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Colorado State Hosts New Mexico and Air Force
Rams enter week 16-8, 8-2 MWC.
Nov. 5, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Colorado State will close out its home regular season conference season this weekend as it hosts New Mexico on Friday and Air Force on Saturday. The Rams defeated both teams earlier this season and have won their last 16 meetings against Air Force and last 11 against New Mexico. Aztec Senior Night: At the match honoring the San Diego State volleyball seniors, the Aztecs would use the emotion of the evening to defeat the Rams in three games, 30-20, 30-25, 30-27. Colorado State was led by its middle blockers with sophomore Katie Jo Shirley getting 12 blocks and senior Michelle Knox notching 11 and hitting .304. Sophomore libero Lindsey Kerr led the team with 15 digs and freshman opposite side Andreya Downs continued her hot serving with three aces in the match. The Rams managed just two blocks on the night with a solo stop coming from sophomore setter Melissa Courtney in the third game. Scraping One Out: The Colorado State volleyball team scraped out a long win at UNLV in four games, 29-31 37-35, 30-26, 30-12 at the Cox Pavilion on Friday evening. Colorado State had 15 service aces in the match, the most on the year and the fourth most in school history. Andreya Downs tied the school record for aces in a match with eight. Freshman outside hitter Tess Rogers led the team with 16 kills, while Downs had 15 and Katie Jo Shirley and Michelle Knox each chipped in 10. Downs also led the team with six blocks, while Lindsey Kerr led all players with 19 digs. Aces Are Wild: Andreya Downs tied the school record for service aces in a single match on Friday against UNLV with eight. She ties Soraya Santos from last year in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament against Air Force. Her eight aces also shatters the MWC single-match record by a freshman in both all matches and conference matches and is second all-time in league history. Downs ended the weekend with 11 aces in two matches. The team tallied 15 aces in that match, which is a season high and ties for the fourth most in a single-match in school history and ties the Mountain West Conference record in conference only matches and ties for the third most in league history. Aces Are Wild, II: Andreya Downs did not rank in the top 10 single season charts when the Rams left Moby Arena on Thursday for the airport. When she and the rest of the team returned after the two matches at UNLV and San Diego State, Downs now ties for fourth on the CSU single-season chart for service aces with 49. She needs just 10 more (in at least six matches) to break the all-time Ram record of 58 held by Sherri Danielson from 1984. Downs already holds both the CSU and MWC freshman aces records. Doubled Up: Michelle Knox has tallied at least 10 kills in every conference match this season and has done so in her last 11 matches. Tess Rogers string of double figure kills came to an end on Saturday. She had hit double digits in kills in the previous 10 matches and narrowly missed it at SDSU with nine. Ms. Rogers Neighborhood: Tess Rogers is just 12 kills shy of setting the new Mountain West kills record by a freshman. She currently has 315 on the year and the current record is 326 held by Delavane Diaz of Air Force from 2000. She is also just 30 kills shy of breaking the CSU freshman record of 344 held by Angie Miller from 1988. Rogers also has 147 kills in conference matches this season, which is only eight shy of the MWC freshman record of 155 held by Diaz in 2000. Rogers should break both Mountain West records this weekend. Quite A Story: Freshman middle blocker Melissa Dennett had a busy weekend. After tallying two of the last three points against UNLV on Friday and traveling to SDSU, she turned around and played in the exhibition basketball game for the Rams on Sunday, notching four rebounds and a blocked shot in seven minutes of play. Tournament Preview: Colorado State is 1/2 match behind San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference standings after dropping a three-game match there on Saturday. The Aztecs are in first place with three matches remaining, while CSU is in second with four left. Should both teams win the rest of their matches, the Rams would be the top seed in the tournament due to tie-breakers. Turning It Around: After starting the season 0-4 in four game matches, the Rams have won their last four, all coming in Mountain West Conference action. The Rams have defeated New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and UNLV in the last four weeks in four-game matches. Back-to-Back: For the second consecutive match and the seventh time this season, the Rams had four players notch double figure kills in a match -- this time against UNLV. Twice this season (Kansas State, San Diego State) five players have tallied at least 10 kills in a match. Against the Rebels, Tess Rogers, Andreya Downs, Michelle Knox and Katie Jo Shirley all hit in double figures. Made To Be Broken: Colorado State has 161 aces this season for a 1.87 per game average which ties for fourth all-time at CSU. Only two teams have averaged over two aces per game. The 1984 team holds the record at 2.12 while the 1993 team averaged 2.01. Last season's team is third at 1.93 and the 1987 team is tied for fourth at 1.97. Kerr-agious: Lindsey Kerr is not afraid of balls hit directly at her or going for anything anywhere near her on the court as witnessed by her 333 digs this season. Her total is already the fifth best in Mountain West Conference history and her 147 digs in conference matches only is sixth. She is just 43 digs shy of breaking the all-time MWC record and 29 shy of breaking the MWC conference matches only record. In CSU history, her 333 digs is the ninth most all-time and she is 94 away from breaking the all-time record of 437 held by Carrie Appleman in 1992. Oh So Close: Michelle Knox is just six kills away from her 500th at CSU and is 18 shy of her 700th career kill. Katie Jo Shirley needs just two more block assists for the 100th in her career. Career Numbers: Michelle Knox tallied her 300th career dig over the weekend and now has 307. Tess Rogers notched her 300th career kill and now stands at 315. Streaky: Colorado State currently has a winning streak against five of the seven other teams in the Mountain West