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Colorado State to Face George Mason in First Round of NCAAs
Rams will be making their ninth straight tournament appearance.
Dec. 2, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Colorado State earned the Mountain West Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking the ninth straight appearance for the Rams, and the 15th overall. The Rams earned the 14th seed in the tournament and will face George Mason in the First Round at the University of Maryland. American will be the fourth team at the site and will play Maryland after the conclusion of the Rams-Patriots match. Record Setting Match: In the final regular season match, Colorado State swept Long Beach State, 30-22, 30-24, 31-29. With the win, the Rams set the new school record for consecutive victories at 21, breaking the old record of 20 from the 2001 team. Colorado State won a match for the second straight time with an ace serve, this one by junior middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley. Sophomore outside hitter Tess Rogers led the Rams with 16 kills, while Shirley had 14 and hit a match-high .619, recording only one hitting error on the night. Sophomore right side hitter Dre Downs added 12 kill on the evening. Junior middle blocker Bri Frech and Downs led the Rams with four blocks each. Junior setter Melissa Courtney tied her career-high and led all players with 18 digs. We Are The Champions: In the finals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, Colorado State defeated second-seeded Utah 30-26, 23-30, 30-20, 30-28. Tess Rogers -- who earned tournament MVP honors, led all players with 21 kills, while junior outside hitter Becky Sarauer and Katie Jo Shirley each had 12 kills and Dre Downs added 10. Sarauer and Bri Frech were also named to the all-tournament team and Melissa Courtney was named the outstanding setter of the tournament. Freshman Kristen Karlik led the Rams with a career-high 12 digs, while Courtney, Sarauer and Frech each chipped in 10 and Downs led all players with six blocks. A Year of Firsts: Colorado State became the first team in Mountain West Conference history to go through the regular season undefeated, posting a 14-0 record. The Rams then became the first team in the conference to win both the regular season and the conference tournament, winning their second MWC Tournament title and the first since 1999. All-Tournament: Tess Rogers was named MVP of the Mountain West Tournament, while Bri Frech and Becky Sarauer were also on the all-tournament team. Melissa Courtney was named setter of the tournament and it is the second straight season she has been named to the Mountain West All-Tournament team. Record Breakers: The Rams have now won 21 straight matches, dating back to Sept. 20, which sets the new school record and Mountain West Conference record for consecutive matches won. The old record was 20 matches held by the 2001 team. All-Conference Honors: Melissa Courtney was named the Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Year and was also honored as the setter of the Year. Tess Rogers and Katie Jo Shirley were both named to the All-Conference team, and this is the second award for both of them. Courtney was also named to the all-conference team for the second straight year. Closing In: Several Colorado State student-athletes are getting closer to career milestones. The next dig by Melissa Courtney will be the 500th of her career and with five more digs, junior libero Lindsey Kerr will record her 900th. Sophomore outside hitter Casey Bauer is 11 kills shy of her 200th and Dre Downs needs 19 blocks for her 200th. Tess Rogers is 19 digs shy of her 200th and with 32 more kills will record her 800th. Ticket Information for NCAA: Tickets are $11 for adults and $8 for students, children and senior citizens for two-day passes. Single-day tickets will be $7 for adults and $5 for students, children and senior citizens, but will not be available until the day of the match(es). For more information, please contact the Comcast Center ticket office at (301) 314-7070. Quick Start Important: The first game of a match is extremely important this season for Colorado State. The Rams are 24-0 when winning game one of a match and 4-4 when losing the first stanza. They are also 21-0 when winning the first two games of a match and 0-2 when dropping the first two games. Facing The Field: Of the other 63 teams in the NCAA Tournament, the Rams have faced 10 teams, posting a 9-4 mark against those 10 squads. Aces Are Wild: Melissa Courtney has 49 aces this season, which ranks her fifth on the Colorado State single-season charts and passes her season-high of 47 aces from last season. Bri Frech ranks right behind Courtney with 48 aces, which is seventh on the charts. The single season record for aces was set by Dre Downs last season when she recorded 59. Getting It Done: All six starters on the volleyball team hit over .300 for the Mountain West Conference Tournament. The Rams hit .355 as a team for the tournament. Setting The Standard: Melissa Courtney now has 1,496 assists this season, which ranks eighth on the Colorado State single season charts. She is 22 shy of moving into seventh, passing Cindy Cox (1988) with 1,517 assists. Courtney also tallied her 3,000th career assist in the final regular season match and now has 3,034, which is fifth on the career charts at CSU. She is just 176 assists shy of taking over fourth on the list (Ginger Kidd, 1991-93, 3,209 ast). Frequent Fliers: The Rams played their final regular season match at Long Beach State and open up the NCAA Tournament against George Mason in College Park, Maryland. That's 2,312 miles apart, from one coast to the other. The Rams also played in the NCAA Tournament in Hawai'i last season, a mere 4,842 miles between NCAA matches. East Coast Swing: Colorado State has never played an NCAA Tournament match on the East Coast. The closest the Rams have come was the 1988 tournament in Tallahassee, Florida against Florida State. Neutrality: In the NCAA Tournament the Rams are 2-4 all-time when playing on a neutral court and have won two of three First Round matches on a neutral floor. The Rams won in both 1997 (American in Pullman, WA) and 1998 (South Carolina in Austin, TX) before dropping the match to Washington last season at Hawai'i. Familiar Faces: This will be third time in seven NCAA Tournaments Colorado State and American have been at the same First/Second Round site. In 1997, the two teams squared off in the First Round, with the Rams winning in four games. American faced Colorado in the First Round in Moby Arena in 2001 and now American will face Maryland while the Rams play George Mason. Home Sweet Home: For the seventh straight season, Colorado State won at least 10 matches in Moby Arena, posting a 12-2 record at home in 2003. Since Hilbert arrived at Colorado State in 1997, the Rams have tallied a 98-11 record in the friendly confines of Moby and the Rams have a 216-62 overall record since 1986 in the arena. The Rams have won 10 straight conference matches in Moby Arena and have lost just one match in Moby Arena in conference play in five seasons, losing in 2002 to BYU. One of Two: The NCAA Division I committee for volleyball seeds 16 teams for the NCAA Tournament. Colorado State is one of only two teams seeded in the top 16 that is not playing at home for the First and Second Round. Nebraska will also play on the road, traveling to Michigan State where it will face Valparaiso in the First Round. Evened Up: Head Coach Tom Hilbert has a .500 record in NCAA Tournament matches, posting a 10-10 record in post season play. Hilbert has led the Rams to an 8-6 record in the NCAA Tournament in his six previous trips, advancing to the regional semifinals in three of the last four seasons. Volleyball Magazine: In the Volleyball Magazine poll released this week, Colorado State is ranked ninth, up two spots from the previous poll. The Rams are ranked ahead of both Kansas State and Minnesota, teams that defeated CSU earlier in the season, but are ranked behind Stanford and Cal, the other two losses this season. Conference vs. Conference: George Mason is in the Colonial Athletic Association. This season, the Mountain West has a perfect 3-0 record against the CAA and is 8-2 since the inception of the league in 1999. The Patriots did not play any teams in the Mountain West this season, but Air Force defeated Virginia Commonwealth, New Mexico defeated Delaware and San Diego State defeated Hofstra. Queens Of the Mountain: Colorado State leads the league in hitting percentage (.270), opponent hitting percentage (.156), assists per game (15.11), kills (16.61) and aces (1.92). Individually, Katie Jo Shirley leads in hitting percentage (.416) and Melissa Courtney leads in assists (13.13). In conference play only, the Rams led in opponent hitting percentage (.138), assists (15.02), kills (16.65) and aces (2.23) and finished second in blocks (3.09). Individually, Courtney led in assists (12.98) and Frech led in aces (0.58), while Courtney finished right behind her with 0.56. Block Party: Katie Jo Shirley has quite a string of blocks going. The junior has had at least one block in the last 64 matches for the Rams, dating back to the opening match of the 2002 season. Bri Frech has tallied at least one block in all 32 matches this season. Dre Downs has an active streak of 12 matches going. Tess Rogers has tallied at least one block in the last nine matches and in 20 of the last 21. Serving It Up: Colorado State has tallied 219 aces on the season, which ranks fifth on the single-season charts. The record for aces is 278 by the 1984 team. The Rams are averaging 1.92 aces per game, which ranks among the top five in school history. Early Starts: Colorado State has an impressive streak of wins when winning the first two games in a match. The Rams are 115-1 