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Colorado State Volleyball Faces Off With Nebraska
Huskers hold 5-1 advantage over Rams.
Nov. 6, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Next In Rams Volleyball
Series History: Nebraska Head Coaches: Nebraska: John Cook is in his fifth season as head coach at Nebraska. He is 144-10 with the Huskers and sports an overall record of 305-83 in his 12th season as a head coach. Winding Down: Colorado State plays its final three matches prior to the Mountain West Championship away from the friendly confines of Moby Arena. The #9 Rams step out of league play to face #3 Nebraska on Sunday evening in the AVCA Match of the Week on CSTV. The Rams then close out MWC play at BYU and #17 Utah the next weekend. The Utah match will also be the AVCA Match of the Week. Both can be seen on College Sports Television -- see www.collegesports.com for a complete listing. Road Warriors: Colorado State remained perfect on the road this season, defeating Wyoming in three games, 30-21, 30-27, 30-24 in front of 932 fans in Laramie. With the win the Rams improve to 20-2 overall and 11-1 in Mountain West Conference play. Junior outside hitter Tess Rogers notched her 10th straight double figure kill performance, leading the team with 14 kills, while senior middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon added 11 kills and both senior middle blocker Bri Frech and junior right-side hitter Dre Downs chipped in 10 kills each. Frech notched her fifth double-double of the season, leading the match with 11 digs and she also had two solo blocks and two aces in the match. Sophomore libero Kristen Karlik also chipped in 10 digs and Cahoon led the match with six blocks. Honored: Senior middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week after leading the Rams to three victories last week. Cahoon hit .591 (28-2-44), averaging 3.11 kills, 0.56 aces, 2.56 digs and 1.56 blocks over the nine games. This marks the third award of Cahoon's career, as she won the award twice last season. Cahoon also notched her 300th career block assist over the weekend and now has 308. The Wild Card: Against Wyoming, Colorado State had eight service aces with four errors, marking just the second time this year the Rams had more aces than errors in a match. It also marked the first time since the semifinals of the 2001 Mountain West Conference Tournament against UNLV (at BYU), the Rams had twice as many aces as errors away from Moby Arena (14 aces, 6 errors). The last time the Rams had twice as many aces as errors in a true road match was at Colorado on Nov. 16, 1993 (7 aces, 3 errors). Holding Them Down: The nine points allowed in game two against San Diego State was the lowest opponent total this year and the second lowest in school history since rally scoring started in 2001 (7 vs Air Force, 11/9/2001) and the lowest total allowed in the Mountain West this year. Crystal Ball: Ram fans got a glimpse of the future against San Diego State with Kristen Karlik and Katherine Whitney splitting the setting duties in game three. One of the two will be the starting setter next year, while the other will more than likely be the starting libero. The pair also combined for five kills in 10 swings. Another Milestone: The next conference win for Colorado State head coach Tom Hilbert will be his 100th conference victory at Colorado State. Hilbert is 99-11 against conference foes (.900) in his eighth season with the Rams. Remaining Steady: Colorado State has now been ranked in the top 10 the last seven weeks as the Rams are ninth in the USA Today/CSTV Coaches' Top 25 poll for the third straight week. The Rams have now been ranked ninth for eight weeks since 1982 and have been ranked 169 weeks out of 311 possible weeks . Seven Needed: Melissa Courtney needs just seven more service aces to break the school career aces record. The senior currently has 132 aces, which is third on the career charts. The record of 138 is held by Angela Knopf (1998-2001), while second place is 134 aces by Diane Saba (1983, 1985-87). On Pace: Colorado State is averaging 17.50 kills per game, which would break the school record of 17.28 by the 2001 team. The 17.50 would also break the Mountain West Conference record, which is also held by the 2001 CSU squad. The Rams are averaging 16.26 assists per game which is also on pace