Colorado State University Athletics
Volleyball Closes Out Regular Season
11/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2006
Match Notes: BYU & Utah
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Home Sweet Home: Colorado State closes out its regular season by hosting #20 BYU on Friday and #9 Utah on Saturday. With a pair of victories the Rams can secure the second-seed in the Mountain West Tournament. Saturday, CSU will honor its seniors in outside hitter Katherine Whitney, defensive specialist Lindsey Hillegass and manager Rebecca Brink.
Watch This!: The Rams match against BYU will air on the mtn. on Monday (9 p.m. Mtn.), Tuesday (noon) and Wednesday (9 p.m.) next week. The entire Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship can also be seen on either the mtn. or CSTV.
Tournament Seeding: Colorado State will be the two or three seed in the Mountain West Tournament. BYU will take the other seed, depending on the results of this weekend. Utah is a lock for the top-seed, while UNLV will be the four and Air Force will be the nine-seed. Positions five through eight will be determined with the final week of play.
What A Weekend: Junior right side hitter Tonya Mokelki put together quite the weekend. Against San Diego State, she notched 16 kills and hit a team-best .364 with six digs -- giving her 200 for her career. Then against UNLV, she tied her career high in both kills and digs with 21 and 14, respectively, and hit .349 with two aces. For the week, she averaged a team-best 3.70 kills per game, while hitting .355 with 2.00 digs and 0.30 aces per game.
Aces Are Wild: This season there are eight players on the team with 10 or more service aces, marking just the seventh time in school history the feat has been accomplished and the first time since 1994 (1993, 1991, 1990, 1988, 1984). Sophomore middle blocker Mekana Barnes leads the way with 24 aces, while sophomore setter Ashley Fornstrom has 22, Katherine Whitney has 20, Lindsey Hillegass has 15, junior Amanda Fahnestock has 12 and Tonya Mokelki, freshman libero Katelin Batten and sophomore outside hitter Jaime Strauss each have 10.
Blockhead: Freshman middle blocker Tessa Nelson recorded her 100th career block against UNLV. She becomes just the seventh freshman in school history to tally 100 or more blocks in a season and is the third on this season's team (Mekana Barnes, Ashley Fornstrom). Nelson ranks seventh on the freshman list, needing two to pass Fornstrom for sixth.
Setting The Table: Ashley Fornstrom posted a career-high 68 assists against UNLV, giving her 2,282 for her career. She now ranks seventh in school history, passing Annissia Belikoff, who tallied 2,222 from 1988-91. Fornstrom also has 1,064 assists this year, needing just 16 more to move into 20th on the single season charts.
Now Showing: Katelin Batten tallied 49 digs over the weekend, bringing her season total to 333, which ranks 12th on the Colorado State single-season charts. Over the last five matches, the freshman is averaging 5.05 digs per game (96 digs-19 games). She has also been in double figure digs in 22 consecutive matches. Batten's 25 digs at UNLV is tied for the 12th most in a match in school history, while her 24 digs at San Diego State is tied for 19th on the same list.
The First And Only: Colorado State became the first school in Mountain West Conference history to hit 100 wins, doing so Friday evening against San Diego State. The Rams are 100-14 since the inception of the league in 1999. Utah is second on the list with 91 wins.
Making A Career Of It: Several Rams tallied career highs in the matches over the weekend.
• Ashley Fornstrom tallied 68 assists against UNLV, bettering her previous high of 67.
• Fornstrom shattered her kills best with nine against the Aztecs.
• Mekana Barnes notched 20 kills at UNLV.
• Katelin Batten notched 24 digs on Friday, then 25 on Saturday for career-highs.
• Katherine Whitney tied her season-high with 18 kills against San Diego State.
• Jaime Strauss tied her career high with 19 kills at UNLV.
• Tonya Mokelki tied her career high in both kills and digs, with 21 and 14, respectively at UNLV.
Another Rung On The Ladder: Katherine Whitney jumped up two spots on the career digs chart with the two five-game matches. Whitney now has 826 digs at Colorado State to rank 14th in school history, passing Krista Swartzendruber (819, 1997-00) and Judy Rexroth (811, 1994-97). Whitney is 70 digs shy of 13th on the list (Courtney Cox, 895, 1998-01).
Etching Their Name: The Rams tallied 87 kills and 87 digs against UNLV. The kills is the 19th most in a five-game match in school history, while the digs is the 18th most in a five-game match and the team's 238 attacks is third-most in school history and the second most for a five-gamer.
Don't Forget About Her: Ashley Fornstrom shattered her career high with nine kills against San Diego State. Her previous high was six on three occasions. Fornstrom's 0.91 kills per game this season is the fourth highest offensive output by a setter in school history (0.99 Analisa Saylor, 1997; 0.98 Melissa Courtney, 2003; 0.96 Saylor, 1995), and no setter has ever averaged 1.00 kills per game or more for the Rams.
