Colorado State University Athletics
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Rams volleyball falls short in marathon against BYU
11/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2008
By Josh Kruger
Athletic Media Relations
PROVO, Utah - The Colorado State women's volleyball team showed the heart of a champion in its match against BYU on Thursday. Unfortunately, they came up just short in a five-set thriller, failing to convert six match points after coming all the way back from an early two-set deficit.
The Rams (22-4, 12-3 MWC) now head into Saturday's match against Utah needing a win in order to claim the Mountain West Conference championship. With their win against Wyoming on Thursday, Utah now holds a one game lead over CSU in conference play. Having already beaten Utah earlier in the season, however, a Rams win will give them the tiebreaker over the Utes and the conference title. Thursday's match saw BYU (13-12, 6-9 MWC) race out to a two-set lead before the Rams staged a furious comeback only to lose the five-set match (19-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-23, 20-22) in heartbreaking fashion.
"BYU played very, very well tonight," Head Coach Tom Hilbert said after the match. "They've improved significantly over the course of the season and, for that, my hat's off to them."
The first set was a back and forth affair. The teams traded points for the first part of the set, before BYU went on a 7-1 run to take a 16-11 lead. The Rams battled back to close within 18-16, but the Cougars wouldn't give in, closing the set on a 7-3 run to take the set 25-19. The Rams were constantly frustrated at the net by the Cougars who had five total team blocks in the set. The Rams had only a .079 hitting percentage in the set, compared to the Cougars' .308.
"BYU played a very, very good game one," Hilbert said. "They only had two hitting errors and they were both blocks. We were not ready to play a team playing that well."
The second set was much like the first. Every time the Rams felt like they were finally gaining some momentum, the BYU frontcourt would shut them down. In front of a boisterous crowd, the Cougars closed the set by taking seven of the last nine points to win 25-19. The story yet again was the BYU defense, as they posted another four blocks and held the Rams to a .091 hitting percentage in the set. Heading into the break, it seemed as if the Rams were simply being outplayed by a better opponent.
"We were a bit better in game two, but BYU still won," Hilbert said. "Then in the locker room I said that we have to play with an edge, that we have to disrupt them a little bit and block some balls. I made a lineup switch to make Danielle Minch more of an impact. That switch seemed to help us."
Coming out of the break, the Rams finally seemed to gain some sustained momentum. They won five of the set's first seven points, punctuated by a Tessa Nelson kill to win a very long rally and go up 5-2. Later on in the set, redshirt freshman Katelyn Steffan had three key kills to spark CSU on an 8-1 run to take a 19-13 lead. All-American senior Mekana Barnes was the story of the set, tallying five kills and a .714 hitting percentage. As a team, the Rams bounced back, putting up a .222 hitting percentage and holding the Cougars to -.025.
The fourth set began much as the third one ended, as Minch brought the Rams fans to their feet with a huge kill. Nelson continued her standout performance, putting away a pair of kills to give the Rams a 12-9 lead. However, the BYU defense stepped up again, leading the team on a 6-1 run to take a 16-14 lead before Hilbert called timeout to calm down his troops. On the first point afterwards, Steffan came up with a block that seemed to spark the team. Barnes then took over, scoring three kills in the next five points, followed by an ace from senior Jamie Strauss and another block by Barnes to give CSU a 21-18 lead. With the BYU crowd as quiet as they had been all match, the small contingent of Rams fans that travelled from Fort Collins made their presence felt, but the Cougars put together a 5-2 run to close to within 24-23. On set point, however, Minch came through with a kill to force a fifth and deciding set.
The Rams began the final set on a quick note, winning four of the first five points including Barnes' season-high 20th kill. After Nelson somehow dug a ball to keep alive a rally that the Rams ended up winning, CSU led 8-4. Just when it seemed like the Rams were going to finish off the amazing comeback, however, the Cougars found a way to score five straight points and tie the set 9-9. Barnes then came up with yet another block to give the Rams an 11-9 lead and, after a BYU point, Steffan followed with a kill to keep the Rams ahead 12-10. A Cougar kill was followed by a service ace and yet again the match was tied, this time 12-12.
Coming out of a timeout, Barnes came up with a huge kill to give CSU the lead and, after another BYU point, Minch gave the Rams their first match point with another kill. With their backs against the wall for the first time in the match, BYU got a big kill by senior middle blocker Rachel Dyer, extending the match yet again. Minch then set a personal season high with her 14th kill, giving the Rams another match point which BYU fought off. After a BYU block gave them a 16-15 lead and their first match point, Nelson came up with a kill to tie the match again. A BYU attack error gave the Rams their third match point, which was lost when Strauss just missed the back corner, giving the Cougars another life. After trading points, Barnes came up with another big kill, giving the Rams yet another match point up 19-18. After BYU tied the match again, senior setter Ashley Fornstrom came up with a great dump to end a long rally and give CSU their sixth match point. BYU's Dyer then came up with a pair of kills to give the Cougars their second match point. Finally, two and a half hours after the match began, BYU won on a kill by senior outside hitter Bryn Porter.
"In the fifth set, we had several match points and a good chance to win," Hilbert said. "Unfortunately, it seemed like we got tentative at that point. We made errors and we missed serves and you can't do that. And as a result, BYU won the match."
The Rams saw major contributions from a number of players who either tied or set season high in several statistical categories. Barnes led the way with a match-high 22 kills and tied her season high with 10 total blocks. After starting the match very slowly, with only a .077 hitting percentage through the opening two sets, she bounced back to dominate the final three sets, hitting at a .640 clip without committing any errors. Fornstrom set a season high with 61 assists, while junior libero Katelin Batten set a season high with 28 digs. Minch set season highs in both kills and blocks with 14 and 6, respectively. Nelson tied a career high with 12 kills, and true freshman Evan Sanders set a career high with 10 digs in her first career start. Sophomore outside hitter Jacque Davisson missed Thursday's match with a sprained ankle. She is considered questionable for Saturday's match.
The Rams now head to Salt Lake City on Saturday, where they will take on No. 22 Utah with the conference championship on the line. First serve is set for 1 p.m. MT.
"Utah is a similar team to BYU only they make less mistakes," Hilbert said. "During spurts of tonight's match we played extremely well. We have to build on that and play with aggression on Saturday. The fact of the matter is that if we beat Utah, we will be tied both with three losses in the conference. And since we would have swept Utah this season, we will win the conference if we win that match. Today, we played with a lot of heart, but at the end of the game we must be more clutch."