for a new record, surpassing the 2001 record of 15.90. The .300 season hitting percentage record is on pace for second in the CSU record books, with the school record being .314 by the same 2001 team. The 3.08 blocks per game the Rams are averaging, also ranks fifth on the CSU single-season list. Pounding Away: Tess Rogers has notched double figure kills in the last 10 matches for Colorado State, including at least 14 kills in six of the last seven. The junior leads the team with 3.90 kill per game, which also ranks second in the Mountain West. TV Time: The next three matches for Colorado State will be televised. Against #3 Nebraska, the match will be televised live on CSTV at 4:00 p.m. (Mountain), while the match at BYU will be live on BYU-TV and KBYU. The final Mountain West match against #17 Utah will be tape delayed on CSTV in the AVCA Match of the Week at 2:30 p.m. (Mountain). Magical #20: 2004 marks the 10th straight season the Colorado State volleyball team has won at least 20 matches in a year. This is also the 16th time in the school's 27-year history the Rams have won 20 or more matches. Playing #3: Colorado State is 1-10 all-time against team ranked No. 3 in the national poll. The last time the Rams played a third-ranked team was in the NCAA Regional Semifinals last year against Florida. The win over No. 3 came on Oct. 31, 1987 against BYU in four games in Moby Arena and the Rams have lost six straight matches against a team ranked third. Streaky: Colorado State has won 13 straight games, the longest streak this year. Last season the Rams won 21 straight, while the school record is 40 games during the 2000 season. Keys To Success: In all 20 wins this season, the Rams have tallied more kills than the opponent, have hit for a higher percentage and held the opposition to .235 or lower. In the two losses, the Rams have trailed in attack percentage and have hit under .300 for the match. Double Grand Watch: Two more Rams are closing in on 1,000 career kills. There have only been 14 Rams in school history to eclipse the one grand mark and surprisingly, this could be the second time three players have done it in the same year (1997 - Rainie Rogers, Janie Penfield and Judy Rexroth). Tess Rogers hit the mark against Air Force and now has 1,069 to rank 13th, while Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon is 15th with 985 kills and senior outside hitter Becky Sarauer is 16th with 983 kills. Two-Year Sensation: Bri Frech will be remembered as one of the best blocking players in school history. The senior has 248 blocks in her time with the Rams, which ranks second among Colorado State two-year players. The only other two-year player with more blocks is Angie Miller (1988-89) with 377 blocks, which ranks ninth all-time in the record books. News & Numbers: Colorado State has hit over .300 in 10 of the last 13 matches, including four over .400 and is hitting a Mountain West best .300 for the year, including .320 in conference play. Dominance: Through the first 12 matches in Mountain West Conference play, the Rams are averaging 6.13 more kills per game than their opponents. CSU leads the league with 17.87 kills per game, while its opponents are averaging just 11.74 kills per game. CSU is also hitting over .175 points better than its conference opposition. The Rams are hitting .320 in conference play and limiting opponents to a league-low .141 -- a difference of .179. Moby Madness: The Rams rank 10th in attendance this week. They are averaging 1,852 fans per match, trailing Hawai'i (6,861), Nebraska (4,521), Wisconsin (4,084), Minnesota (3,304), Washington (2,973), Florida (2,630), Penn State (2,395), Pacific (1,912) and Texas A&M (1,887). Colorado State has ranked among the top 25 in attendance the last five years and in all but one year since the statistic began being tracked in 1986. Hot Hand: Bri Frech has recorded just three hitting errors in the last three matches, and is hitting .467 over that stretch (24-3-45). Best In The Mountain West: The Rams lead the Mountain West in hitting percentage (.299) assists per game (16.17) and kills per game (17.41). Individually, Melissa Courtney leads in assists at 13.93, Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon leads in hitting percentage (.406) and Tess Rogers leads in kills per game (3.96), while Bri Frech also ranks second in aces (0.42). In