Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
UNI
Volleyball Loses Heartbreaker In Five
9/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2005
The Colorado State volleyball team, ranked 22nd in the country, fell in five games to Northern Iowa, 21-30, 30-24, 26-30, 30-25, 16-14. With the loss, the Rams move to 1-1 while the Panthers improve to 3-1.
Senior middle blocker recorded a career-high 23 kills and hit a match-high .571 (23-3-35) -- which is the fifth-highest hitting percentage in school history in a five-game match, while senior outside hitter Casey Bauer also notched a career-high 20 kills. Senior outside hitter Tess Rogers tallied 19 kills, sophomore right-side hitter Tonya Mokelki had a career-high 13 kills and freshman Mekana Barnes had a career-high 11 kills. Freshman libero Kelsey Hoff recorded a career-high 22 digs, while Bauer more than doubled her previous career-high in digs with 15, freshman Jaime Strauss and junior setter Katherine Whitney had 13 digs and Rogers had a career-high 12 digs. The Rams also notched seven aces in the match.
Laura Rowen led the Panthers with 16 kills, while Stephanie May had 15, Ashten Stelken had 12 and Stephanie Germann had 10. Rowen and Kristin Belzung led the team with 15 digs each and Patricia Dietz had 14 digs, while May had 10. May also had both Panther aces. Germann led the team with six blocks and Brazda notched five.
The Rams outhit the Panthers .286-.243 and had seven aces, compared to just two for UNI, but the Panthers out-blocked CSU 12.0-6.5. Colorado State tallied 97 kills in the match, which is the third most kills in a match in school history.
The Rams scored the first four points of the first game, with two kills by Bauer. Northern Iowa called a time-out and the Rams missed a serve to make the score 4-1. Bauer then got her third kill of the match, but the Panthers answered with two straight to make the score 5-3. The teams alternated points, then Mokelki and Rogers recorded consecutive kills for the 8-4 lead. CSU scored three of the next five points to lead 11-6 with kills by Barnes and Rogers. With the score 13-11, the Rams rattled off three straight with kills by Mokelki and Rogers and a Bauer ace serve for the 16-11 lead. After a missed CSU serve, the Rams responded with kills by the middles in Downs and Barnes to lead 18-12. UNI scored the next two points, then the teams traded points to 22-16 when UNI called for a time-out. The Panthers came out of the break with a block, then Bauer and Downs recorded kills on over passes to make the score 24-17. After a UNI kills, Downs and Rogers teamed up for kills to lead 26-18. The Rams then had two errors, but recorded four of the final five points to win 30-21.
The teams traded kills for the first portion of the second game to make the score tied 3-3. Mokelki and Barnes joined on a block to give the Rams the 4-3 lead, but Northern Iowa used a four-point run to take the 7-4 lead. The teams traded points, then Rogers got a kill and then back-to-back aces to knot the score at 8-8. After again trading points the Rams scored three straight, including an ace by Whitney to lead 12-10, but the Panthers scored three straight of their own to take the 13-12 advantage. After a kill by Mokelki and an ace by Bauer, UNI earned three straight points for the 16-14 lead. The teams traded errors, then UNI blocked a Rogers attack to lead 18-15 when Hilbert called for a time-out. The Rams came out of the break by scoring three of the next four points, but then the Panthers answered with a seven-point run of their own, including two solo blocks for the 26-18 lead. The Rams scored four of the next five points, including two kills by Bauer and a dig-kill by Hoff to pull within five, 27-22, but it was not enough as UNI went on to win 30-24.
CSU scored three of the first four points of the third game, with two kills by Bauer, but then committed two errors to knot the score at 3-3. Downs and Mokelki blistered kill to take the 5-3 lead, then the Panthers went on a five-point run with three kills and a block to lead 8-5 and CSU called for a time-out. The teams traded points until 13-10 when Downs had two kills and Bauer added one to tie the score at 13-13. Northern Iowa used another three-point run to take the 16-13 lead, when Downs blistered a kill for 14-16. After a kill by UNI, the Rams rallied off five straight points with tenacious defense to take the 19-17 lead. The Panthers answered with a four-point run and Mokelki stopped the run with a kill off the block to make the score 20-21. After a UNI kill, the Rams scored four straight to regain the lead at 24-22 and Northern Iowa called for a time-out. Belzung recorded a kill on a dump for UNI, then the Rams had two kills and an error by UNI to lead 27-23 and would go on to win 30-26.
The Rams committed five errors in the first six points to trail 5-1 in the early goings of the fourth game, but Bauer tallied a kill and Downs and Mokelki teamed on a block to pull the score to 3-5. After trading points, Barnes notched a kill and Strauss had an ace for the 6-7 score. Northern Iowa scored the next three points and the Rams answered with their own three-point run to make the score 10-9 UNI. The Panthers then went on a huge run, scoring eight of the next nine points to lead 18-10 when Hilbert used his final time-out. Downs tallied back-to-back kills out of the break for the 18-12 score. The teams traded points to 20-15 when UNI scored another three-point run, including an ace serve to lead 23-15 but the Rams did not give in. Using a spread offense, the Rams scored six of the next eight to close within four 25-21 when UNI called for a break. The teams traded points the rest of the way for the 30-25 UNI victory.
Stelken recorded a kill for Northern Iowa then Downs got a kill and combined with Bauer for a block to take the 2-1 lead in game five. The teams were tied at 2, 3 and 4 before UNI scored two straight for the 6-4 lead and CSU called for a time-out. With the score 9-6 UNI, the Rams scored two straight with a big kill by Downs for the 9-8 score and UNI called its first time-out. The teams traded points the rest of the way until the score was knotted at 14-14 after a big block by Bauer and Barnes, but Rowen recorded back-to-back kills off the block for the UNI 16-14 win.
Colorado State will face Pepperdine in the nightcap. Earlier today, Pepperdine lost to Cal State Northridge in five games.
