Colorado State University Athletics
Volleyball heads to Utah for a pair of matches
9/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2007
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Colorado State volleyball team takes to the road for the first time in Mountain West Conference action as it swings through Utah to face Utah and preseason favorite BYU this weekend. The Rams will make their Mtn. Network debut at 8 p.m. Friday against the Utes before completing the road trip in Provo Saturday at 7 p.m. with the Cougars.
Both matches can be heard on KCSU 90.5 and are broadcast live through CSURams.com free to the public. Live stats coverage will be available for the match on the CSU Web site.
The last time the Rams faced Utah was in the finals of the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas, in undoubtedly one of the best victories in CSU history. The Rams battled back from being down 0-2 to beat the Utes, then the No. 9 team in the country, to win the Mountain West tournament. Previously, the Rams had dropped three matches in a row to Utah, including a 3-1 loss in Fort Collins. The Rams are 44-21 all time against Utah, and are 6-4 in their last 10 meetings.
Utah began the season highly ranked and with high expectations before injuries forced major changes for the Utes. Utah returns with Whitney Webb, Lori Baird and Connie Dangerfield from last season's 16-0 MWC regular-season championship squad. Airial Salvo and Sydney Anderson have both left the team and middle blocker Emillie Toone will be forced to redshirt after a serious preseason knee injury. The Utes are currently 2-7 with a pair of MWC losses. Most recently Utah dropped a match to UNLV in Las Vegas, 3-1.
Jaime Strauss was the workhorse for the Rams as they won a hard-fought match against New Mexico, 3-0 (30-27, 30-25, 30-19), their second sweep in Mountain West action, on Saturday night. Strauss hit .222 on 27 attempts with a team-leading 13 kills. CSU (7-3, 2-0 MWC) found itself with a serious challenge from a strong, young New Mexico team. The Rams outhit the Lobos (9-3, 0-1 MWC) and relied on strong defense to win the match. CSU led in blocks, digs, kills, attack percentage, total attacks, assists and service aces. Joining Strauss in double figures were Tonya Mokelki and Danielle Minch with 11 kills each, along with Mekana Barnes, who added 10. Barnes hit a match-high .450 with just one error. Ashley Fornstrom finished with a double-double notching 42 assists and 10 digs. Katelin Batten led all players with 13 digs in the match.
The Rams continue to receive votes in the CSTV/AVCA Top 25 poll. The Rams received 48 votes, 18 more than last week, and are currently ranked 29th. CSU has received votes in three of the four polls this season. Currently four 2007 opponents are ranked in the Top 25 (Hawaii 13, Ohio State 23, BYU 17, Michigan 10). CSU plays one of the toughest schedules in the nation.
CSU is undefeated at home, including a 2-0 record in the Mountain West Conference, and is among the national leaders in several categories according to the first set of NCAA statistics released Tuesday. Barnes is in the top 10 nationally in hitting percentage (No. 4) and blocks per game (No. 7) while Fornstrom is No. 19 in assists.
