux had 17 kills and 11 digs to pave the way for the 49ers to win their 58th consecutive match against the Titans.
Hitters Kayla Neto and Jennifer Edmond each had 13 kills for the Titans. Middle Leah Best had a team high four blocks. Setter Andrea Ragan is poised to become the Titans' all-time leader in assists next weekend, needing just nine good sets to break Julie Geissert's career mark of 3,907 career assists.
The Titans saw their season best three-match winning streak on Saturday at The Matadome, 30-32, 21-25, 18-25. Leah Maurer (11 kills, .375 attack percentage) and Leah Best (8 kills, .538) were the standouts in the loss.
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VERSUS PACIFIC: Despite an all-time record of just 10-44 against Pacific, Cal State Fullerton has emerged victorious in 10 of its last 13 contests against the Tigers dating back to 2004. Prior to the Titans' recent dominance, it was the Tigers that were dominating, winning each of the first 31 contests between the two schools dating back to 1984. The Tigers hold a 19-7 advantage when playing in Titan Gym. In the 54 meetings between the two schools, only two contests have been played out of conference. Both Pacific and Cal State Fullerton have competed in the PCAA and the Big West together. Fullerton has won three in a row against Pacific.
VERSUS UC DAVIS: The Titans hold a 9-4 advantage over the Aggies dating back to the teams' first meeting in 2004. The Titans were 3-2 against the Aggies in the five matches before Davis joined the Big West in 2007, and have since gone 6-2 in league play. The Titans have currently won three in a row against the Aggies and have come out on top in four of the last five meetings.
COMING TO TOWN: Pacific and UC Davis bring with them a combined 30-10 record and are atop the Big West leaders in offense... The Aggies rank 1st in hitting percentage (.231), 2nd in kills (13.82 per set) and 2nd in assists (12.79 per set). UC Davis has won two in a row after losing a season-high two in a row that snapped an 11 match winning streak. The Aggies have won 13 of their last 15...The Tigers rank 3rd in hitting (.224), 1st in assists (13.09 per set) and kills (14.00 per set). Pacific's Gabby Cowen leads the league with a .342 attack percentage while senior Samantha Misa ranks second in kills per set (3.96). Pacific has won two matches in a row and has won six of its last 10.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Fullerton has won 19 of the last 21 matches at Titan Gym. The Titans are 3-1 this year at Fullerton following up a record-breaking year in 2010 when they went 16-1 on their home court.
CONFERENCE WINS: Before last year's break out season that saw the Titans go 14-2 in the Big West, the Titans had never won more than nine in a single season. Currently, the Titans are 3-2 in 2011 and have won 11 of their last 13 league matches and 17 of their last 21. The Titans are also 15-5 in their last 20 conference home matches. They have currently won 6 consecutive home league contests.
DRE DAY DRAWING NEAR: Titan setter Andrea Ragan (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) is on the verge of passing former Titan Julie Geissert's school record of 3,907 career assists set from 2004-07. Ragan sits just 8 sets away from tying and 9 from setting the new school record with 3,899 career assists. So far this year she has passed Stephanie Schrieve (3,388 assists from 1988-91) and Kim Levey (3,621 from 1999-02) and sits in the No. 2 all-time position at Cal State Fullerton. Ragan will also likely become the first Titan setter to amass 4,000 assists in the coming weeks. If she finishes this year with around 1,200 assists she will be sitting a bit outside of the Big West Conference's all-time Top 10.
TOP 5 CSF ASSIST LEADERS:
1. 3,907 assists, Julie Geissert (252 sets), 2004-07
2. 3,899, assists, Andrea Ragan (285 sets), 2008-pres.
3. 3,621, assists, Kim Levey (389 sets), 1999-02
4. 3,388, assists, Stephanie Shrieve (461 sets), 1988-91
5. 2,360, assists, Melissa Blackler (226 sets), 1995-97
AROUND THE BIG WEST: Leah Maurer has moved into the Top 10 in hitting percentage, ranking 9th with a .271 mark... Kayla Neto ranks fourth in kills per set, averaging 3.89 per frame. She also ranks fifth in the conference 258 total kills... Andrea Ragan ranks third in the league in both total assists (676) and assists per set (10.40). Ragan is currently setting around one assist less per set than her career average of 11.30... Amanda Yamate is scooping up 4.22 digs per set and ranking fifth in the league despite not having played in the last five Titan matches.
SMALL VICTORY: Last week against Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton took a set from their long-time nemesis for just the fourth time at the Walter Pyramid since it opened in 1994. It was the first time since 2008 that the Titans had taken a set from the 49ers. The Titans have lost 58 straight to the 49ers since winning four times in their first six meetings.
DOUBLE DOWN: Kayla Neto, Bre Moreland and Andrea Ragan are the only Titans to tally double figures in two statistical categories in a match this year. Neto and Moreland have done it in kills and digs, Ragan has done it in assists and digs. Neto leads the team with 10 double-doubles Moreland is right behind her with nine. Moreland has produced double-doubles in six of her last 10 matches and set career-highs in digs (Sept. 24 vs. UC Santa Barbara, 22) and kills (Sept. 16 vs. BYU, 18). Neto has double-double in 7 of her last 10 matches. Ragan has four double-doubles in a row and six in her last 10 matches.
NETO BANDITO: Neto has now moved into the Cal State Fullerton career Top 10 with 898 career kills and has knocked Alyssa Opeka (868 kills from 2002-05) from the list. In the dig department, Neto has more than doubled her career totals this year alone and leads the team with 196 digs.