VOLLEYBALL OPENS SEASON WITH SWEEP; COLBERG PICKS UP 800TH CAREER VICTORY

8/24/2007

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Sacramento State volleyball team kicked off the 2007 season with a three-game sweep of Delaware State (30-9, 30-19, 30-27), and head coach Debby Colberg picked up her 800th career victory Friday morning in the first round of the five-team Wynn Invitational.

Fresh off a 30-win season, the Hornets will play four matches at the tournament over the next two days, including a match later today against Tulsa at 12:30 p.m. PDT. The team takes on both UMKC (12:30 p.m. PDT) and host Missouri State (5:30 p.m. PDT) tomorrow to conclude tournament play. Today’s match marked the earliest the Hornets have ever began a season.

With this morning’s victory, Sacramento State has now won 25 of its last 28 matches dating back to last season. In addition, Colberg, who begins her 32nd and final season at Sacramento State, added one more milestone to an already impressive list of credentials. Colberg improved her career record to 800-284 (.738 winning percentage) and becomes just the fourth active Div. I head volleyball coach to notch 800 wins, joining Andy Banachowski (UCLA), Dave Shoji (Hawai’i) and Russ Rose (Penn State).

Colberg, who announced earlier this month she will retire at the conclusion of the season, has led Sacramento State to two national titles (1980 and 1981), 19 NCAA Tournament appearances, 17 conference championships and 29 winning seasons. In addition, she has coached the team to 10 straight Big Sky championships and her Hornet teams have posted at least 20 wins each of the last 12 years.

Today’s match featured two of the three Div. I teams that are currently nicknamed the Hornets (Alabama State being the other). Sacramento State used 13 different players as the team limited Delaware State to just 26 kills over three games and a .031 hitting percentage. Conversely, the Hornets, who used different lineups to begin all three games, had 41 kills and a .250 hitting percentage.

Sacramento State seniors Jennifer Ferguson (13 kills, .321 hitting percentage, eight digs) and Lindsay Haupt (11 kills, .647 hitting percentage, three blocks) led the way for a Hornet team that hit .407 in the 30-9 first-game victory. Freshman libero Chelsea Goodsell tallied a team-high 12 digs, and newcomer Missie Stidham added nine kills, three aces and nine digs. In fact, the Hornets combined for 10 aces, including three from Ferguson, two from Goodsell, and one each from setter Rose Burke and junior Katie Van Der Wende. Goodsell played the first two games as the Hornets’ libero before Van Der Wende played the third game at libero.

Delaware State, which was limited to negative hitting percentages in both the first and second games, was led by Ayana Dyette’s 13 kills and .345 hitting percentage.

NOTES -- Sophomore rightside/middle hitter Anna Schoener will redshirt this season after she had offseason surgery on her right (hitting) shoulder. Schoener played in all 36 matches during her freshman season, sharing time with the graduated Leah Klemenhagen as one of the Hornets’ two rightside hitters...Sacramento State had an interesting travel day getting to Missouri yesterday. It took the team a combined 14 hours and six different planes to finally arrive in Springfield. The team left Sacramento State’s campus yesterday morning at 4 a.m., and did not arrive in Springfield until 8 p.m. CT. The Hornets were scheduled to practice last night in Springfield, but had to cancel because of the delayed travel.