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Colorado State Hosts MWC Championship
Rams enter tournament riding four-game winning streak.
Nov. 19, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - For the third consecutive season the Colorado State volleyball team has won the regular-season title in the Mountain West. The Rams earned the conference crown by defeating both Utah and BYU over the weekend and will be the #1 seed in the MWC Tournament which begins on Thursday in Moby Arena. Eight Is Great: For the eighth straight season, CSU has reached the 20-win barrier. A record four teams have met or surpassed 20 wins in the Mountain West this season (San Diego State, Utah, Wyoming). We Are The Champions: The Rams won a three-game decision at BYU, 30-26, 30-28, 30-19, to hit their 20th win of the year and win the Mountain West Conference Regular Season Championship for the third straight year. Colorado State was led by sophomore middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley who posted a career-high 19 kills and hit .484, while freshman outside hitter Tess Rogers added 13 kills and freshman opposite side hitter Andreya Downs had 12. Shirley also led the Rams with five blocks and sophomore libero Lindsey Kerr led all players with 14 digs and had her second kill of the season in game one. Another Ranked Foe Falls: Behind a Mountain West record 29 digs in a conference match by Lindsey Kerr, Colorado State snapped a 29-match home winning streak at #21 Utah, winning in four games, 30-24, 25-30, 30-25, 30-23. For the eighth time this season, four Rams notched double figures in kills, with sophomore outside hitter Becky Sarauer leading the way with 18. Tess Rogers added 17, while Andreya Downs had 15 and senior middle blocker Michelle Knox had 11 kills. The Rams also had four players in double figures in digs with Kerr leading the way. Sophomore setter Melissa Courtney tallied a career-high 18 digs, while Katie Jo Shirley added 13 digs and Sarauer had the first double-double of her career with 11 digs. Its Been A Long Time: Colorado State swept the Utah road trip for the first time since 1984. Several times the Rams have beaten either BYU or Utah on the road, but this marks just the second time in school history the Rams managed wins at both arenas. Across The Airwaves: During the Mountain West Conference Tournament, fans will be able to listen to the Rams on the radio. KCSU -- the student run radio station -- at 90.5 on the FM dial will be broadcasting live the Colorado State matches. Chris Dittmer, Travis Huntington and Tyler Krause will be splitting the on-air duties. Turning Up The Heat: Four different Rams tallied career highs in digs over the weekend. Lindsey Kerr tallied a career-high 29 digs against Utah, while Melissa Courtney had 18 and Becky Sarauer had 11 in the match against the Utes. On Saturday, freshman outside hitter Casey Bauer tallied six digs for a career high. Sarauer also had a career-high 18 kills at Utah and Katie Jo Shirley notched a career-high 19 kills at BYU. Kerr-agious: Lindsey Kerr had a phenomenal weekend and was honored by the Mountain West as the player of the week for the first time in her career. The sophomore broke the Mountain West record for digs in a Mountain West conference match with 29 against Utah and broke the league record for digs in a four-game match against all opponents. Then on Saturday, she tallied 14 digs against BYU to break the Mountain West Conference record for digs in a single-season. She now has 383 digs on the year, breaking the old record of 375 digs by Alisa Geddes of Utah in 1999. She also tallied 197 digs during the conference season -- playing in only 13 of the 14 matches -- breaking the old record of 172 by Tracy Wilkerson of Air Force from 1999. Familiar Faces: For the third straight season, the Rams will open the Mountain West Conference Tournament against Air Force. In all three years, the Rams have had the top seed, while the Falcons have been seeded eighth. Four of A Kind: Colorado State has won its last four matches, tying a season long winning streak. The Rams have also won their last three homes matches and have won five of their last six in Moby Arena. Stepping It Up: Colorado State is now 3-1 on the year against ranked opponents, defeating then-25 Kansas State in the opening match of the season and defeating Utah twice. The Utes were ranked 16th the first time the two teams played and they were #21 this past weekend. The lone loss on the year was to then-5 Long Beach State in the second week of the season. McDish: Setter Melissa Courtney tallied 693 assists during the conference season, which breaks the league record for assists in a conference season. She surpasses the previous record of 639 assists, held by former CSU standout Allison Peckham from 1999. Peckham also held the sophomore record with those 639 assists, which Courtney also broke. Ms. Rogers Neighborhood: Tess Rogers broke the Colorado State freshman record for kills in a single season over the weekend. Rogers now has 373 kills on the season, breaking the old record of 344 held by Angie Miller from 1988. Rogers already owns every freshman record in regards to kills in the Mountain West. Like It At The Top: Colorado State has been either in first place in the Mountain West Conference standings or tied for the league lead during all 24 weeks of league play since the start of 2000. The Rams won their third consecutive regular season title this weekend with a 12-2 mark after posting back-to-back records of 13-1 in 2000 and 2001. Deserving of the Crown: In the final conference statistics, Colorado State led the Mountain West in all but one statistical category. The Rams led the league in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, kills, assists, aces