Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
TCU
Volleyball Falls In Five To TCU
10/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 25, 2005
The Colorado State volleyball team (12-6, 5-3) fell in five games to TCU (15-9, 3-5) at the University Rec Center to drop its second straight road match in Mountain West Conference play for the first time in league history.
The Rams ended the match with five players in double figures in kills, led by senior outside hitter Tess Rogers with 16, while freshman middle blocker Mekana Barnes and senior outside hitter Casey Bauer tallied 13, senior middle blocker Dre Downs added 12 and sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki chipped in 10. Barnes also hit a team-high .348 hitting percentage. Junior libero Katherine Whitney led the match with 19 digs and tied for the match lead with three aces. Downs also led the team with six blocks. Mokelki notched her first career double-double adding 10 digs to her 10 kills.
TCU was led by middle blocker Anna Vaughn with 15 kills, while Talaya Whitfield -- who was the libero in the first two games -- was second with 14 kills and outside hitter LeMeita Smith chipped in 13. Whitfield also led the team with 16 digs and three aces and Vaughn notched a match-high seven blocks.
"I'm disappointed with this loss," said Head Coach Tom Hilbert. "TCU after dropping the first two games, remained focused and battled hard to win the next three games and they deserve a lot of credit. They gained the momentum and we were never able to recover from that."
The teams traded points at the beginning of game one until TCU scored three straight to take the 4-2 lead. After going back-and-forth for the 7-4 TCU lead, the Rams tied it with three straight points behind the serving of Rogers. The Horned Frogs answered with four straight, including a block and an ace for the 11-7 lead. Bauer got a kill to stop the streak and the Rams and Frogs traded point to 16-12. After a missed serve by TCU, Mokelki was called under the net and then another error gave TCU its biggest lead at 18-13. Barnes ended a long rally with a kill for the Rams and then after another TCU point, the Rams scored three straight to pull within two at 19-17. Barnes then missed a serve, but Bauer got a kill to start a six-point Ram run and give the Green and Gold a 23-20 lead. After trading points to 25-23, Barnes got back-to-back kills for a 27-23 CSU lead and after a TCU timeout the Rams scored three of the last four points, including another Barnes kill for the 30-24 win. CSU hit .159 compared to .116 for TCU. Both teams had one ace each and the Frogs had four blocks while CSU had zero.
The Rams came out on fire in game two, scoring six of the first seven points, including Rogers' 1400th career kill with the first swing of the second stanza. After trading sideouts, the Rams -- with the score 9-5 -- scored three straight to lead 12-5 and TCU called its first timeout. Bauer recorded the next two kills for the Rams to give them a 14-6 lead. After a kill by TCU, the Rams scored three of the next four, with another Barnes kill and she and Mokelki paired for a block for the 17-8 advantage. At 19-9, the Horned Frogs scored three straight to pull within seven at 19-12, but the Rams scored the next two for the 21-12 lead and TCU called its final break. The Horned Frogs battled back, scoring four of the next five to close within six, 22-16 when CSU called for a one-minute break. Downs and Rogers recorded back-to-back kills for the 24-16 lead. Trading points to 27-19, the Frogs scored three straight, including an ace to pull within five, 27-22, but the Rams scored three of the final four to win 30-23. Bauer led the Rams with five kills in the second game, as the Rams hit .529 and TCU hit .200. The Rams also had three blocks with no TCU blocks.
The seniors took over the third game with Downs getting the first kills and Rogers getting the next two for the early 3-0 lead. After two TCU points, Downs and Bauer each had kills to lead 5-3. Whitfield got back-to-back kills for TCU to knot the score at 5-5, but the Rams scored four of the next five to lead 9-6. A three-point run for TCU again tied the score but the Rams stayed focused, scoring six of the next seven behind the disruptive serving of Bauer for the 15-10 lead. TCU scored four straight to pull within one at 15-14 when Hilbert asked for a timeout. Downs got an immediate kill for CSU and then an ace by Whitney gave the Rams a three-point lead at 17-14. TCU scored five of the next six to take its first lead of the game at 19-18 after two aces. Mokelki stopped the streak with a CSU kill, but then two Ram errors and a TCU kill gave the Frogs a 23-20 lead. After a CSU timeout, TCU continued with two more points to lead 25-20, but the Rams battled back, scoring three of the next four, including a block by Ashley Fornstrom to close within three at 26-23. TCU got a kill, then the Rams scored the next three, including kills by Downs and Ashley Fornstrom. After a TCU break, Whitney got another ace to knot the score at 27-27, but the Frogs scored three of the final four to win 30-28. Downs notched five kills, as the team hit .325 compared to .282 for TCU. The Rams also had three aces and four blocks, while the Frogs had four aces and no blocks.
After scoring four of the first five points in game four, the Rams took a 4-1 lead, but TCU scored the next six straight, jumping out to a 7-4 lead behind the serving of Barry. CSU called a timeout and after a TCU point, scored two straight to close within two at 8-6. At 11-9, the Horned Frogs went on a huge run, scoring eight of nine, with the lone CSU point coming off a missed TCU serve to give the Frogs a 19-10 lead. CSU scored two of the next three, then after a short two-point run for TCU, the Rams scored three straight to close within seven at 22-15. The two teams swapped sideouts to 26-18 when the Rams scored six of the next seven points, including three kills by Rogers to make the score 27-24, but the Rams could not get any close as they lost 30-26.
A Rogers hitting error gave TCU the first point of the fifth game, but the Rams rallied to score the next three points. TCU went on a four-point run of its own to take the 5-3 lead when Hilbert called a timeout. Rogers and Barnes got the next two points to knot the score at 5-5, but TCU used two big blocks to help spur a four-point rally and take a 9-5 lead. After another TCU point, Mokelki got a kill to make the score 10-6. After two hitting errors by CSU, they bounced back to record a block and Mokelki got another kill to make the score 12-8. The Rams were not able to get any closer as the teams traded the final points to give TCU the 15-10 win. TCU notched five blocks in the final stanza and held the Rams to a negative .038 hitting percentage.
Colorado State closes out a four-game road trip with the second installment of the "Border War", playing at Wyoming on Friday at 7:00 p.m. The Rams then host UNLV on Fri., Nov. 4 and San Diego State on Sat., Nov. 5. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
