Volleyball Takes Final Regular Season Road Trip

Nov. 7, 2006

Match Notes: San Diego State & UNLV
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Final Frontier: Colorado State hits the road for the final time in the Mountain West regular season, playing at San Diego State on Friday evening and then playing a rare Sunday afternoon contest at UNLV. The Rams swept the road trip last season, defeating the Aztecs in three games and the Rebels in four.

Last Time Out: Colorado State continued its winning streak with a three-game sweep over the Air Force Falcons in Moby Arena, 30-21, 30-17, 30-26, giving the Rams their 11th straight victory. Using a 6-2 (six attackers, two setters) offense for the first time since 2002, Colorado State rested sophomore setter Ashley Fornstrom and had the two seniors on the squad, Lindsey Hillegass and Katherine Whitney split the setting duties. Hillegass notched a career-high 20 assists in her first role as a setter for the Rams, while Whitney tallied 22 assists, along with nine kills and seven digs. Freshman middle blocker Tessa Nelson led the Rams with 10 kills, while both sophomore Mekana Barnes and Whitney added nine. Freshman libero Katelin Batten led the team with 12 digs, while both Whitney and Nelson had four blocks and junior Amanda Fahnestock had a match-high three aces.

Perfection Achieved: For just the fourth time in school history, the Rams posted an undefeated record in the month of October, going 8-0. The other seasons with perfect Octobers were 2003 (8-0), 2001 (9-0) and 1984 (10-0).

Rebounding: Mekana Barnes feels better on the court and it shows. Over the last five matches, the sophomore has hit .374 with 3.29 kills and 1.12 blocks per game. For the season, Barnes is hitting .289 with 2.97 kills and 1.00 blocks per game.

History Repeats Itself: Colorado State now has sole possession of second place in the Mountain West Conference standings with the Rams victory over Air Force and New Mexico's upset win over BYU. The Rams have finished in the top two in the Mountain West regular season standings every year of the league's existence.

Aggressive: Ashley Fornstrom has already matched her season total in kills from a year ago. The sophomore setter has 64 kills in 75 games this season for an 0.85 per game average. Last year, she notched 64 kills in 104 games for an 0.62 average.

Taking Control: Katelin Batten already owns the Colorado State single-season freshman digs record with 284 and the season average with 3.64 per game, but she has really stepped up her game of late. Batten is averaging 4.59 digs per game over the last five matches and has averaged 4.19 digs per game over the Rams' 11 match winning streak.

Going Streaking: Colorado State has now won 11 matches in a row, the longest winning streak since the Rams won 12 straight at the beginning of the 2004 season. The 10-match winning streak in conference play also ties for the Rams' second-longest in Mountain West history (14, 2003; 10, 2001).

Oh So Close: Colorado State has 99 victories in Mountain West Conference play since the league started in 1999. With the next victory, the Rams will become the first team in MWC history to reach 100 victories. Utah is second on the list with 90 wins, while BYU has 85.

Leap Frog: Tessa Nelson tallied four blocks against Air Force, which moved her into seventh on the CSU single-season freshman records, passing former Ram standout Dre Downs. Nelson now has 95 blocks, needing just six more to tie current Ram, Ashley Fornstrom for sixth.

Another Rung On The Ladder: Katherine Whitney is now ranked 16th on the CSU career charts in digs with 794. She passed Kristen Walton, who tallied 790 from 1989-93 and is just 18 shy of taking over 15th on the list (811, Judy Rexroth, 1994-97).

Digging It Up: The Rams tallied 65 digs against Wyoming, which ties for the 13th most in a three-game match in school history. Prior to this season, the Rams had not had 60 or more digs in a three-game match since 1999 and this year's team has accomplished the feat twice (vs UNLV).

Three Over One: This season's team currently has three players averaging over one block per game. The last time a Ram team ended the year with three players over 1.00 was in 1994 when Melanie Williams (1.30), Janie Penfield (1.13) and Wendy Herb (1.04) managed the feat. This year Tessa Nelson (1.23), Ashley Fornstrom (1.03) and Mekana Barnes (1.00) are all blocking more than one ball a game.

Setters=Aces: Ashley Fornstrom has kept the streak of setters serving well alive. Fornstrom has 22 aces on the year, marking the 11th straight season and the 15th time in the last 16 years the starting setter has tallied 20 or more aces on the year. Fornstrom's 0.85 kills per game also is the sixth highest offensive output by a setter in school history, 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 22 matches this season and in 36 of the last 37 matches for the Rams. The lone exception was against Washington last season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

1-2-3 Punch: The trio of sophomores in #1 Jaime Strauss, #2 Ashley Fornstrom and #3 Mekana Barnes are accounting for 40.9 percent of the team's kills, 86.9 of the team's assists, 45.9 of aces, 34.6 of digs and 44.2 percent of the team's blocks this season.

