Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
CSUN
Volleyball Starts Season With Victory
9/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 2, 2005
The Colorado State volleyball team, ranked 22nd in the country, swept the Cal State Northridge Matadors in their first match of the season to move to 1-0 on the year. The Rams won the three games, 30-28, 30-20, 30-26. Northridge falls to 1-3 on the year with the loss.
Mekana Barnes, Tonya Mokelki and Kelsey Hoff all made their first career starts against the Matadors this evening, while Jaime Strauss and Ashley Fornstrom also saw the first action of their career.
Senior outside hitter Tess Rogers led the Rams with 15 kills, hitting .379 on the evening with four digs and a block. Both senior outside hitter Casey Bauer and senior middle blocker Dre Downs tallied 10 kills and Downs led the match by hitting .562 (10-1-16). Junior setter Katherine Whitney had the only ace of the night for the Rams and freshman libero Kelsey Hoff led the match with nine digs. Downs also led the match with six blocks, while Bauer added four.
Cal State Northridge was led by three players with seven kills each and Darla Donaldson hit .462 (7-1-13) to lead the team. Kelly Hanson recorded three aces, while Kayla Wright led the team with seven digs and Val Kelper tallied two blocks.
"This was a good first match for us," said CSU head coach Tom Hilbert. "It was good to play Northridge first. We were able to work through some jitters, and we got better each game. I'm really pleased with all three seniors."
In the first game, Rogers led the Rams off with a back-row tip that fell for the kill. Northridge answered with three straight points, but Downs responded with a kill to pull within one, 2-3. The teams traded points for 3-4 when the Rams committed back-to-back errors to give CSUN a three-point lead at 6-3. Rogers notched two kills in the next three points for the Rams to pull to 5-7. After back-to-back missed serves to make the score 6-8, Barnes stepped back to serve her deep float serve. The Rams scored three-straight with a Bauer kill and two Northridge errors -- and took the lead again at 9-8. Downs got called for over the net on the next play, but Bauer responded with a kill for the Rams for the 10-9 advantage. Northridge scored three straight points due to three CSU errors, but then missed a serve to make the score 11-12. The teams traded points when Rogers notched a kill off a roll shot for the 14-13 lead. Trailing 15-17, the Rams rattled off four straight points, thanks to a block by Downs and Bauer and then kills by both players to lead 19-17. CSUN scored the next point but the Rams scored two, with a big block by Mokelki and Downs for the 21-18 lead and forced Northridge into a time-out. The Matadors responded after the break with two straight, but then Downs got two big kills for the 23-20 Rams lead. The two teams traded points to 27-24 when Northridge scored back-to-back points off kills, but then missed their next attack for the 28-26 Rams lead and CSUN used its final time-out. Whitney missed her serve to make the score 28-27 but Downs responded with a kill. The teams then traded errors to give the Rams the 30-28 victory.
The second game was more easily won by the Rams. After the teams traded points to start the game tied at 1-1, Colorado State went on a six-point run behind the very effective jump serving of Whitney. The Rams combined for two blocks during the stretch and the Matadors committed three errors to hand CSU the early 7-1 lead. After a CSU error, Mokelki notched a kill and then Downs and Rogers combined for a block for the 9-2 lead. Hanson for Northridge responded with a kill, but then the Rams went on a five-point run with two kills by Mokelki and one by Barnes for the 14-3 lead. Northridge called its last time-out and then rallied off four straight points, two off ace serves by Hanson for a score of 14-7. Bauer got a back-row kill and then after a missed serve by Mokelki, Rogers got a kill and Bauer had a huge solo block for the 17-8 CSU lead. The teams traded points until 19-11 when CSUN had an error and Rogers got another kill for the 21-11 lead. The teams again traded points to 23-14 when Rogers blistered a kill and then served an ace that clipped the net for the 25-14 advantage. Northridge scored two straight but then Bauer got a kill off her knuckles for the 26-16 lead and the Rams would go on to win 30-20.
After the long break, the Rams did not lose any focus, scoring the first four points of the third game. Bauer got a kill and block, Mokelki got a kill and Whitney had an ace during the stretch. Northridge earned the next two points but the senior outsides for the Rams responded with a kill each for the 6-2 lead. At 7-4, Barnes and Rogers recorded back-to-back kills for the 9-4 lead. The teams again traded points until 12-7 when the Rams had two errors to bring the score within three, 12-9. The Rams then went on another long run, scoring five straight, including kills by Rogers and Mokelki and a Downs-Mokelki block for the 17-9 lead. CSUN called its first time-out and then scored two straight out of the break. The Rams scored four of the next six points, including a kill by Barnes and a block by Barnes and Whitney for the 21-13 lead. After a Northridge block, CSU rattled off three straight, two off kills by Downs to lead by 10 at 24-14 and the Matadors called their final time-out. The team again played side-out volleyball, trading points until 27-17 when Northridge scored six of the next seven points to close within five at 28-23. Hilbert used a time-out and Burdine served a CSUN ace to make the score 28-24. Barnes hit a slide for a kill to give CSU match point, but the Matadors did not give up, scoring the next two points, but Donaldson missed her serve to give the Rams the victory.
Colorado State will face Northern Iowa tomorrow at 12:30 Pacific/1:30 Mountain and then will face host Pepperdine, which is ranked 25th in the preseason AVCA poll, at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific).
