Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Utah
Volleyball Defeats Utah in Four Games
11/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 12, 2005
Behind 21 kills by senior outside hitter Casey Bauer and nine blocks by senior middle blocker Dre Downs, the Colorado State volleyball team swept the Utah road trip for the fourth straight season, defeating the Utes in four games on Crimson Court, 30-24, 30-28, 32-34, 30-21 to improve to 16-7 on the year and 9-4 in Mountain West Conference play, while Utah falls to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in league action.
Bauer notched 21 kills and hit .295 (21-8-44) and also had a huge solo block on match point to secure the Rams victory. Junior libero Katherine Whitney led the match with a career-high 27 digs. All five hitters were in double figures in kills with sophomore middle blocker Mekana Barnes and Downs chipping in 14 kills, while senior outside hitter Tess Rogers tallied 13 and sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki added 11. Barnes also had vie blocks and three aces on the evening and Amanda Fahnestock came off the bench to serve five aces, three in the first game.
"I told my team in the huddle, this is who we are," said head coach Tom Hilbert. "Katherine dug the ball very well and made key plays at critical moments. We out-transitioned our opponent and she was a big part of that."
Utah was led by senior outside hitter Shelly Sommerfeldt and sophomore right-side hitter Whitney Webb with 16 kills each. Freshman outside hitter Airial Salvo had two aces and 14 digs, while Sommerfeldt led with 15 digs and she and sophomore middle blocker Emillie Toone each had five blocks.
The first game was tied at 1, 2 and 3 before the Rams took a two-point lead off a solo block and kill by Bauer. The Rams retained anywhere from a one-point lead to a four-point lead (11-7) until the Utes battled back to knot the score again at 21-21. It was tied again at 22-22 before the Rams used a four-point run behind three aces by Fahnestock and went on to win 30-24.
Colorado State opened a 4-1 lead in game two, but Utah battled back to knot the score at 5-5. It was tied at 6 and 7 before the Rams opened a 10-7 advantage off a Rogers kill. After going back-and-forth, the teams were all square at 12, 13 and 15 before the Rams got two kills by Bauer and an ace by Fahnsetock to open a 18-15 lead and would go on to win 30-28.
An epic game three saw the two teams tied 13 times and several lead changes before two CSU errors gave Utah the 34-32 win. The fourth game was all about the block as the two teams combined for 13 blocks with nine by Colorado State and the Rams won handily, 30-21.
Colorado State closes the Mountain West Conference season with three home matches next week. The Rams face TCU on Tuesday, then play New Mexico on Friday and Air Force on Saturday. All three matches are scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
