Colorado State University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts First Round of Border War
9/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 27, 2005
Honored: Senior outside hitter Casey Bauer was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week after leading the Rams to a pair of road victories over San Diego State and UNLV, earning her first career award. Against SDSU, she had a .429 hitting percentage with a match-high 13 kills and three digs. She followed with career highs in kills (26) and digs (16) against UNLV, tying for the team high with two service aces and hitting .328 in the process. Bauer stepped her game up in the deciding set vs. the Rebels, notching eight of the team's 18 kills for a .571 efficiency. For the week, Bauer averaged 5.57 kills and 2.71 digs per game, while hitting .360 (39-8-86). She also totaled six blocks, three aces and an assist.
A Lot of Wins: Colorado State won the program's 600th victory against San Diego State on Thursday. The Rams are 601-327 in the 30th year of volleyball. The team has been through four coaches in the 30 years, with the majority of wins coming from Rich Feller (299-167) and Tom Hilbert (228-48). Since the turn of the century, the Rams have posted a 148-33 record (.818).
UNLV Recap: Colorado State moved to 2-0 in conference play with a four-game victory over UNLV, 30-26, 37-35, 19-30, 30-21. Casey Bauer notched career-highs in both kills and digs with 26 and 16, respectively. She also hit a match-high .328. Senior outside hitter Tess Rogers was the only other Ram in double figure kills with 11. Junior libero Katherine Whitney recorded a season-high 19 digs and sophomore Amanda Fahnestock added 11 digs. Freshman setter Ashley Fornstrom tallied a career-high three solo blocks and had six on the evening, as well as two aces and nine digs. Bauer also had two aces, while senior middle blocker Dre Downs led the match with seven blocks.
SDSU Recap: In the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams, Colorado State swept San Diego State, 30-19, 30-25, 30-20. Casey Bauer led the match with 13 kills, while Tess Rogers notched 12 and Dre Downs notched 11 and hit a match-high .667. She also led the match with nine blocks. Katherine Whitney tied for match-highs with eight digs and four different Rams recorded an ace serve on the evening.
Conference Openers: Colorado State is a now a perfect 7-0 in Mountain West Conference openers, with a 3-0 record at Moby and 4-0 record on the road. The Rams are 2-0 vs Wyoming, 3-0 vs San Diego State, 1-0 vs BYU and 1-0 vs Air Force. The Rams have also won their last 11 league openers and 15 of their last 16, last dropping a match at #24 Wyoming in 1994.
Block Party: All six starters for the Rams (Dre Downs, freshman middle blocker Mekana Barnes, Tess Rogers, Casey Bauer, Ashley Fornstrom and sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki) rank among the top 25 in the Mountain West Conference in blocks. The Rams are the only team in the league to have all six ranked. Downs leads the league with 1.55 blocks per game, while Barnes is fifth at 1.24, Rogers 16th at 0.89, Bauer is 18th at 0.84, Fornstrom is 21st at 0.82 and Mokelki is 23rd at 0.79.
Enjoying The Spotlight: Casey Bauer has started in all 11 matches this season and is enjoying starting full-time. The senior has tallied 165 kills this season to lead the team, and has already recorded a season-high, surpassing her 2004 total of 164. Bauer is also hitting .241, well above her career average of .194. She also tallied her 500th kill against San Diego State on Thursday and now has 533 in her career.
A Lot of Points: The 37 points scored in game two against UNLV on Saturday ties for the most Ram points scored during the rally era. It ties the 37 scored against UNLV in 2002.
Double Time: Both senior outside hitters have recorded double figure kill totals in 10 of the 11 matches this year. Casey Bauer leads the team and the Mountain West Conference with 4.34 kills per game, while Tess Rogers is averaging 3.79 kills per game for second-best on the team and fifth in the league. Rogers now has recorded double figures in kills in 81 career matches, which is sixth most in school history and she is just nine shy of tying the school record of 90 held by Jill Johnson (1987-90). Rogers has also been in double figures in eight straight matches, while Bauer had hit double figures in five straight.
The Complete Package: This season the Rams per game averages are some of the best in school history. The 3.61 blocks per game would set a new school records, while the 16.95 kills per game would rank third, the 15.76 assists per game fourth, the 14.82 digs per game seventh and the .249 hitting percentage 12th.
Getting It Done: When taking a 2-0 lead in a match, Colorado State has won 71 straight matches. The Rams are 147-1 since the beginning of the 1999 season (and the Mountain West), losing only the Mountain West Championship to Utah in 2001.
Helping Hands: Ashley Fornstrom already ranks fifth on the freshman assists chart with 351 this season. The freshman record for assists in a season is 1,334 by Analisa Saylor in 1994. Since Fornstrom took over the starting setting position, she has averaged 13.83 assists per game. Fornstrom also ranks seventh in blocks per game (0.82) and ninth in digs per game (1.88) on the freshman charts.
Home Sweet Home: Colorado State is currently 5-0 in the friendly confines of Moby Arena and have enjoyed great success at home, posting an all-time record of 240-65 (.787). With Tom Hilbert at the helm, the Rams are an amazing 123-14 (.898) in Moby Arena.