Count On It: Tonya Mokelki has tallied at least five kills in all 24 matches this season and in 38 of the last 39 matches for the Rams. The lone exception was against Washington last season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Relying On The Outside: Colorado State is 13-1 this season when one of the starting outside hitters hits .300 or better for the match and 4-6 when neither hits the .300 plateau. Jaime Strauss has hit .300 of better in eight matches, while Katherine Whitney has done so six times and Amanda Fahnestock has done so once.
Milestones: Katherine Whitney notched the 700th kill of her career against UNLV and now has 701 and had her 800th dig at CSU against SDSU and now has 826. Jaime Strauss tallied her 300th kill at SDSU and now has 319, while Tonya Mokelki dug her 200th ball against the Aztecs and has 216. Mekana Barnes also notched her 100th dig at SDSU and has 107. Tessa Nelson blocked her 100th ball against UNLV.
Win 250: Head Coach Tom Hilbert won his 250th match at Colorado State against Denver. Hilbert is now 258-61 (.809) in his 10th season with the Rams. He is now just 42 wins shy of becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history as Rich Feller currently holds the record with 299 victories.
Start At The Beginning: Colorado State is 16-1 this season when winning game one and 1-6 when losing the first stanza. The Rams are also a perfect 13-0 when winning the first two games of the match. The lone loss for the Rams after winning game one came at the hands of BYU in Provo.
Triple Threat: Ashley Fornstrom recorded the first triple double this season in the Mountain West Conference and the first at Colorado State since Angela Knopf in 2001. Her triple double against Wyoming is only the 14th in school history and she tallied 53 assists, a career-high tying 14 digs and a career-high 11 blocks. For her efforts, she was named the Mountain West Co-Player of the week.
Comeback Kids: In 12 different games during conference play this season, the Rams have battled back from at least a three-point deficit to win a game (of 37 wins). The largest comeback this year in league play was seven-points, 14-7 against New Mexico in game two on Sept. 22 as the Rams went on to win 31-29. In the second match against the Lobos, the Rams trailed by six, 8-2, and came back to win 31-29, also in the second game. The largest comeback of the year came in game two against Pepperdine as the Rams trailed by eight, 12-4 and went on to win 30-23.
By The Numbers:
• Mekana Barnes is two blocks shy of 200 for her career and 39 kills shy of 500.
• Ashley Fornstrom needs seven digs for 400 in her career.
• Lindsey Hillegass is just 15 digs shy of 100.
• Tessa Nelson needs 12 kills for 200.
• Katherine Whitney is 20 kills shy of 300 at CSU.
• Katelin Batten is nine digs shy of 11th on the single season charts, 12 shy of 10th, 17 shy of 9th and 19 shy of 8th.
Over The Airwaves: The majority of Colorado State's matches this season can be heard on Yahoo.com. Cole Weinman will be doing the play-by-play, while Lance Moorman will be handling the color commentary. Both matches this weekend will also be aired on 90.5 FM, KCSU.
Scouting The Opposition:
BYU: The Cougars and Rams are currently tied for second place in the Mountain West standings with 11-3 records. Earlier this season, the two played a five-game match in Provo, with BYU winning.
Junior outside hitter Chelsea Goodman averages a team-best 4.58 kills per game, while senior middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock is hitting .389 to lead the team. Goodman also has a team-best 3.20 digs per game and 29 aces, while Hartsock is averaging 1.51 blocks per game.
Earlier this season, Tonya Mokelki established a career high with 21 kills in Provo to lead the team, while Katherine Whitney notched 16 kills, Jaime Strauss had 14 and Tessa Nelson had 11. Strauss also led the team with 12 digs, while Whitney had 11 and Katelin Batten 10. Both Mokelki and Whitney had two aces each and Ashley Fornstrom and Nelson each notched four blocks. BYU was led by Erica Lott with 26 kills, while Goodman had 20. Janvier Beaumont led the match with 17 digs and Hartsock tallied 10 blocks.
BYU holds a 19-44-1 advantage in the all-time series, though the Rams have won six of the last eight meetings. Last year, the Rams lost in three in Fort Collins.
Utah: The Utes have clinched the Mountain West regular season title and are looking to become only the second team to go undefeated through the league (the Rams went unbeaten in 2003). Utah swept Colorado State in the first meeting this year.
Sophomore outside hitter Airial Salvo leads the Utes with 4.18 kills, 3.54 digs and 0.45 aces per game, while junior middle blocker Emillie Toone is hitting a team-best .369 and leads the nation with 1.90 blocks per game.
In the conference opener for both teams, Mekana Barnes led the Rams with 121 kills, while Katelin Batten led with 10 digs and had the only ace. Both Ashley Fornstrom and Barnes had four blocks in the three game loss. Utah was led by Salvo and Kathryn Lovell with 11 kills each, while junior libero Connie Dangerfield tallied a match-high 15 digs and Toone had nine blocks, including three solo stops.
Colorado State owns a 43-20 record against the Utes and is 21-2 in Fort Collins. Utah has won the last two meetings between the clubs, with the Rams winning the four previous meetings.