Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
Eastern Washington
CSU volleyball wins Hilton Classic
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2008
By Luke Simmons
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Colorado State volleyball team survived its first scare of the young season, but held on to defeat Eastern Washington (25-12, 25-19, 25-27, 21-25, 15-9) in five sets to win the Hilton Classic and improve their winning streak to 17 matches at Moby Arena.
CSU is off to its best start since 2002, when the Rams also started 3-0 and later claimed the Mountain West championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Rams easily took the first two sets and appeared to be cruising towards a three-set victory to claim the tournament hardware. But a resilient Eastern Washington team, led by all-Big Sky outside hitter Hayley Hills, refused to oblige. The Eagles were a different team coming out of the break, and held the Rams on their heels for much of the second part of the match.
Eastern Washington survived two match points in the third set, and battled back from a 21-18 deficit in the fourth to force a deciding fifth set. Ultimately, the No. 17 Rams proved to be too much for the exhausted Eagles, and were led to victory in the final set by four kills courtesy of tournament MVP Mekana Barnes.
"It exposes some things we have to get better at," said Head Coach Tom Hilbert of the lengthy match. "We're still in a state of flux with many of our outside hitters."
Barnes led the team in kills (17) and blocks (8), while redshirt freshman Katelyn Steffan tied a career-high with 10 kills for the second time in as many matches.
"I'm really happy with the competitiveness we showed tonight," said Hilbert. "Even in those games we lost, we came back from deficits. These are good experiences for our team to have."
Fans caught a glimpse of the future in the first set after freshman setter Evan Sanders made her debut, and promptly assisted a kill for sophomore Danielle Minch, in what is certain to be a powerful one-two combination for the team in years to come.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Rams, who will face Pepperdine on Sept. 5 to kick off the Asics Classic in Corvallis, Ore. The Waves are receiving votes in the CSTV/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll, and are only three places out of a national ranking. The Rams will also play host Oregon State on Sept. 6 and Pacific on Sept. 7.
Final tournament standings:
1. Colorado State (3-0)
2. Denver (2-1)
3. Eastern Washington (1-2)
4. Arkansas (0-3)
All-tournament team:
MVP: Mekana Barnes (Colorado State)
Tessa Nelson (Colorado State)
Clare Maxwell (Denver)
Holly Benson (Denver)
Hayley Hills (Eastern Washington)
Mandy Daniels (Eastern Washington)
