Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
19-3 (12-0MW)
Nevada
9-15 (4-8MW)
CSU sweeps Nevada for 13th straight win
10/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The 18th ranked Colorado State Rams swept Nevada to improve to 12-0 in Mountain West play at Moby Arena on Saturday night.
The Rams (19-3, 12-0 MW) held the Wolf Pack (9-15, 4-8 MW) to just .050 hitting, while earning themselves a hitting percentage of .310 for the match. The win is the 13th-straight for CSU, and the Rams haven’t lost since Sept. 15 at Texas A&M.
CSU jumped out to a quick lead in the first set, as kills from Acacia Andrews and Adrianna Culbert brought the score to 3-0, and a block by Andrews and Alex Reid gave the Rams a 4-0 lead. The team kept that lead throughout the set, earning a hitting percentage of .500, and winning the set 25-18 off of a final kill from Culbert.
CSU used strong team blocks to hold back Nevada in set two, keeping them at a hitting percentage of -.086. After leading the set 6-5, Alexandra Poletto and Sanja Cizmic took control of the game to give the Rams the momentum they needed to win. Consecutive kills from Poletto and Cizmic brought the score to 8-5, and then two blocks from the duo brought the score to 11-5; a lead that the Rams held until the end. The Rams would go on to win the set, 25-14, to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was tight early before Nevada pulled out to a 10-6 lead, forcing a CSU timeout. The Rams scored four-straight after the break to tie the score, and took the lead at 12-11 after a kill from Reid. CSU quickly added two points to it cushion after a pair of Nevada attack errors, and CSU would lead the rest of the way, going on to win 25-19 to clinch the sweep.
IN THEIR WORDS…
“It was interesting because we started that first set with a really nice long point run and they kind of heated it up. Morell hit .500 in that first game, but we kept siding out with them and we wouldn’t let them score on us. Then we come out and have a nice big point run in the second set. We didn’t hit as great in that second set, but we really shut them down and did some nice things with service pressure today. Then in the third set they got a little lead because of our unforced errors then called a time out. We did get out of it, the players did a nice job and we got out of that little deficit. It was a nice complete match for a lot of people and I thought the blocking was really good for most of the night.” – CSU Head Coach Tom Hilbert on the win
“They run a very fast offense so it’s still a challenge, but we did work on it a lot in practices to get somewhat used to it. It was expected, but still we had to work on it. You just have to be quick too. You have to close and work a lot harder to close that block, and not get tricked in the middle and getting stopped because then you’re not going to close the block.” – Middle blocker Alexandra Poletto on preparing for Nevada’s offense
“Anything can happen. Conference isn’t over yet and we still have teams we haven’t played yet. There are a lot of unknowns so we just have to keep working on our side of the net and how to get better because anyone can win on any given night. It does help for the tournament and working up to that, but we still have to focus on conference.” – Outside hitter Alex Reid on the outlook for the rest of the season
STAT OF THE GAME…
.050 – CSU held Nevada to .050 hitting for the match, allowing only 29 kills on 100 attempts. CSU has held nine opponents to sub-.100 hitting this week, including six times in league play.
NOTES…
• The Rams have been looking to spread their attack opportunities around, and they did a good job against Nevada, with five players boasting 10 or more attempts. Jasmine Hanna led the team with 20 attempts, producing eight kills.
• Acacia Andrews led the Rams with 10 kills, marking the fourth time this season she’s reached the 10-kill plateau.
• CSU hit. 500 in the first set, totaling 17 kills on 28 attempts with only three errors. Also, CSU’s defense kept Nevada under .200 in all three sets, including -.086 in the second set.
• Alexandra Poletto tallied seven kills on 10 attempts with no errors, setting a season-high for hitting percentage (minimum five kills). She also tied a season-high with seven blocks, leading the team in the category.
• Adrianna Culbert continued to fill the stat sheet, recording seven kills (.333 hitting), 16 assists, six digs and five blocks. Culbert’s blocking numbers have been boosted since league play began, with the senior averaging 1.28 per set in Mountain West action.
NEXT UP:
CSU will hit the road for a two-match road trip, starting at Air Force at on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. MT. CSU will then fly to Albuquerque, N.M., for a meeting with New Mexico next Saturday at 7 p.m. MT.
