Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
New Mexico
Volleyball Falls In Four
10/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2005
The Colorado State volleyball team dropped its second conference match of the season, falling the New Mexico in four games, 18-30, 30-22, 30-20, 30-26. The Rams move to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in Mountain West play, while the Lobos improve to 12-8 overall and 4-6 in league action.
Freshman middle blocker Mekana Barnes recorded a career-high 14 kills and hit .348 on the evening, while the three seniors, Casey Bauer, Dre Downs and Tess Rogers all tallied 12 kills. Downs led the match with a .455 hitting percentage. Junior libero Katherine Whitney led the match with 17 digs and sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki, playing back row for the first time in her career, notched a career-high 14 digs and freshman setter Ashley Fornstrom chipped in 11 digs and two aces.
"Our middles did a good job tonight," said Head Coach Tom Hilbert. "I think it was a curse though that we won game one so easily. New Mexico was bombing their serves and did a great job tonight."
Senior outside hitter Nicole Ryan led the Lobos with 13 kills and hit .371, had a team-high 12 digs and had no hitting errors. Both Kelly Therkelsen and Samie Weber tallied five blocks and Therkelsen led the team with three aces.
The match started with four straight service points by Ashley Fornstrom, including two aces. New Mexico scored three of the next four, but the Rams answered with the next three -- including a dig that went over the net for a kill by Ashley Fornstrom to give CSU an 8-3 lead. After the teams traded service errors, the Lobos earned a point then the Rams went on a five-point run behind the serving of Bauer to take a nine-point lead at 14-5. The teams traded points to 20-10 when the Lobos scored five of six points, including two aces to close within six at 21-15. CSU answered by scoring three of the next four points off kills by Bauer, Rogers and Barnes to lead 24-16 and then closed out the match scoring six of the final seven points with two kills each by Barnes and Mokelki to win 30-18. Barnes had five kills in six swings and Mokelki swung four times for four kills as the Rams hit .625 in the first game.
After scoring the first point of game two, the Rams committed five errors in the next eight points and New Mexico took the 7-2 early lead when Hilbert called for a timeout. After the break, the Lobos had three errors of their own to make the score 7-5, but New Mexico scored the next four to extend the lead to 11-5. The Rams scored the next two off Lobo errors, but NM responded with three straight to take a seven-point lead at 14-7 and Hilbert called his final timeout. Downs got a kill and after a Lobo kill, the Rams scored two straight before notching two more errors for the 17-10 UNM lead. The teams traded points to 18-13 when CSU had three more errors to give New Mexico its biggest lead so far at 21-13. The two teams traded points and Downs and Bauer responded with three straight kills to pull within five at 22-17 but the Lobos went on to win 30-22. The Rams hit negative .119 in the game and had no blocks with just 10 kills.
The third stanza was tied at every point from one to seven before New Mexico went on a five-point run, including back-to-back aces by Therkelsen to take a 12-7 lead and the Rams called for a one-minute break. New Mexico remained on fire, scoring four of the next six points to take a 16-9 lead when Bauer blistered a kill to give the Rams their 10th point. The Lobos scored the next seven for the 13-point lad at 23-10 when the Rams scored the next two, one off a Downs and Bauer block. The teams traded points to 25-13 when the Rams scored four straight, to close to 25-17 and forced the Lobos into a timeout. Rogers got another kill out of the break but it was not enough as the Lobos went on to win 30-21. The Rams hit .107 in the third stanza, while the Lobos hit .360.
Rogers got a kill to start the fourth game, but the Lobos scored the next four for the early 4-1 advantage. Barnes and Bauer got back-to-back kills then the teams traded points to 8-6 NM. Downs got her 10th kills and then a Lobo error knotted the score at 8-8. New Mexico scored five of the next six when CSU called a timeout railing 13-9. Mokelki and Bauer got back-to-back kills, then after a lobo point the Rams scored four straight to take a 15-14 lead. It was short-lived as New Mexico went on another big run, scoring six of the next seven to lead 20-16. The Rams called another timeout, but the Lobos stayed focused, scoring four of the next five for the 24-17 lead. CSU scored the next three points off a kill by Downs and an ace by Whitney to make the score 24-20. After a Lobo block, the Rams scored five of the next seven, including three big kills by Barnes to close within two, 27-25, but the Lobos scored three of the final four to win the game and match, 30-26.
Colorado State travels to Fort Worth tomorrow morning and will face Mountain West newcomer TCU on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. (Central). The Rams then play the second installment of the Border War, facing Wyoming on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
