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Volleyball Hosts Utah Valley State College And Travels To Idaho This Week
Oct. 19, 2003 LOGAN, Utah - Complete Release in PDF Format
Release #9 * 10/19/03 THIS WEEK - Utah State (12-7, 5-4) will host Utah Valley State College (5-9) on Tues., Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. USU will then hit the road for a Big West Conference match against Idaho (10-8, 3-6) on Sat., Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. (MT). SERIES HISTORY- Utah State will be meeting Utah Valley State College for the first time ever this Tuesday. USU is 11-8 all-time against Idaho which includes a three-game win (30-21, 30-27, 30-20) over the Vandals earlier this year in Logan. All-time, the Aggies are 4-3 against Idaho on the road and the last time USU lost in Moscow was during the 2000 season. Overall, USU has won five straight matches in the series and eight of the last nine. SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY STATE COLLEGE- Utah Valley State College is 5-9 on the season following a five-game loss at Augustana State and a four-game win at South Dakota State last week. It's other four wins on the season have come against Boise State (3-2), Washington State (3-2), and Montana-Western twice (3-0, 3-0). The Wolverines other eight losses were against Portland (1-3), Bowling Green State (1-3), BYU-Hawaii (1-3), Missouri (0-3), Utah (0-3), Weber State (2-3) and Northern Colorado (0-3). UVSC returns three starters and six letterwinners from last year's team that went 26-5 on the season and tied for first in the NJCAA Conference with a 12-2 league record. SCOUTING IDAHO- Idaho is 10-8 on the season and currently tied for seventh-place in the Big West Conference with a 3-6 league record following a pair of three game wins last weekend against UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton. The Vandals are led by senior middle blocker Anna-Marie Hammond who is eighth in the league in hitting at .294 and 10th in blocking at 1.16. As a team, UI is hitting .221 on the season, which ranks seventh in the conference. Idaho returns five starters and nine letterwinners from last year's team than went 11-17 on the season and finished in a tie for sixth-place in the Big West Conference with a 7-11 league record. AGGIES AT HOME- Utah State has been very good at home over the last four-plus years, recording a 36-13 (.735) home record, which includes a 5-2 mark this year. Against Big West opponents, USU is 27-12 (.692) over that same time period. Versus non-league competition, Utah State has won nine straight matches dating back to the 2000 season. The last time USU lost to a non-league opponent at home was on Sept. 20, 2000 to Weber State in four games. AGGIES ON THE ROAD- Utah State has been a much improved team away from home over the last three-plus years as the Aggies have recorded a 22-28 (.440) road record. In league play, USU is 14-16 (.467) on the road over that same time period. NEXT WEEK- Utah State will travel to UC Irvine on Fri., Oct. 31 and to Long Beach State on Sat., Nov. 1. The Aggies lost a pair of three-game matches to the Anteaters and the 49ers earlier this year in Logan. RECAPPING LAST WEEKEND - Utah State went 2-0 last weekend with a five-game win against Cal State Fullerton (30-25, 23-30, 31-33, 30-24, 15-12) and a three-game win against UC Riverside (30-18, 30-13, 30-20). Against the Titans, senior middle blocker Erin Cartwright-Davis had an outstanding night recording career highs in kills with 33 and digs with 25. Freshman opposite side hitter Mari Ruddick also had a great night setting career highs in kills with 24 and digs with 15. Against the Highlanders, Cartwright-Davis continued her hot play as she hit a career-high .667 (17-1-24), while sophomore opposite side hitter Zuzana Cernianska added 13 kills. As a team, USU hit .408 in the match and held UCR to a .047 hitting percentage. AGGIES HAVE CAREER NIGHT AGAINST THE TITANS - Utah State had a career night against Cal State Fullerton in a five game win. Senior middle blocker Erin Cartwright-Davis recorded a career-high in kills (33) and digs (25), while freshman opposite side hitter Mari Ruddick also posted career-highs in kills (24) and digs (15). As a team, USU recorded 103 digs in the match, which was the most by an Aggie team since 1989. Cartwright-Davis also had an outstanding match against UC Riverside, hitting a career-high .667 with 17 kills on 24 attacks with only one error. AGGIES AMONG CONFERENCE LEADERS - As of Oct. 13, Utah State is fourth in the Big West Conference in hitting at .243. USU is leading the league in assists (15.78) and kills per game (17.37), and is fifth in the league in blocks per game (2.47). Individually, junior setter Andrea Delsigne is leading the league in assists per game (13.83), while senior Erin Cartwright-Davis is fifth in blocks per game (1.27), fifth in kills per game (4.64), and seventh in hitting (.295). Sophomore Zuzana Cernianska is also among the league leaders as she is second in