Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
New Mexico
Ram Volleyball Moves To MWC Semifinals
11/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2005
The Colorado State volleyball team, seeded second in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, swept the New Mexico Lobos 30-18, 31-29, 30-13 to improve to 20-7 on the season. It marks the third straight season the Rams have knocked the Lobos out of the tournament.
Senior outside hitter Casey Bauer and sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki led the Rams with 10 kills each, while senior middle blocker Dre Downs and senior outside hitter Tess Rogers each recorded nine with Downs hitting .615 (9-1-13). Freshman setter Ashley Fornstrom recorded a career-high five aces, which is also a MWC record for aces by a freshman. Freshman middle blocker Mekana Barnes tied her career high with nine blocks, which also ties the MWC record for blocks by a freshman, tying Lori Baird from Utah from the first match of the morning. Junior libero Katherine Whitney also led the match with 17 digs.
"We have to create our own environment," said head coach Tom Hilbert. "We have to bring energy and passion into every match. Today we were tough. Our blocking was the best its been against New Mexico this year, especially against the right sides."
New Mexico was led by senior middle blocker Chelsea Sondrup with 14 kills and a .550 hitting percentage and she and junior right-side hitter Kelly Therkelsen each had three blocks and sophomore Samie Weber led the team with six digs. The Lobos hit just .084 for the match with two aces and 13 service errors, while the Rams hit .352 with 15 blocks on the afternoon.
After the two teams traded service errors to start the match, Ashley Fornstrom served seven straight points for the Rams, including three aces to give the Rams the 9-1 lead. New Mexico scored five of the next six points to pull within 11-6. After trading points to 13-8, the Rams scored four straight with a kill by Ashley Fornstrom and a block by Barnes and Rogers to lead 17-8. The Rams scored seven of the last eight points of the game to win 30-18, including another ace by Ashley Fornstrom for her fourth of the game.
The Lobos got the first two points of the second game off back-to-back kills by Sondrup for the early 2-0 lead, but Barnes got her fifth kill and Ashley Fornstrom recorded her fifth ace to knot the score at 2-2. After a New Mexico block, the Rams scored two straight to take their first lead at 4-3. The Lobos scored two straight off CSU errors, but the Rams answered by scoring seven of the next eight to lead 11-6. The teams traded points to 14-9 when New Mexico scored three straight to pull within two at 14-12. The teams again went back-and-forth to 17-16 when Bauer and Rogers recorded consecutive kills for the 19-16 lead. After the television timeout at 20-17, the Lobos scored four of the next five points to knot the score at 21-21 for the fifth time in the game. Barnes and Mokelki got a block out of the CSU timeout for the 22-21 advantage, but two CSU errors gave the lead back to New Mexico. After a missed serve by the Lobos, they scored three straight to lead 26-23 and Hilbert called his final timeout. Mokelki recorded a kill and then after a Lobo point, Bauer got a kill then Downs and Rogers combined for a block and Downs got a kill to tie the score at 27-27. The game was tied at 28 and 29 before the Rams scored the last two, including a game point kill by Mokelki for the 31-29 victory.
After the long break, New Mexico opened up a 2-1 lead in game three, but the Rams scored nine of the next 11 points, including two kills each by Rogers and Mokelki and a Rogers aces for the 10-4 lead at the first television break. The Rams missed a serve after the break, but then Downs got back-to-back kill, Mokelki recorded an ace and Bauer tallied a kill for the 14-5 lead. After a New Mexico timeout, the Lobos scored one with a Therkelsen kill, but the Rams scored 10 of the next 13 to take a 24-9 lead and eventually went on to win 30-13.
Colorado State will face Utah in the semifinals of the conference tournament tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Pacific. The match-up has been the finals the previous two seasons and the match will be tape delay broadcast on CSTV.
