Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
1-0 (0-0MW)
VCU
0-1 (0-0A10)
Volleyball recap: CSU sweeps VCU in season opener
8/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Rams Volleyball Classic Tournament Central
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – No. 18 Colorado State kicked off the 2014 volleyball season with a bang, sweeping VCU – 25-18, 25-16, 25-12 – Saturday afternoon at Moby Arena.
The win improved the Rams’ record under Head Coach Tom Hilbert to 14-4 in home openers.
Senior outside hitter Marlee Reynolds was the star on offense, recording a match-most 13 kills on .407 hitting.
“The beautiful thing about her is that she doesn’t give stuff away,” Hilbert said. “That’s maturity, and that’s what we need. I’ll take this any day from her.”
In the Rams’ past three home openers, Reynolds has produced 33 kills on .483 hitting (33-5-58).
“I felt like I started in a rhythm,” the senior said. “I felt really good. Deej (Foss) was feeding me balls and our defense was playing well and our serve-receive was playing well.”
Five others players had at least four kills in the win, including true freshman Jasmine Hanna.
Hanna, a native of Queen Creek, Ariz., started the final two sets and was one of four Rams to make their collegiate debuts. True freshmen Sanja Cizmic started the match, while Alexandra Poletto and redshirt freshman Jaliyah Bolden also saw time on the court.
“Jasmine Hanna coming in and hitting .333 on the left was big,” Hilbert said. “Jasmine’s composure and her management was good. We’re slowly figuring out who’s going to play where, and I thought it was a good start.”
The Rams (1-0, 0-0 MW) were firing on all cylinders, hitting .304 compared to VCU’s .062 hitting percentage. In the second set, CSU held VCU (0-1, 0-0 A10) to -.080 hitting. CSU also out-blocked VCU, 9.0-4.0, while also leading in digs, kills and service aces.
Four of CSU’s six aces came from junior Kaitlind Bestgen. She had three in the first set alone, and was part of two 7-0 CSU runs – the first breaking a 14-14 tie and the second giving the Rams a 9-2 advantage after being knotted up at 2-2.
“One of our main goals was to win the serving-passing battle, and we for sure did,” Hilbert said. “If we can get half the production that we got out of Kaitlind today throughout the year, that’ll be really good.
The Rams return to the court tonight at 7:30 to face UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos were slept earlier in the day by Marquette.
“It was a good effort by us, and good point-scoring for sure,” Hilbert said on the win. I think we’re going to play a better team tonight in Santa Barbara, and an even better team tomorrow in Marquette. It’ll be a good weekend test for us.”