Quite The Trio: Colorado State has three freshman in the starting rotation, Mekana Barnes, setter Ashley Fornstrom and defensive specialist/outside hitter Jaime Strauss. The last time the Rams had three freshman in the starting rotation was back in 1998 when Courtney Cox, Angela Knopf and Allison Peckham were all starting for the Rams.
League Leaders: Colorado State leads the Mountain West Conference in kills (16.95), assists (15.76) and blocks (3.61) per game. The Rams also rank second in hitting percentage at .249 and digs with 14.82 per contest and are third in opponent hitting percentage (.168). Individually, Dre Downs leads the conference with 1.55 blocks per game, while Casey Bauer leads in kills per game with 4.34. Downs is also second in hitting percentage at .371. In conference matches only, the Rams lead in kills (15.86), blocks (4.64) and assists (14.86) and are second in opponent hitting percentage (.119) and digs (13.14). Downs leads the league with 2.29 blocks per game, while Bauer leads with 5.57 kills per game. Ashley Fornstrom is second with 13.00 assists per game and Katherine Whitney is second at 3.86 digs per contest.
News & Notes:
* Mekana Barnes is 23 kills shy of her 100th career.
* Dre Downs needs 32 kills for the 1,000th of her career.
* Ashley Fornstrom is 149 assists shy of 500.
* Katherine Whitney needs nine digs for the 300th of her Colorado State career. She also needs just five aces for the 100th of her entire career.
* Tess Rogers is eight kills shy of moving into eighth on the career charts.
* Downs needs six kills to move into 17th on the career charts.
* Bauer's 26 kills ties for 16th in school history in a four-game match (UNLV).
* Downs' nine block assists (SDSU) ties for sixth in a three-game match and the nine total blocks ties for 11th.
* The team's 24 block assists at SDSU tied for ninth in a three-game match and it is the third time this season the Rams have tallied 24 in a three-game set. The 27 block assists at UNLV ties for 16th in a four-game match.
* The team's 19.5 total blocks against UNLV ties for 10th in a four-game match and ties for 20th all-time.
Nationally Ranked: In the NCAA statistics through Sept. 18, Colorado State ranks 4th in assists per game (15.97), 5th in kills per game (17.19) and 9th in blocks per game (3.37).
PreSeason All-Conference: Tess Rogers was named the Mountain West Conference Preseason Co-Player of the Year along with Lindsy Hartsock of BYU and Dre Downs was also named to the Preseason All-Conference team.
Picked Third: CSU was chosen by the Mountain West coaches and selected media to finish third in the regular season race in the preseason poll. The Rams were also chosen to finish third in 2002, a year they won the regular season title. CSU has won at least a share of the last five regular season titles in the Mountain West Conference, with the first year of the league, 1999, being the only season the Rams have not had their hands on a regular season title. The Rams have also won the last two Mountain West Conference Tournament titles.
Sisters, Sisters: Ashley and Brittany Fornstrom are one of 25 sets of sisters playing volleyball at the same Division I school, and the Rams are one of 23 teams to sport at least one pair of sisters. Colorado State and Utah (Amy Tingey and Emillie Toone) are the two schools in the Mountain West Conference with sisters on the same team and Utah is the only opponent of the Rams this season to have siblings on the squad together.
Tuesdays With Tom: Join head coach Tom Hilbert, along with a player or two, every Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. at the Hilton. Learn the inside scoop on the previous week, the upcoming matches and obscure statistics and strategies.
Scouting The Opposition:
Wyoming: The Cowgirls are 5-6 on the season and have lost their last four matches -- all to teams the Rams have defeated. Wyoming is also 0-2 in Mountain West Conference play.
This will be the 58th meeting between the Border War rivals, with the Rams owning the 38-19 advantage in the series meetings.
Wyoming is a young team, as there are no seniors on the 14 player roster and two juniors that were on the squad a year ago. The team sports seven newcomers.
2004 Co-Freshman of the Year Rachel Smith leads the team with 3.51 kills per game, while sophomore middle blocker Lauren Scott is hitting a team-best .275. Freshman setter Tasha Weishahn leads with 9.91 assists per game, but junior Jamie Schilling has started the last several matches with 6.20 assists per game. Samantha Eley leads with 0.55 aces per game and freshman libero Carissa Lee is averaging 4.26 digs per game to rank second in the conference. Junior middle blocker Andrea Seele leads the team with 0.83 blocks per game.
Wyoming is hitting .180 on the year with 13.21 kills, 11.71 assists, 2.13 aces, 15.37 digs and 1.88 blocks per game. Its opponents are hitting .171 with 13.92 kills, 12.53 assists, 1.58 aces, 15.34 digs and 2.58 blocks per game.
In conference play, the Cowgirls are hitting .153 with 9.83 assists, 0.50 aces, 12.83 digs and 1.17 blocks, while opponents are hitting .368 with 18.00 kills, 15.67 assists, 2.83 aces, 14.83 digs and 2.50 blocks per game.
Head Coach Pat Stangle is in his second year at the helm of the Cowgirls with an 18-20 record and he is 6-10 in Mountain West Conference play in his first stint as a head coach.
