Nov. 14, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
SERVICE! The Titans try to put the finishing touches on a successful season when they wrap up the Big West Conference portion of their schedule with a pair of home matches against Cal State Northridge (10-18, 6-9) and Long Beach State (20-6, 13-2) on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Brittany Moore paced the Titans last week with by scoring a pair of 22-kill nights and an overall attack percentage of .312 for the week. The junior hitter also posted five serving aces, 16 digs and 11 blocks to lift the Titans to a perfect 2-0 week.
After Northridge and Long Beach, the Titans will conclude its regular-season campaign at the Cal State Northridge Thanksgiving Tournament before the NCAA pairings are revealed.
VS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: The Titans are 6-19 against the Matadors since 1980 and have currently dropped the last four meetings including the five-game match this year at the Matadome on Oct. 2. The last Titan win came in three-game sweep on Sept. 24, 2005 at Titan Gym.
VS LONG BEACH STATE: The Titans have struggled against the 49ers, posting a 4-51 record since 1980. Currently, the Titans have dropped the last 50 matches with the cross-town opponent, with their last win coming in 1982, when the swept the two-game season series. Fullerton has not won a game against Long Beach since 2004, when the Titans grabbed a game three 33-31 victory in overtime on Sept. 16. Fullerton lost 3-0 on 10/30.
ON THE AIR: Patrick Alog and/or Casey Moran will bring this week's volleyball action live via audio broadcast at fullertontitans.com. Just follow the link with the microphone on the home page, and you'll be listening to the Titans volleyball in no time! You can also watchlive streaming vido vis bigwest.tv. Just go to bigwest.tv for instructions on how to subscribe.
SENIOR CIRCUIT: Friday night vs. Long Beach State, the Titans will be honoring Jennifer Francisco, Mounia Nihipali and Julie Geissert on Senior Night as they will be playing their final home games in a Titan uniform.
CONFERENCE CONFIDENCE: For the first time in the history of the volleyball program, the Titans have won seven conference matches, setting the record with a 3-1 win over UC Riverside on Nov. 8. Prior to this year, the Titans have won six league matches on three occasions (2006, 2004, 1006).
The Titans are also 3-0 in their last three Big West Conference openers with a win over UC Davis on Sept. 21 of this year, and wins in each of the last two seasons over Pacific. Prior to that, Fullerton was winless dating back to 1980, going 0-25, until its first conference-opening win against the Pacific on Sept. 23, 2005.
WE HAVE A NEW QUEEN: Senior setter Julie Geissert became the all-time assist leader in the first game of a four-game loss to UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 2. This season, the Fresno native has surpassed both Stephanie Schrieve (3,388 from 1988-91) and Kim Levey (3,621 from 1999-2002) en route to the top spot with 3,755 current assists. On Oct. 12 against UC Riverside, Geissert set her career-high with 69 assists.
Geissert, Levey, Schrieve 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 10.79 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 200-or-more games. So far this year, the setter has posted four 60-plus assist night and eight matches with 50-plus.
THE ROOF IS ON FIRE: Over the past 13 matches, the Titans as a team are posting just over 10.5 team blocks a match and have out-blocked their opponent in nine of those matches. In comparison, the Titans were only posting 7.5 team blocks over the first 13 matches with their highest as a team being a 10-block night against Stony Brook on Sept. 1. A month later, 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. Freshman Erin Saddler then became just the third person in Titan history to record a 10-block assists night on Oct. 16 vs. UC Davis. She finished with a career-high 11 blocks.
TOP NOTCH PERFORMANCES: Outside hitter 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 Cal Poly's Jaclyn Houston. Moore was the first person this to reach the 30-kill mark in the conference this season and became just the eighth Fullerton Player of the Week in school's history.
SERVING UP ACES: Coming into the week the Titans are fourth in Big West Conference from the service line, and are currently averaging 1.58 aces per game and have four players in the league's individual Top 10. Cari Bailey (25 aces, 0.39 sapg) starts the week ranking fourth in the league in aces per game while Brittany Moore (28 aces, 0.33 sapg), Erin Saddler (30 aces, 0.31 sapg) and Julie Geissert (29 aces, 0.30 sapg) rank seventh, ninth and tenth, respectively.