FSU Volleyball At A Glance - The Ferris State University women’s volleyball team will host Saginaw Valley State this Friday (Oct. 31) for a 5 p.m. (EST) Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) encounter at FSU’s Ewigleben Sports Arena in Big Rapids, Mich. FSU will then square off against Northwood Saturday (Nov. 1) at 4 p.m. (EST) in its final league home match this season.

A Look Back – The Bulldogs, who are presently 11-12 overall and 8-5 in league play, dropped a 3-1 home conference decision to rival Grand Valley State last Friday (Oct. 24) in front of a capacity crowd of 600. The Bulldogs have won eight of their last 12 matches to date and are presently fourth overall in the GLIAC’s North Division standings.

Last Season – Ferris State concluded its 30th anniversary campaign (2002) with a 24-7 overall record, which included a second-place tying 15-3 GLIAC North Division finish. The Bulldogs also advanced to the 2002 NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament.

The 31st Season – The 2003 campaign marks the 31st season of Ferris State women’s volleyball. Since the program’s inception in 1972, the Bulldogs have compiled a 663-388 (.631) overall record. Ferris has won eight GLIAC titles, made 11 NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and registered 23 winning seasons in its previous 30 campaigns.

Bulldog Captains – Junior setter Ashley Green (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin), junior outside hitter Karla Fairbanks (Rogers City) and sophomore libero/outside hitter Brittny Godlewski (St. Clair Township/Marysville) have been voted tri-captains for the 2003 campaign. Green was both a first-team All-GLIAC and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Great Lakes Region selection last season while Godlewski attained honorable mention All-GLIAC kudos. Fairbanks ranked second (3.73 kpg) among Ferris’ kills leaders in 2002.

Home Court Edge – Ferris is 215-57 (.790) at Ewigleben Sports Arena since 1981 and sports a 129-41 (.759) conference home mark during that span. The Bulldogs are 116-41 (.739) overall at home since 1990, which includes a 82-37 (.689) conference mark. FSU is 57-10 (.851) in home matches since 1998 and posted its sixth undefeated home campaign (8-0) in the 600-seat facility last season.

The Bulldog Volleyball Tradition – Ferris State posted its fifth consecutive 20-win campaign last season. The Bulldogs, who have recorded at least 20 victories in a season 16 times, are presently 128-57 (.692) overall since the start of the 1998 campaign. The 1984 FSU squad won a NCAA-II record 46 consecutive matches en route to a school-best 48-3 overall mark.

Fairbanks Needs 14 More – Karla Fairbanks, who is FSU’s leader in both kills (4.34 kpg) and digs (2.96 dpg) this season, needs 14 kills to become the 13th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000 career kills mark. She would also become the fifth Bulldog player to reach the century mark in the last five seasons following Alaina Olds (2002), Erin Minnis (2001), Sarah VanderMolen (2000) and Morgan Buckner (1999). Fairbanks is nine blocks away from posting her 200th career block and 28 digs shy of her 600th career dig.

Green Closing In On Third Place – Ashley Green presently has 3,271 career assists to date and is 172 away from tying Melissa Petty (3,443; 1991-94) for third place on the school's all-time list. She needs one kill to attain her 200th career kill. Green, who totaled 1,348 assists in 2002, currently has 958 assists this season and is 42 shy of recording 1,000 assists for the second consecutive campaign.

Head Coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm – FSU head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm presently ranks second among Ferris’ all-time coaching victory leaders. Brandel-Wilhelm, who has a current 279-107 (.723) career mark, is 161-87 (.649) in eight seasons at Ferris and recorded her 150th Bulldog victory last season at Saginaw Valley State (11/8). A 1990 Alma graduate, Brandel-Wilhelm guided the Bulldogs to NCAA-II Tournament appearances in 1999 and 2002. Brandel-Wilhelm, who was voted the GLIAC’s Coach of the Year in 2002, entered the 2003 season ranked 13th among NCAA-II’s winningest active coaches.

Looking Ahead – Ferris State heads to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula next weekend (Nov. 6-8) for three league matches. FSU visits Lake Superior State Thursday, Nov. 6, for a 7 p.m. (EST) tilt in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Ferris will then battle Michigan Tech Friday, Nov. 7, in a 5 p.m. (EST) encounter at Houghton, Mich. The Bulldogs square off against Northern Michigan Saturday, Nov. 8, in their regular-season finale at 4 p.m. (EST) in Marquette, Mich.

