Titans to Host Four Points Titan Classic This Weekend
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SERVICE! The Titans are coming off of a 0-1 week last week with a four-game loss too Hofstra at UC Riverside. Sarah Morrison led the way in the losing effort with 19 kills and 20 points overall topping all competitors. This weekend Fullerton hosts UMKC, UTEP and Marist in the annual Four Points Titan Classic at Titan Gym. Last season, The Titans took home the Classic title with three straight wins over Iona, Delaware and Texas State, jumping out to 3-0 record early in 2004. Each team will compete in three matches a piece over the two-day tourney. This year's tournament with bring with it some new faces, as the Titans have never seen UTEP and Marist, while UMKC and Fullerton hooked up in only one match back in 1996.
ABOUT THE KANGAROOS: UMKC is coming off a 0-2 week that saw them get swept by both Alabama and Kansas at the State Farm Jayhawk Classic. Sophomore Sarah Johnson finished the opening weekend with 13 kills in 27 chances and leads the team with a .370 hitting percentage. Senior Angela Melka and sophomore Lauren Starks have 18 kills on the year, to lead the Kangaroos. Cal State Fullerton and UMKC met up only once back in 1996 where the Kangaroos downed the Titans in three games on the Kangaroo's home court.
ABOUT THE MINERS: UTEP picked up a tournament championship as the Miners went 4-0 in the Middle Tennessee Invitational. They handily defeated Tennessee State (3-0), Middle Tenessee (3-1), Western Carolina (3-0), and Alabama A&M (3-0), dropping just one game in the match. Kari Stacy was named tournament MVP after recording totals of 46 kills, 12 aces, 26 digs and five blocks. This will be the first ever meeting between UTEP and Cal State Fullerton
ABOUT THE RED FOXES: Marist too is coming off of a rough weekend that saw them get swept in six-straight games against both Buffalo and St. John's, hitting only .092 and .083 respectively. Junior middle blocker Sally Hanson was named MAAC Offensive Player of the Week as she posted a personal .370 hitting percentage during the week including a .462 hitting percentage, six blocks and a service ace. This will be the first ever meeting between Marist and Cal State Fullerton.
THE DIGS KEEP COMING: Cal State Fullerton sophomore and single-season dig record holder, Vanessa Vella, continued her defensive prowess as she led all players with 22 digs from the libero position in the game against Hofstra last week. In 2004 as a freshman, Vella tallied 479 digs topping Stephanie Scofield's 1990 record of 478. (FYI - She's already on pace for 638 this season!)
ACE IN THE HOLE: Jump-server Julie Geissert led all players in last week's match with 4 service aces. In comparison, she had eight all last season splitting time with JENNA CARNEY as the setter. Last Friday, serving was a strong point as Geissert, Amy Dixon (3) Alyssa Opeka (2) tallied nine aces against Hofstra, as the Pride collected only three.
SCHEDULE: This year's schedule includes exciting match-ups for the Titans including five matches with ranked teams (Two with No. 24 Long Beach State and two with No. 15 UC Santa Barbara and one with No. 18 San Diego, all ranked in the CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Pre-Season Poll) as well as two matches with teams just missing the Top 25 (Pacific and Loyola Marymount). A highlight of the season will be a nationally televised match versus Santa Barbara on Nov. 6 from the campus of UCSB. The game will be televised on CSTV as its "Match of the Week".
SOMETHING TO PROVE: The 2005 Cal State Fullerton women's volleyball team will be out to prove the league wrong as they were predicted to finish last out of eight teams in the Big West Conference preseason coaches poll on Wednesday.
The Titans out of a possible 64 points received just 19, trailing Cal State Northridge, UC Riverside and UC Irvine, all failing to notch 30 points. Leader UC Santa Barbara received six first place votes, while the 49ers tallied two.
2005 Big West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll
1. UC Santa Barbara 62 (6) 2. Long Beach State 58 (2) 3. Pacific 48 4. Cal Poly 30 5. UC Irvine 25 6. UC Riverside 24 7. Cal State Northridge 22 8. Cal State Fullerton 19
QUICK STARTS: Fullerton has gotten off on the right foot in each of the last three seasons under head coach Carolyn Zimmerman. The 2002 team started off 4-2 only to lose all but one remaining match with UC Riverside to close out the season. In 2003, the Titans jumped out to a 5-1 record notching a couple of 2nd place, non-conference tournament finishes before ending the season with an 8-22 record. 2004 saw Fullerton win two tournament championships en route to a 6-1 start, with the loss coming to a No. 22 Loyola Marymount squad in the fourth game of the season.
DIGGIN' UP OLD TITANS: 14 Titans returned to their old stomping grounds last Saturday afternoon in the 2005 Alumni Game. Despite the 2005 squad downing the Alumni in three straight games, the old-timers put out a great showing especially on the defensive side, keeping the games relatively close. The match was played with 2005 rules in a best-of-five match that finished 30-18, 30-23, and 30-20 with the Titans on top. Players ranged from the 1979 team (Jill Freeman) to 2004 squat that returned Carley Dial, Tiffany Dolven and Jaclyn Owen. For a complete roster, check the Alumni game result from the schedule on fullertontitans.com.
NEW WEB SITE: The Cal State Fullerton athletics department and CSTV.com have teamed up to launch fullertontitans.com, an all-new web site for fans of Cal State Fullerton Athletics. It features all the same news and notes you were accustomed to at titansports.org, with new player biography sections as well as integration with GameTracker and audio streaming of certain sports. Fullertontitans.com includes all current information on the 2005-06 academic year and links back to the old site that will be maintained indefinitely for archive purposes.
ON THE AIR: Join student broadcaster Patrick Alog on fullertontitans.com for the first-ever broadcast of a Titan volleyball match on Friday evening at 5:30 and again Saturday evening at 7:30. You can follow the action as Alog broadcasts the Titans taking on Marist and UTEP in the night games of the Four Points Titan Classic.. You can listen to the broadcasts by clicking the "CLICK HERE" banner on the home page of fullertontitans.com.
