Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Utah
Rams MWC tournament run ends with Utah
11/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Utah served up revenge cold Friday night, knocking the No. 20 Colorado State Rams out of the Mountain West Conference Tournament after a nail biting five game (23-30, 30-16, 18-30, 30-22, 15-12) match. The Rams defeated the top seeded Utes in last year's championship match.
Jaime Strauss had 18 kills on 60 attempts in the CSU loss. Tessa Nelson had a double-double with 11 kills and 10 blocks. Ashley Fornstrom finished with 51 assists, 15 digs and three kills. Mekana Barnes had the team's four aces to go with 16 kills and six blocks.
"We were a jeckel and hyde team tonight," said Head Coach Tom Hilbert. "They did exactly what we expected them to do picking on Jaime's passing. Kathryn Haynie had a lot of momentum and was getting a lot of kills. The key for us is to hold down the opponents hitting percentage and we did not do that tonight. This is a very emotional loss and we will have to regroup. This is something we have to learn from."
Colorado State hit just .184 on the night while the Utes hit .206. Both teams finished with 16 total blocks and the Utes out dug the Rams 87-74. Freshman Danielle Minch had nine kills and two blocks for CSU. The Rams were held to just seven kills in Game 2, a season low.
Utah was led by Kathryn Haynie who had 20 kills on .204 hitting. Lori Baird's service was key for Utah as she had two service aces and served for three-runs of five points or more.
The Rams will await the NCAA Volleyball Championship selection show Sunday afternoon to learn their postseason destiny. The show will air at 6 p.m. MST on ESPNU.