and digs. They trailed only in blocks, in which they finished the year fourth in the league. Double Trouble: Sophomore Becky Sarauer recorded the first double-double of her career at Utah on Friday. Sarauer led the team with 18 kills for a career-high and had a career-high 11 digs in the match. Oh So Close: Andreya Downs recorded two more aces over the weekend and now has 56 on the year. She needs just three more to break the Colorado State single-season record of 58 held by Sherri Danielson from 1984. In second is Angela Knopf with 57 from last year. The Winning Ways: Colorado State ranks among the top programs in total victories since 2000. The Rams have 81 wins since the beginning of the 2000 season which ranks fifth among Division I programs, trailing only Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Hawaii and Florida. The Rams are also tied with Long Beach State. Streak Broken: Senior Michelle Knox tallied double figures in kills in 13 of the 14 conference matches, with the streak ending in the last match of the year against BYU where she tallied eight kills. Aces Are Wild: Colorado State has tallied 185 services aces during the 2002 season for an average of 1.87 per game. That average ties for fourth in school history behind 1984 (2.12 per game), 1993 (2.01) and last seasons team with a 1.93 per game average. The Rams tie the 1987 squad and the 1984 team holds the record for most aces in a single-season with 278. Its Anyones Game: Colorado State has four different individuals leading in four of the six statistical categories in the Mountain West Conference. Katie Jo Shirley continues to lead the league in hitting percentage at .348, while Melissa Courtney is averaging a league-high 13.26 assists per game, Andreya Downs is averaging 0.57 assists per game and Lindsey Kerr stands at 3.99 digs per game. Tess Rogers is also second in the league in kills per game with an average of 3.89. In conference play only, Shirley finished the conference season ranked first in hitting percentage at .367, while Melissa Courtney was first in assists at 13.59 and Lindsey Kerr ended the season with 4.10 digs per game. Downs ended second in aces at 0.61 and Rogers tied for third in kills with 4.02 per game. Family Rivalry: Michelle Knoxs older stepsister Angie was a standout on the CSU volleyball team from 1984-87. Michelle currently has 46 solo blocks in her time at CSU and is just four shy of tying Angies 50 that she tallied, which is 12th on the all-time career chart at Colorado State. Michelle has 65 solo stops in her career, surpassing her sisters record, but 19 were at Auburn and dont count toward her career statistics at CSU. On A High Note: Colorado State now has a winning streak against every team in the Mountain West Conference except San Diego State. The Rams have won the last 17 meetings against the Air Force Falcons, the last 12 against New Mexico, eight straight against UNLV, 10 against Wyoming, two against Utah and one against the BYU Cougars. Tournament Time: During the last two Mountain West Conference Tournaments, the Rams have had the top seed in the championship, only to lose in five-game thrillers in the championship match. In 2000, the Rams defeated Air Force and San Diego State in three-game sweeps to get to the finale only to lose to BYU. Last season at BYU, the Rams swept both Air Force and UNLV and set up a meeting with Utah. The Utes also won a five-game thriller. The first season of the league in 1999, the Rams were the second seed and went on to win the championship over BYU in Provo. A Pair of Winners: Both Michelle Knox and Andreya Downs have been honored by the conference office this season as MWC Players of the Week. Knox won the award for her performances against New Mexico and Air Force Nov. 8-9. She tallied 22 kills on the week and hit at a .486 clip, averaging 3.67 kills per game. Downs earned the award after splitting with Long Beach State and Wyoming. She tallied 28 kills, seven aces and 10 blocks and hit .449 for the week.
Scouting The Competition: Both meetings this season have been three game sweeps for the Rams, a 30-30-21, 30-20, 30-27 win at Air Force on Oct. 11 and a 30-23, 30-18, 30-22 victory in Moby Arena on Nov. 9. Colorado State has won the last 17 meetings between the two teams and this will be the 19th meeting overall. The Rams have hit .304 against the Falcons this season and had 3.17 blocks per game and 11.17 digs per game, compared to just .119 hitting percentage, 2.17 blocks and 7.00 digs per game for the Falcons. Both Michelle Knox and Tess Rogers have 21 kills, while Katie Jo Shirley is hitting .522 and has 11 blocks against the Falcons. Melissa Courtney and Rogers both have four aces, while Courtney leads the team with 13 digs. Air Force has been led by Tiffany Bishop with 20 kills in the two matches and she is hitting a team-high .283 against the Rams. Kristin Huitt leads the squad with 11 digs and Kristin Hamlett has six blocks and Bishop has two service aces. For the season, Air Force is led by Bishop with a .299 hitting percentage and Delavane Diaz has a team-high 371 kills and leads the team with 38 aces. Jaime Beatty leads the team with 2.55 digs per game and Bishop leads the team in blocks with 87 (0.89 per game). Huitt also leads the team with 11.67 assists per contest.
Air Force is 8-21 on the year and finished 2-12 in Mountain West
Conference play. The Falcons are coached by Penny Lucas White who is in
her seventh season with the team and posts a 51-148 record. Overall,
she is in her 12th season and has a record of 146-228. She has never
defeated Colorado State and the Falcons are currently in an 11-match
losing skid. Twice this season the Falcons have won three straight matches.
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