Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
UNLV
Rams drop second match of season
10/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2008
By Luke Simmons
Athletic Media Relations
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - For the third straight year, Las Vegas has been anything but a lucky place for CSU.
In their first match outside the Centennial State in over a month, the Colorado State Rams lost Thursday to the UNLV Rebels 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 23-25, 21-25) to suffer just their second defeat of the season.
The loss snaps CSU's 13-match winning streak, which was the fourth-longest in the nation. The Rams (16-2, 6-1) have not beaten UNLV (12-8, 5-2) at the Cox Pavilion since the 2005 season.
After taking the first set, things quickly spiraled downward for the Rams, thanks in part to 11 service errors compared to only two from UNLV.
"UNLV's defense was great, and they missed only two serves the entire match," said Head Coach Tom Hilbert. "Tonight, it boiled down to their defense and our serve."
CSU only managed to muster one service ace the entire night, and was out-dug 84-64 by a tenacious UNLV squad.
"We were at a 33 kill percentage, and that's just not high enough," said Hilbert. "We're going to need to kill more balls."
Every set was tightly contested, but the third proved to be the most pivotal of the match. In all, the set saw the score tied 15 times, but the Rebels used a three point run with the score tied at 17 to take a lead they would never relinquish. And appropriately, the set was capped off by a CSU service error into the net.
Jaime Strauss led the Rams with 21 kills and a season-high 61 total attacks. Mekana Barnes also added 15 kills on a .310 clip.
The silver lining of the loss were Ashley Fornstrom's 47 assists, which was enough to surpass Wyoming's Amy Doman (2001-04) for all-time Mountain West Conference assist leader.
The Rams will depart Las Vegas to finish their road trip with a Saturday match against the San Diego State Aztecs. First serve is set for 2 p.m. MT.
