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MWC Tournament
CSU Trips Up No. 9 Volleyball in Five
11/26/2006 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 26, 2006
LAS VEGAS - A 2-0 lead in games and a 20-11 lead in game three wasn't enough as the No. 3-seeded Colorado State Rams upset the No. 9-ranked and No. 1-seeded University of Utah volleyball team (27-3 overall) here in the Mountain West Conference Tournament title match, 3-2. The CSU victory assures it the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The loss snaps Utah's 25-match winning streak as it now stands as both the school and conference record.
The Utes await their NCAA postseason destiny tomorrow between 1-1:30 p.m., when the NCAA Selection show airs on ESPNews. They are eyeing their ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Game scores were 25-30, 19-30, 34-32, 30-20 and 15-10. The Rams improve to 20-9 on the season.
"The Rams started to play aggressive and earned every point with their effort," said head coach Beth Launiere. "I thought we matched them but we just couldn't get a break in the last three games.
"It was a tale of two games. We started hot and then they got hot after the break and we couldn't stop them. I've been on the other end of matches like that. When it turns, it just turns. I'm proud of our team. I don't think they gave up. When we got in trouble, we didn't back down at all."
Airial Salvo, Emillie Toone, Lori Baird and Sydney Anderson were all named all-tournament for their efforts.
Four Ute spikers had double-doubles tonight. Salvo had 18 kills and 15 digs. She nearly had a triple-double with nine blocks. Also stuffing the stat sheet with double-doubles were Sydney Anderson (60 assists, 12 digs), Toone (10 kills, 11 blocks), and Whitney Webb (18 kills, 14 digs).
Salvo and Whitney Webb led the Utes with their 18 kills. They were just two of five Utes to notch double-digit kills. Kathryn Lovell tallied 12 while Baird and Toone both had 10. Webb was the hottest hitter; netting kills at a .552 (18-2-29) clip.
Sydney Anderson set the attack for most of the match as it hit .254 (72-25-185) for the match. Anderson had 60 assists and 12 digs.
The defense held CSU to .230 (75-29-200) hitting and held the 19-12 edge in team blocks. Toone's 11 blocks led all players but she saw help from Salvo (nine) and Anderson (six). Three of Anderson's blocks were solo efforts.
The back row saw five players reach double-digit in digs. They were led by the 24-dig effort of Connie Dangerfield. Kate Robison had 12 digs as well.
Leading the Rams tonight was Mekana Barnes (24 kills), Ashley Fornstrom (59 assists), Katelin Batten (20 digs) and Tonya Mokelki (nine blocks).
Ties in each of the first seven points of game one fell the way of the Utes, thanks to a 3-0 run that gave them a 10-7 lead. The lead swelled to as much as seven, 20-13, but CSU battled back to within three several times, the last at 28-25. A Ram service error and a Toone kill pushed the Rams to victory in the first frame.
A pair of Toone kills got game two started for the Utes. They'd never look back from that point on. That 2-0 lead steamrolled to a 6-1 cushion as Utah's offense kept the pressure on. A 5-0 run midway through the game gave it the 14-6 lead and that just ballooned to 21-9 on .522 (14-2-23) hitting. The Rams cut the 12-point lead to six several times, the last at 24-18. But the deficit was too much for the Rams as Utah cruised to the 2-0 lead in games.
Utah and CSU exchanged the first three points of game three, but a 5-0 run gave the Utes an 8-3 lead. That five-point lead got as big as six, 11-5, but the Rams trimmed it to three at 11-8. Utah bumped it back up, this time to seven, 16-9 and its biggest lead came at 20-11. However, that wasn't safe as the Rams rallied to tie it at 27, 28 and 29. CSU took the 30-29 and despite Utah's efforts to tie it up three more times, Jamie Strauss and Barnes got back-to-back kills to get the extra-point win.
The momentum remained on the Rams' side in game four as it jumped out to a 4-1 lead on the Utes. CSU held on to the lead, upping it to 8-4 before Launiere called timeout to regroup. Utah would cut the four-point lead to two several times, the last at 20-18. But, the Rams persevered with a 5-0 run to take a 25-18 lead. Utah only managed two more points the rest of the way as CSU won by 10.
After a 1-1 and 2-2 tie, the Rams pulled ahead 5-3. That two-point cushion was too much for Utah as the Rams' lead jumped to four, 12-8. It held on easily for the five-point win.
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