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Colorado State Volleyball Release
Rams take on BYU and Utah.
Nov. 9, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Series History: BYU Series History: Utah Final Trip: Colorado State plays its final two matches prior to the Mountain West Championship this weekend. The Rams close out MWC play at BYU and #17 Utah on Friday and Saturday, respectively. CSU has won both matches on this road trip the past two seasons. Top-10 Loss: Colorado State fell to the No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln in front of a sellout crowd, 30-24, 30-21, 30-25. With the loss, the Rams fall to 20-3 overall. Junior outside hitter Tess Rogers led the Rams with 12 kills, notching the 11th straight match she has been in double figure kills, while senior middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon chipped in nine kills. Sophomore libero Kristen Karlik led the Rams with 15 digs, while both Cahoon and senior middle blocker Bri Frech added four blocks each. The Rams had no service aces on the night, and committed seven errors. 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. Tess Rogers notched her 10th straight double figure kill performance, leading the team with 14 kills, while Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon added 11 kills and both 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. Kristen Karlik also chipped in 10 digs and Cahoon led the match with six blocks. Significance: If Colorado State wants a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title, they must sweep the Utah road trip. The Rams have had at least a share of the last four regular season titles. If the Rams win on Friday against BYU and then defeat Utah on Saturday, the Utes and Rams would be co-champions and the seeding for the Mountain West Tournament will be determined by a coin-flip. If the Rams lose either, or both, of the matches over the weekend, they will be the second seed for the tournament. 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). 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. Lucky No. 13: Both of the Rams longest winning streaks this season stand at 13. From Aug. 28 through Oct. 8 the Rams won 13 straight matches and from Oct. 23 through Nov. 5 the Rams won 13 consecutive games. Seven Needed: Senior Melissa Courtney needs just seven more aces to break the school record. She currently has 132 aces, which is third on the career charts. The record of 138 is held by Angela Knopf (1998-2001), while second is 134 by Diane Saba (1983, 85-87). Falling Slightly: Colorado State has now been ranked in the top 10 the last eight weeks as the Rams dropped to 10th in the USA Today/CSTV Coaches' Top 25 poll after the loss to Nebraska. The Rams have been ranked 10th for 14 weeks since 1982 and have been ranked 170 weeks out of 312 possible weeks . A Lot Of People: The 4,141 fans at Nebraska marks the fifth-largest road crowd the Rams have played in front of in the program's history and the second largest on the mainland. The crowd also marks the 13th largest to ever see the Rams play. Scoring: Colorado State has scored at least 20 points in every game this season. The Rams have won 62 of their 77 games this year and are scoring an average of 29.12 points per game. Effective: Only two players in school history have hit above .350 for their careers (minimum 500 kills) and Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon is one of them. The senior is six kills shy of her 1,000th career kill and is hitting at a .388 clip for her career (994-250-1917), which is second behind Angela Knopf. Cahoon's .388 efficiency also ties her for 12th in NCAA Division I history. 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 11 matches for Colorado State, including at least 14 kills in six of the last eight. The junior leads the team and the Mountain West Conference with 3.90 kills per game. TV Time: At least the next three matches for Colorado State will be televised. 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) and all seven matches in the Mountain West Conference Tournament will be televised on CSTV. 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. 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 three 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 1,081 to rank 13th, while Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon is 15th with 994 kills and senior outside hitter Becky Sarauer is 16th with 987 kills. Two-Year Sensation: Bri Frech will be remembered as one of the best blocking players in school history. The senior has 252 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 six of the last
eight matches and is hitting a Mountain West best .290 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. Tested: Colorado State has yet to play a five-game match this season and only eight of the 23 matches -- including two of the three 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 29 matches. Home Cooking: Colorado State leads the Mountain West Conference in attendance, averaging 1,852. The entire Mountain West Conference is averaging 725 fans per match, with Colorado State accounting for 38 percent of the league's total attendance this year. BYU is second in the league, averaging 1,159 per match. BYU and Colorado State combined have accounted for 60.2 percent of the conference's fans and without those two schools, the league is getting just 405 fans per match. Best In The Mountain West: The Rams lead the Mountain West in hitting percentage (.290) assists per game (16.13) and kills per game (17.38). Individually, Melissa Courtney leads in assists at 13.87, Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon leads in hitting percentage (.395) and Tess Rogers leads in kills per game (3.90), while Bri Frech ranks second in aces (0.42). In conference matches only, the Rams lead in hitting percentage (.320), assists (16.36), kills (17.87) and aces (1.92). Individually, Courtney leads in assists per game (14.13), Cahoon leads in hitting percentage (.412), Rogers leads in kills per game (3.97) and Frech leads in aces (0.59). 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. 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 258 -- 31.0%) 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. 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 in kills in a match, eight 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). 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. Scouting The Opponent: BYU The Cougars are alone in third place in the Mountain West standings with an 8-4 record and are 16-9 on the season. They could finish anywhere from third to fifth in the standings, depending on the outcome of matches this weekend, and have won their last five matches. Sophomore Lindsy Hartsock leads the team with a .387 hitting percentage and 1.77 blocks per game, while freshman Erica Lott is getting a team-best 3.40 kills per game. Setter Lauren Richards is getting 12.36 assists per game and 0.51 aces per game, while senior Lindsey Metcalf leads the team with 2.48 digs a game. BYU is hitting .279 on the season with 15.71 kills, 1.71 aces, 13.66 digs and 3.26 blocks per game, while opponents are hitting .158 with 12.57 kills, 1.17 aces, 11.73 digs and 2.20 blocks. In league play, Hartsock is hitting .382 with 1.83 blocks and 0.36 aces per game, while Lott is averaging 3.38 kills per game to lead the team. Freshman libero Lindsey Evans is getting a team-best 2.67 digs per game after tying the league record with 33 digs against UNLV. The Cougars are hitting .280 with 15.98 kills, 1.55 aces, 13.48 digs and 3.55 blocks per game, while their opposition is hitting .166 with 13.50 kills, 1.07 aces, 12.19 digs and 2.30 blocks. Head Coach Karen Lamb is in her third year at BYU with a record of 54-37. She is in her eighth season as a Division I head coach with a record of 144-131. Scouting The Opposition: Utah Senior middle blocker Lyndsey Henderson leads Utah with 3.75 kills, 1.73 blocks per game and a .376 hitting percentage, while senior setter Tracy Neumeier leads with 0.32 aces and 6.46 assists per game and sophomore libero Connie Dangerfield is at 4.25 digs per game. Utah is hitting .246 on the year with 15.24 kills, 1.78 aces, 14.68 digs and 3.28 blocks per game, while opponents are hitting .135 with 12.91 kills, 1.36 aces, 13.80 digs and 2.46 blocks per game. In conference action, Henderson leads the team with 3.85 kills, 1.90 blocks and a .394 hitting efficiency. Neumeier leads with 6.93 assists and 0.32 aces and Dangerfield digs 4.15 balls per game to lead the squad. The Utes are hitting .263 with 15.44 kills, 1.59 aces, 13.85 digs and 3.41 blocks while the opponents are hitting .137 with 13.15 kills, 1.29 aces, 13.22 digs and 2.41 blocks per game.
Head Coach Beth Launiere is in her 15th season with the Utes and sports
an overall record of 295-174 and is now 120-84 in league play.
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