Colorado State University Athletics
Rams fall to Tianjin (China) Bridgestone in five sets
4/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
April 26, 2011
Photo Gallery | Final Stats
By Kaitlyn Comiskey
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Tianjin (China) Bridgestone team proved on Tuesday night it isn't ranked as one of the top professional teams in the world without reason.
The Rams lost a hard fought five-set match to Tianjin, with scores of 25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 16-25, and 11-15, in front of 1,525 fans at Moby Arena. The match marked the team’s fourth-and-final competition date of its season.
CSU came out in strong fashion and took the first two sets, with outside hitter Katelyn Steffan collecting six kills within the first set alone, and ending the match with a team-high 18 kills. Middle blockers Megan Plourde and Tori Brummett followed with eight kills each.
Defensively, libero Izzy Gaulia led the team with 23 digs, and sophomore Dana Cranston followed with 13. Brummett also notched an impressive 10 block assists, and one solo block, while Plourde tallied eight block assists as well. Both freshman setters, Deedra Foss and Katie Rutherford, saw the court against Tianjin, and Foss ended the set with a team-high 34 assists.
The Tianjin Bridgestone squad, which recently collected its eighth-overall and fifth-consecutive league championship - will conclude its U.S. tour in California, playing matches against Concordia and UC Irvine this week. The Tianjin team had already made stops at Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas State and Creighton before arriving in Fort Collins.