kills per game (5.23). DELSIGNE AMONG THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY - Junior setter Andrea Delsigne is having an outstanding season for Utah State and her numbers confirm it. As of Oct. 13, Delsigne is fifth in the country in assists per game (13.83), while sophomore opposite side hitter Zuzana Cernianska is 20th in kills per game (5.23). As a team, Utah State ranks seventh in the country in kills per game (17.37) and assists per game (15.78). MOVING UP THE CHARTS - Senior middle blocker Erin Cartwright-Davis continues to climb the charts in several career statistics at Utah State. As of Oct. 19, Cartwright-Davis is currently third all-time at USU in kills (1,143), fifth in attacks (2,607), fourth in total blocks (305), fourth in solo blocks (51), fifth in block assists (254), and third in hitting percentage (.279). Junior setter Andrea Delsigne is also climbing the career assists list as she now has 1,740 career assists which ranks sixth all-time at USU. AGGIES RETURN FIVE STARTERS - Utah State returns five starters from last year's team that went 14-16 on the season and finished in a tie for seventh-place in the Big West Conference with a 7-11 league mark. Senior outside hitter Erin Cartwright-Davis was named first-team all-league, while sophomore opposite side hitter Zuzana Cernianska was named Co-Freshman of the Year in the Big West. The other three starters returning for USU are senior libero Taubi Neves, junior setter Andrea Delsigne and sophomore middle blocker Ingrid Roth. CERNIANSKA NAMED CO-BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK- Sophomore opposite side hitter Zuzana Cernianska was named the Co-Big West Player of the Week after earning Most Valuable Player honors at the 2003 Ogden Marriott-Weber State Classic on Sept. 2 as she hit .367 and averaged 5.20 kills per game. She shared the award with Kelly Wing of UC Irvine. AGGIES VERSUS RANKED OPPONENTS- Utah State is now 0-4 on the season versus ranked opponents after losing to #19 UC Santa Barbara in five games, #20 Pacific in three games, #14 Kansas State in four games and to #2 Hawai'i in three games. Last year, USU was 0-5 versus ranked opponents and over the last three-plus season, Utah State is 7-25 versus Top-25 teams. The last time USU defeated a ranked opponent was in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament when USU upset No. 19 Brigham Young in five games. HEAD COACH Burt Fuller -Entering his third season as head coach of the Utah State volleyball program, Burt Fuller is optimistic that the 2003 season will once again see the Aggies be one of the top teams in the highly competitive Big West Conference. During his first two years at USU, Fuller led Utah State to a 34-27 record and a trip to the 2001 NCAA Tournament where the Aggies upset No. 19 Brigham Young to advance to the second round. In his inaugural year as a collegiate head coach, Fuller posted three wins against ranked opponents as the Aggies recorded their first victory against Pacific in 20 years to go along with two wins against Brigham Young, as USU posted its first win in Provo since the 1981 season to go along with the Aggies' thrilling win against the Cougars in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Fuller also coached five all-league players during his first season at USU, which were the most honorees in school history. During the 2002 season, Fuller coached a first-team all-league player in Erin Cartwright, along with only the second Aggie ever to be named freshman of the year in the Big West in Zuzuana Cernianska. Furthermore, Fuller's 20-11 record marks only the second time in school history that a first-year head coach has won at least 20 matches in a season, as he joined Annette Cottle, who went 28-19 in her first season as a head coach during the 1982 season. His 12-6 league mark is also a best at USU for rookie coaches. Prior to taking the head coaching job at Utah State, Fuller spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA. During his seven years at UCLA, the Bruins went to the NCAA Tournament six times including a national runner-up finish in 1994. During his tenure, UCLA advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament twice and finished the 2000 season (his last) with a final national ranking of seventh. He coached 23 all-league selections and five All-American's at UCLA. As a collegiate head coach, he is 46-34 (.575) overall. Year School Overall Conf. NCAA 2001 Utah State 20-11 (.645) 12-6 2nd Round 2002 Utah State 14-16 (.467) 7-11 ----- 2003 Utah State 12-7 (.632) 5-4 ----- Total Three Years 46-34 (.575) 24-21 PRESEASON COACHES' POLL - Utah State is picked to finish seventh in the Big West Conference according to the league's coaches. The following is a list of the preseason poll. 1. UC Santa Barbara (6) 96 2. Long Beach State (1) 85 3. Pacific (3) 82 4. Cal Poly 64 4. UC Irvine 64 6. Cal State Northridge 45 7. UTAH STATE 43 8. Idaho 39 9. Cal State Fullerton 18 10.UC Riverside 14
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