Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Utah
Volleyball Falls In Semifinals
11/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 25, 2005
The Colorado State volleyball team, seeded second in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, fell to third-seeded Utah in the semifinals in three games, 30-26, 30-23, 31-29 to fall to 20-8 on the year, while the Utes advance to the finals and improve to 21-8 overall.
Senior outside hitter Tess Rogers led the team with 17 kills, while sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki added 12 kills and hit .381 on the evening. Junior libero Katherine Whitney led the match with 20 digs, while senior outside hitter Casey Bauer chipped in 14. Senior middle blocker Dre Downs led the team with four blocks.
"This just wasn't our night," said head coach Tom Hilbert. "From a serving point especially, we started tightening up after we missed a few. We can't win against Utah with three aces and 14 errors."
Utah was led by senior outside hitter Shelly Sommerfeldt with 13 kills, while freshman outside hitter Airial Salvo chipped in 11 and senior libero Danielle Leichliter led the team with 14 digs, while sophomore middle blocker Emillie Toone tallied 10 blocks.
"I think we could have blocked better," added Hilbert. "I'm really pleased with Tess though. Utah was double and triple blocking her and she still got it done. We have to force bad ball handling to win and we didn't do that tonight."
The Rams jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game one and led until Sommerfeldt had back-to-back aces to give Utah its first lead at 19-18. Mokelki tallied one of her kills to knot the score at 19-19, but the fifth missed serve of the game and a bad pass gave the Utes a two-point lead at 21-19. The Rams would battle back to tie the score at 23-23 and then again at 24 and 25, but Utah scored four of the final points to win 30-26.
The Utah block came alive in the second game, with the Utes tallying seven and the Rams missed six serves in the loss. The Rams did have just one unforced hitting error in the second stanza, but Utah hit .333 for the seven point victory.
The third game was tied at each of the first five points, but Utah took a five point lead at 12-7. The Rams scored two straight out of a timeout to close within three at 12-9. Utah answered with two straight, then the Rams got two kills from its seniors in Downs and Rogers to make the score 14-11. Trailing 22-17, CSU used its final timeout and got a Downs kill after the break to close within four. Utah scored three straight to increase the lead to seven at 25-18, but Downs and Rogers again recorded consecutive kills to bring the score to 25-20. A Utah error made it a four-point game, then Salvo recorded a kill for the Utes for the 26-21 score. Rogers recorded another kill and then Whitney had an ace serve to make the score 26-23. After a Rogers error, she notched another kill, then freshman middle blocker Mekana Barnes tallied one, Sommerfeldt hit an error and CSU freshman setter Ashley Fornstrom tallied her first ace to tie the score at 27-27. Sommerfeldt and Mokelki traded kills for the 28-28 tie, then Toone and Bauer each recorded a kill for the 29-29 tie, the eighth one of the game. Sommerfeldt and sophomore right-side hitter Whitney Webb then tallied back-to-back kills for the 31-29 victory.
Colorado State will await word from the NCAA Committee to see if it earns an at-large bid to its 11th straight NCAA Tournament. The selection show will air on ESPNNews at 12:30 Mountain on Sunday.