conference matches only, the Rams lead in hitting percentage (.321), assists (16.28), opponent hitting percentage (.132), kills (17.72) and aces (1.86). Individually, Courtney leads in assists per game (14.19), Cahoon leads in hitting percentage (.415), Rogers leads in kills per game (3.91) and Frech leads in aces (0.58). Tested: Colorado State has yet to play a five-game match this season and only eight of the 22 matches -- including both losses -- have gone four games. The last five-game match was in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament against San Diego State -- a span of 28 matches. Rams On The Air: Every match this season will be broadcast on the internet on Yahoo! sports. The play-by-play duties are being handled by Chris Dittmer, while Travis Huntington does the color commentary in home games and Heather Kennedy in road contests. Tyler Krause also helps out. The match at Nebraska can also be heard on 90.5 KCSU FM in Fort Collins. Tough Defense: Colorado State has held seven opponents this season to a hitting percentage of .100 or below. Since Tom Hilbert joined Colorado State in 1997, the Rams have held 80 opponents (of 257 -- 31.1%) to .100 or lower, including 18 to .000 or below. No opponent has hit .300 against the Rams this season and only one, Minnesota, has hit above .250. Balanced Attack: In nine of the 22 matches this season (Minnesota, Georgia Tech, Washington State, Ohio, Pepperdine, UNLV, Utah, Air Force and Wyoming), four Rams have been in double figures in kills, and in seven others (Colorado, Gonzaga, Southern Miss, New Mexico, San Diego State and New Mexico, UNLV), three Rams have notched at least 10 kills. The Rams are averaging 17.50 kills per game, compared to 12.72 for their opponents. Ranked Opponents: Colorado State is 2-2 against teams ranked in the top 25 this season. The Rams opened the season with a loss to then-#5 Minnesota before defeating then-#12 Georgia Tech. The Rams also defeated then-#18 Pepperdine before falling to then-#18 Utah. Hard To Stop: Colorado State has such a balanced attack this season, an opponent has a hard time trying to stop the "go-to" player. Five different Rams have led the team in kills in a match this year, eight different Rams have led in hitting percentage (minimum five kills), eight have led the team at least once in aces, five have led in digs and four different players have led the team in blocks. Early Starts: Colorado State has won its last 59 matches when winning the first two games of a match. The Rams are 135-1 since the beginning of the 1999 season, losing only in the Mountain West Championship to Utah in 2001. In 2004, the Rams are 18-0 when winning the first two games, while in 2003 they were 23-0, 17-0 in 2002, 25-1 in 2001, 28-0 in 2000 and 24-0 in 1999. Among The Best: In the most recent NCAA Statistics (through 10/31), Melissa Courtney ranks 8th in assists per game, averaging 13.93 and Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon ranks 8th in hitting percentage at .406. The Rams rank fifth in assists per game (16.17), seventh in hitting percentage (.299), ninth in kills per game (17.41), 12th in winning percentage (.905) and 19th in blocks per game (3.07). Looking Good: Colorado State has won its last 47 matches against unranked opponents. The Rams last loss against a non-ranked team came in the NCAA Tournament in 2002 at the hands of Washington. The last regular season loss against an unranked opponent came at San Diego State on Nov. 2, 2002 -- a span of 48 matches. Wearing Their Hearts On Their Sleeves: This season, the Colorado State volleyball team is wearing an emblem on all of their game attire and practice gear. Assistant coach Andy Klussmann was injured in a car accident in June that took the life of his wife, Janna. The emblem on the jerseys this year is a memorial for Janna as well as support for Andy's full recovery. The team is dedicating this season to the Klussmanns and the heart is just one way the team is showing their feelings and well wishes for their coach. The Last Time: In 2001, when Becky Sarauer was a freshman, she was named to the NCAA All-Region team at the University of Nebraska after blistering 15 kills on 31 swings for a .323 hitting percentage against the Huskers in the Coliseum. Scouting The Opposition: Nebraska
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