when winning the first two games in a contest since the beginning of the 1999 season and have won their last 39. The only loss during that stretch was the championship match of the Mountain West Tournament against Utah in 2001. This season, the Rams are 21-0 and were a perfect 17-0 last year. In 1999, they were 24-0 and 28-0 in 2000. The 2001 season the Rams were 25-1. A Tell-Tale Sign: Colorado State has won all 10 matches this season when hitting at least .300 in the match. The Rams hit over .300 in all three Mountain West Tournament matches in San Diego. Since Tom Hilbert became head coach at CSU, the Rams are 99-1 when hitting at least .300, with the lone loss coming against Penn State in the NCAA Regional Semifinal in 2000. (2003 - 10-0; 2002 - 8-0; 2001 - 21-0; 2000 - 21-1; 1999 - 19-0; 1998 - 9-0; 1997 - 19-0). Liking The Libero: Freshman Kristen Karlik has been the team's libero in the last eight matches and is averaging 2.21 digs during that stretch, with 64 digs. Since she started as the libero, the team is hitting .313 with 16.72 kills per game, compared to the season averages of .270 and 16.62 kills per game. National Rankings: According to the NCAA statistics released Nov. 23 the Rams are ranked 18th in assists per game at 15.01, 19th in kills per game with 16.51 and 20th in hitting percentage at .270. The Rams also have the 10th best winning percentage at .871. Individually, Katie Jo Shirley ranks 11th, hitting .410 and Melissa Courtney ranks 24th with 13.05 assists per game. Extra Point Games: Colorado State has played in 11 extra-point games this season and is 7-4 in those games, winning four of the last five. On four occasions the Rams have won 31-29, while two victories were 32-30 and one was 33-31. The Rams have dropped two games by the score of 30-32 and one each of the scores of 29-31 and 31-33. The Winning Ways: Only 16 teams in Division I have won 100 matches since the beginning of the 2000 season and the Rams are one of them. The Rams have won 110 matches since that time, trailing only Hawai'i, Florida, Nebraska, Northern Iowa and USC. See the box on page six for a complete list. Solid Wall: Bri Frech now has 130 block assists this season, which ranks eighth on the all-time school list. Just ahead of Frech in seventh is Angela Knopf (2001) with 134 blocks, while Diane Saba (1986) is sixth with 135 block assists. Quick Hits On George Mason: The Patriots earned the Colonial Athletic Association automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season after defeating Hofstra in the championship match. Senior Aline Pereira was named MVP of the CAA Tournament and was named the AVCA/Sports Import Division I Player of the Week after nailing 72 kills in the tournament for an average of over nine per game. The Patriots enter the NCAA Tournament with a 16-14 overall record and were the second seed in the CAA Tournament after posting a 10-4 league record. Colorado State and George Mason have met once before, with the Rams winning a 3-0 decision in 1995 when the Patriots were in the UPHI Classic in Fort Collins. Pereira leads the team with 6.74 kills per game and is hitting .287 to lead all hitters. Setter Jesica Umansky is hitting .303 on the season with 0.88 kills per game and 11.24 assists per contest. No player on the team has seen action in all 114 games, with Pereira playing in 110. Pereira also leads the team with 0.35 aces per game. Libero Zulma Rojas leads the squad with 3.09 digs per game and Katie Gaudreault leads the team with 0.72 blocks per game. The Patriots are hitting .210 as a team with 14.82 kills per game, 13.46 assists, 1.63 aces, 15.15 digs and 1.75 blocks per game. Head Coach Pat Kendrick is in her 19th season as head coach of the Patriots and has a 357-257 (.581) career record, all at George Mason. This is the Patriots sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament and Kendrick has a 1-5 record.
The Other Side: American and Maryland will face each other in the other
First Round match at the Comcast Center. American has a record of 22-9,
while Maryland is ranked 25th this week in the USA Today poll and boasts
a record of 26-7.
American has won its last seven matches and earned the Patriot League's
automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. American also posted a perfect
14-0 record in conference play and has won 19 of its last 20 matches,
dropping a three game match at Temple in a non-conference match-up.
Colorado State and American have met once, in the First Round of the
1997 NCAA Tournament where the Rams won in three games. Maryland also earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament,
winning the ACC Championship over top-seeded Georgia Tech. The Terrapins
have won their last four matches and posted a 12-4 mark in ACC play.
Maryland and Colorado State have played twice before with the Rams
winning both decisions, most recently in 1999.
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