Bulldog Bites - The Bulldogs have presently won 12 of their last 14 home matches dating back to the start of the 2002 campaign ......... Karla Fairbanks has recorded 10 kills or more in 14 of her last 15 outings to date .......... Fairbanks is averaging 9.7 kills and 7.6 digs per match in six previous career outings against Northwood. She has recorded 7.2 kills and 4.0 digs per contest versus SVSU in five career appearances ............. Freshman middle hitter Molly Pickvet (Pinconning) matched a personal career-high with 12 kills against Grand Valley State. Pickvet, who previously tallied 12 kills at Wayne State (10/17), is one kill away from compiling her 100th career kill ....... Freshman outside hitter Danielle Baucher (Kalamazoo/Mattawan) is six kills shy of registering her 200th career kill. She has garnered 10 or more digs in nine of her last 10 contests to date ......... Sophomore middle hitter Lauren Heine (Ypsilanti) notched her 200th career kill versus GVSU while sophomore middle hitter Becky Thurau (Troy/Birmingham Groves) needs one kill to notch her 300th career kill ........... Brittny Godlewski registered her 500th career dig against the Lakers ....... Ferris State’s current 221.5 total blocks this campaign represents the school’s seventh-best single-season total to date. FSU needs 26 more to match the sixth-place mark of 247.5 blocks set in 2002 ......... Ferris’ overall attendance of 600 versus Grand Valley State represents the largest crowd the Bulldogs have played in front of this campaign. It also marks the third time in the last four years the rivalry match has resulted in a capacity crowd at Big Rapids.

The 2003 GLIAC Tournament – The 2003 GLIAC Tournament returns to the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek, Mich., this season following a one-year hiatus. The top three teams in each division plus the next two best overall teams will qualify for the tournament, which is slated for Nov. 13-15. Ferris, which has five league matches remaining this season, has reached the conference tournament five consecutive seasons to date.

Between The Lines – FSU head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm will make periodic appearances throughout the season on “Between The Lines,” a weekly half-hour television show devoted to Ferris State Athletics. The program, which is hosted by Phill Mooney and produced by FSU’s media productions department, airs each Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (EST) on Northern Michigan’s WFQX-Fox 33.

FSU On The Internet – Ferris State University Athletics’ official web site can be found at www.ferris.edu/sports. The site features information on all of FSU’s varsity athletics programs.

A Look At The Opponents:

Saginaw Valley State: Ferris and Saginaw Valley State will square off for the 48th time this Friday with FSU holding a 39-8 series advantage. In the last meeting (10/3/03), the Bulldogs recorded a 3-0 win at University Center, Mich. Ferris head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm currently has a 12-3 career coaching record against the Cardinals. FSU, which has won six of the last seven series contests, holds a 21-2 all-time record versus SVSU at Big Rapids. SVSU compiled a 7-17 overall record in 2002, including a seventh-place 1-17 GLIAC North Division finish. The Cardinals, who are coached by first-year head coach Will Stanton, fell to 1-22 overall and 0-15 in league play this season as a result of a 3-0 conference home loss to Northern Michigan last Sunday (Oct. 26). SVSU has dropped nine consecutive outings this campaign to date.

Northwood: FSU maintains a 22-16 series edge heading into this Saturday’s 39th series meeting against Northwood. However, the Timberwolves have won eight of the last 10 series outings although Ferris posted a 3-0 win in the last meeting (10/4/03) at Midland, Mich. Brandel-Wilhelm has a current 6-13 career coaching mark against the Timberwolves. NU is presently 17-10 overall and 10-5 in league action this season heading into this Friday’s (Oct. 31) league road match at Grand Valley State after losing a 3-1 conference home contest to Northern Michigan last Saturday (Oct. 25). Last season, Northwood posted a 29-6 overall record and a second-place tying 15-3 mark in the GLIAC’s North Division. The Timberwolves, who have presently won two of their last three outings this season, are directed by 12th-year head coach Jeff Williams. Ferris is currently 11-6 versus NU all-time in Big Rapids.