Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Pacific
Ram volleyball wins Coors Classic with sweep of Pacific
9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 1, 2007
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Mekana Barnes hit a career best .608 as the Rams won the Coors Classic with a 3-0(30-26, 30-23, 30-27) sweep of Pacific Saturday night in Moby Arena. Jaime Strauss added 12 kills on .290 hitting.
Game 1 opened with the teams matching each other point-for-point and the Rams hitting on the outside. A kill to make the score 19-17 out of the middle by Tonya Mokelki started an offensive change and a CSU run. The Rams went on a 5-2 run with three kills by the middles, a Tiger error and a block. The shift to the middle forced Pacific to defend with three blockers freeing up Strauss and Ashley Fornstrom. CSU won the game on a kill by Mokelki.
The Rams opened the second game with a 6-2 on the service by Katelin Batten. CSU continued to use their strength up the middle for kills and added four blocks in the game. The Rams held their lead before going on a 4-1 run to bring the score to 17-11. CSU would hold its lead and build it to seven reaching 30-23 for the win.
Pacific refused to go down without a fight as they grabbed their first lead (3-0) of the match early in Game 3. The Rams battled back to even at 5-5 on hitting by Barnes and Fornstrom. The match continued with neither team able to gain more than a one-point advantage until Mokelki killed the ball on a cross-court shot for a 12-10 lead. CSU expanded its lead to 18-14 before the Tigers responded with a 5-1 run to tie the match at 19. The teams again traded points until the Rams finished the match with a pair of kills by middles Barnes and Mokelki.
CSU hit .336 for the match with 12 team blocks. The middles combined for 25 kills with just six errors. Barnes, the Mountain West hitting percentage leader, had 16 kills to lead all players. Fornstrom added 48 assists and five kills with a hitting percentage of .833. Batten led the team with 11 digs. The Rams led in kills, blocks, hitting percentage, and assists.
Colorado State returns to the court as it hosts the Hilton Classic which features Colorado, Winthrop and the University of Miami. The first match starts at 7 p.m. Thursday with an in-state showdown as the Rams take on the Buffs.
