Colorado State University Athletics
Volleyball ready for Mountain West Championships
11/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Colorado State (21-6, 13-3) at the Mountain West Championships Nov. 22-24, 2007 | Las Vegas, Nevada
Media Coverage at the Mountain West Conference Tournament: The No. 20 Rams enter the MWC Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Live stats and live radio will be available for the match on CSURams.com. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be televised by The Mtn. Network and the Championship will air one hour tape delayed on CSTV.
Championship picture: Colorado State split the final MWC regular season weekend and clinched its sixth Mountain West regular season championship.
Quarterfinal opponent: CSU will await the results of Wednesday night's match between San Diego State and Air Force to determine who they will face in the opening round of the MWC Tournament.
Sweeping the Court: CSU has won 21 matches this season, 17 of them by sweeping their opponents in three games. The most notable sweeps for the Rams this season came in Moby Arena as they defeated the then No. 13 Ohio State Buckeyes before a crowd of 3,047 and the nationally televised win over rival BYU. CSU has swept every MWC opponent this season with the notable exception of UNLV at least once. The Rams have swept San Diego State and Air Force in both meetings.
How It's Gone Down: In the first eight years of the Mountain West Tournament, the Rams have won four titles (1999, 2003, 2004, 2006) and have been the runner-up twice (2000, 2001). CSU is the only team to win the MWC Tournament as the No. 1 seed.
The 400 Club: Four players have reached 400 in the categories they lead. Katelin Batten has 400 digs, Jaime Strauss has 400 kills and Mekana Barnes is hitting .416.
Keep on Swinging: Jaime Strauss has 1054 attacks this season for an average of 11.33 attacks per game. The average leads the all-time single-season list for attacks per game.
Precision hitting: Mekana Barnes is hitting the ninth best percentage in the NCAA and the fifth-best single-season attack percentage in CSU history at .415. She has 17 matches hitting .400 or better this season.
Setting the Table: Ashley Fornstrom is averaging 13.90 assist per game this season ranking sixth in the NCAA. Fornstrom's single-season average is second all-time behind Cindy Cox in 1987 with an average of 14.78 assists per game.
Top Five: Katelin Batten has averaged 4.17 digs per game and has currently recorded 400 digs on the season. The total block tally ranks fifth all time just 38 digs shy of her single-season dig total set last year at 438. Her per game average currently ranks first over the average set by Katherine Whitney in 2005.
Last Five: Over the last five matches, Jaime Strauss has averaged 4.65 kills while Mekana Barnes is hitting .411. Six players are averaging at least 2.00 kills per game (Strauss, Barnes, Tessa Nelson, Danielle Minch, Tonya Mokelki and Jonelle Wallace) in the last five. Ashley Fornstrom is averaging 13.88 assists per game. Five players are also averaging at least one block per game.
Count on It: Tonya Mokelki has tallied at least five kills in 25 of 27 matches this season and in 65 of the last 68 matches for the Rams in her career. The lone exceptions came against Washington in 2005, the second round of the NCAA Tournament, at Arizona and against Northern Colorado in 2007.
Block Party: The Rams lead the Mountain West Conference and are ranked fourth in the NCAA in blocks averaging 3.59 blocks per game. CSU has 72 solo blocks this season while their opponents have half that number with 36. Every CSU player who has played in the front row at least once this season has at least one block with four players with double-digit solo blocks this season. Mekana Barnes leads the way with 15 solo blocks and 158 total blocks on the season. She ranks fourth nationally. Ashley Fornstrom has 12 solo blocks, the best for a setter in the Mountain West.
Top of the Mountain: Colorado State ranks at the top of the conference-only stats in team kills per game, hitting percentage, assists and blocks. In the overall stats CSU leads in hitting percentage, assists, kills and blocks. Ashley Fornstrom leads the league in both conference and overall assists while Mekana Barnes leads in both sets of statistics in blocks.
How About Those Juniors: A Junior for the Rams leads in every category with the exception of digs. Junior Ashley Fornstrom leads in assists with 13.90 per game, Mekana Barnes leads in hitting percentage (.411), service aces (22) and blocks (170). Jaime Strauss leads in kills per game (4.19) and kills (400). Sophomore Katelin Batten leads in digs per game (4.17) and is tied for the lead in aces (22).
Watch Those Middles: Both Mekana Barnes and Tessa Nelson are an ever-present headache for opponents. Barnes hits .411, second in the MWC, while averaging 1.70 blocks per game. Nelson hits .300 and averages 1.36 blocks per game. Combined the two average 6.17 kills per game which accounts for almost half the Rams' 17.24 kills per game. Between them they have 28 games with at least five blocks. Both have notched 10 blocks in a game twice and Barnes set the MWC record for total blocks with 19 against Utah.