Conference. The Rams have won the last 16 meetings against the Air Force Falcons, the last 11 against New Mexico, eight straight against UNLV, 10 against Wyoming and one against Utah. League Leaders: A Ram leads three of the seven statistical categories in the Mountain West Conference. Melissa Courtney leads the conference in assists per game with a 13.02 average while Lindsey Kerr continues to lead the league in digs with 3.87 per contest. Andreya Downs jumped back into first in the service aces category with a 0.57 per game average. Katie Jo Shirley fell to second this week in hitting percentage at .340 for the season. In conference only matches, Courtney is averaging 13.18 assists and Kerr is at 3.87 digs per game to lead the league. Downs is second in aces with a 0.63 per game average and Shirley ranks third at .356 against league foes. Knox And Blocks: Michelle Knox has 24 solo blocks this season which ties the single-season record at CSU during the Tom Hilbert era (since 1997). Esther Langley also had 24 solo stops, doing so her senior season in 1998. Knox's career record of 42 blocks at CSU also ranks third during Hilbert's time at CSU. Angela Knopf holds the record with 82, while Courtney Cox tallied 53. Rounding out the top five are Langley with 41 (only two years under Hilbert) and Summer Jennings with 34. Queens of the Mountain: In league play, Colorado State ranks first in assists and aces and is second in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, kills and digs. Against all opponents this year, the Rams lead the Mountain West in assists, kills and aces and are second in opponent hitting percentage. On Pace: With at least six matches remaining this season and approximately 22 games (3.58 games per match average this year) several Rams are closing in on school records. Andreya Downs -- at her current pace of 0.57 aces per game -- would end the year with 62 aces, breaking the school record of 58 by Sherri Danielson in 1984. Lindsey Kerr would end the year with 418 digs, good for second on the charts behind 437 digs from Carrie Appleman in 1992. Among The Best: Through matches played on October 27, the Rams were averaging 3.03 blocks per game to rank 14th in the nation. Colorado State has been ranked among the nation's leaders every week the past two seasons. Notre Dame leads Division I with 3.79 stops per game. Tournament Time: Colorado State will host the Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship for the second time in three seasons on Nov. 21-23. Tickets are available by calling 491-RAMS or 1-800-491-RAMS. For members of the media, credentials are available. Please contact Ron Christian at the Mountain West Conference at 719-488-4050 or email him at: rchristian@themwc.com by Nov. 12.
Scouting The Competition: Colorado State defeated the Lobos in four in Albuquerque earlier this season and has won the last 11 meetings between the two teams. This will be the 45th meeting between the squads with the Rams holding a 24-20 lead in the all-time series. In the last match, Tess Rogers led the Rams with 20 kills, while Michelle Knox had 16, Andreya Downs added 14 and Katie Jo Shirley had 13 kills on the evenings. Downs also contributed a double-double with 11 digs in the match. Lindsey Kerr led all players with 19 digs and Melissa Courtney had 60 assists and five service aces on the evening. New Mexico was led by Vanessa Shields with 11 kills and she was one of four players with nine digs. Cayse Kaveny led the Lobos with four blocks. Anna Reines leads the Lobos with 3.58 kills per game and a .236 hitting percentage. Blaire Burns is the leading defensive player on the team with 3.10 digs per contest, while Chelsea Sondrup is blocking a team-high 1.16 balls per game. Setter Monica Meihack is averaging 10.54 assists per game and Shields stands at 0.31 aces per game. Kelley Sliva is in her first year with the Lobos after coaching the last nine years at Northern Arizona. She sports a career record of 150-120 and is now 7-16 with the Lobos. Air Force: The Falcons have struggled lately, losing their last seven matches. Last weekend they were swept by Utah and dropped a four-game decision to BYU. In Mountain West play, Air Force is 2-8 and they are 8-17 overall. Colorado State has won the last 16 matches against the Falcons, including a three-game sweep at the Academy back on Oct. 11. The Rams are 16-1 against Air Force with the lone loss being the first-ever meeting between the two teams. In October, Tess Rogers led the Rams with 11 kills while Michelle Knox added 10 and Katie Jo Shirley hit .727 (9-1-11). Melissa Courtney led the team with seven digs and 37 assists, while Shirley added five blocks. Tiffany Bishop led the Falcons with 12 kills and a .364 hitting percentage, while Kristin Hamlett added 10 kills and a team-high four blocks. Kristin Huitt led the squad with seven digs and 30 assists on the evening. Bishop lead the team with a .305 hitting efficiency this year, while Delavane Diaz is getting 4.07 kills per game and 0.42 aces per game. Jaime Beatty leads the squad with 2.57 digs per game and Bishop has a team high average of 0.88 blocks per game. Huitt's assists per game average is at 11.64. Penny Lucas-White is in her seventh season at Air Force and has a record of 51-144. In her 12th season overall, Lucas-White sports a record of 146-224. Hilbert Among Active Leaders: Colorado State head coach Tom Hilbert is ranked 9th in Division I among active head coaches according to winning percentage. Hilbert has amassed 332 wins in 438 matches for a .758 winning percentage. Hawai'i head coach Dave Shoji just took over the reins as the winningest active head coach with his 791-145 record. Russ Rose from Penn State is second at 761-140. Family Rivalry: Michelle Knox's older stepsister Angie was a standout on the CSU volleyball team from 1984-87. Michelle currently has 42 solo blocks in her time at CSU and is just eight shy of tying Angie's 50 that she tallied, which is 12th on the all-time career chart at Colorado State. Michelle has 61 solo stops in her career, surpassing her sister's record, but 19 were with Auburn and don't count toward her career statistics at CSU.
A Long Time: Colorado State has not lost consecutive matches at home
since the 1996 season when the Rams went on a three-match losing skid
dropping matches to Hawai'i, San Diego State and Wyoming in Moby Arena.
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