Going The Distance: During the 11-match winning streak, Colorado State has not played a five-game match, winning eight matches in three-game sweeps and the other three in four-game contests. CSU is 1-2 in five-game matches this year.

Little Of This, Little Of That: Ashley Fornstrom, in addition to averaging 12.59 assists per game this season, has tallied at least three digs, one kill and one block in all 21 matches. Fornstrom is second on the team in blocks, with 1.03 per game and is fourth in the team in digs with 2.31 per game.

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 3-5 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.

A Step Further: The Rams are 3-0 in extra points games in conference play this year, winning all three by 31-29 scores (New Mexico twice, UNLV).

Great Digs: Katelin Batten notched 12 digs against the Falcons, keeping alive her school record streak of 20 consecutive matches of 10 or more digs. Batten averages 3.64 digs per game, which is the CSU freshman dig average record and currently ranks her eighth in the Mountain West Conference.

Milestones: Amanda Fahnestock tallied both her 100th kill and 100th dig at Colorado State against Air Force and now has 103 of both.

Win 250: Head Coach Tom Hilbert won his 250th match at Colorado State against Denver. Hilbert is now 257-60 (.811) in his 10th season with the Rams. He is now just 43 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 13-1 this season when winning game one and 1-5 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.

Tuesday Afternoon Club: Join Head Coach Tom Hilbert and at least one player every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., at the Hilton. Learn the inside scoop on the previous week, the upcoming matches and obscure statistics and strategies.

By The Numbers:
 Mekana Barnes next dig will be the 100th of her career. She is also just nine blocks shy of 200.
 Katelin Batten is 16 digs shy of 300. With 29 digs she will tie for 19th on the single-season charts at CSU.
 Ashley Fornstrom is 22 blocks shy of 200.
 Ashley Fornstrom needs 61 assists to take over seventh on the CSU career charts (2222, Anissia Belikoff, 1988-91).
 Tonya Mokelki needs four digs for 200.
 Tessa Nelson is five blocks shy of 100 and 20 kills shy of 200.
 Jaime Strauss is 13 kills shy of 300.
 Katherine Whitney needs six digs for 800 at Colorado State.

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. Select matches will also be aired on 90.5 FM, KCSU. Neither match this weekend will be broadcast

Scouting The Opposition:
San Diego State: The Aztecs are 10-15 on the season and 4-9 in MWC play. Since the two teams first met, SDSU has posted a 2-3 record and lost its last match at Wyoming.
Kelley Wahlin leads the team with a .293 hitting percentage and 1.40 blocks per game, while senior Melanie Greene is getting a team-best 3.76 kills per game and junior libero Aime Cordeiro leads the league with 5.49 digs per game and has a team best 29 aces on the year.
The Rams won the first meeting in four games with Mekana Barnes and Katherine Whitney both gathering 17 kills and Jaime Strauss and Tonya Mokelki each tallied 16, while Tessa Nelson chipped in 12. Ashley Fornstrom led the match with seven blocks, while Katelin Batten had a team-high 19 digs and Strauss had three aces. SDSU was led by Greene with 16 kills, while Dent added 14 and had 15 digs. Cordeiro posted a match-high 23 digs and Dent and Bailee Hellwig each had four blocks, while Leah Lathrop had three aces.
Colorado State has posted eight straight wins over the Aztecs and is 8-8 all-time in San Diego.

UNLV: The Rebels are in fourth place in the MWC standings with a 7-6 record and are 16-9 on the year. Since the two teams last met, UNLV has gone 3-3, losing its last match at Wyoming.
Freshman middle blocker Erin Greenwood is hitting a team-best .283, while junior Maria Aladjova leads with 3.86 kills and Lauren Miramontes leads with 1.16 blocks per game. Junior libero Jada Walker leads with 5.13 digs per game and also has a team-best 21 aces on the year. UNLV runs a 6-2 offensive scheme, with Melody Nua getting 9.34 assists and Kristin Koochi averaging 4.13 per game.
CSU swept the first meeting with Katherine Whitney posting 11 kills, Katelin Batten 14 digs and Tessa Nelson nine blocks. UNLV was led by Aladjova with 14 kills, Walker with 16 digs and Stephanie Noland with seven blocks.
Colorado State is 20-3 all-time against the Rebels with an 8-2 record in Las Vegas and the Rams have won 15 of the last 16 meetings.

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