Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
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Western Michigan
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No. 9 CSU tops Western Michigan, 3-0
9/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Final Stats |
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Photo Gallery | Season Stats
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The No. 9 Colorado State Rams volleyball team swept the Western Michigan Broncos in its annual Orange Out match on Saturday evening.
The first set was a close-fought battle, with four lead changes and nine tied scores. Western Michigan took a 15-14 lead, but the Rams responded with the set’s next five points to take a four point advantage. Western Michigan would not get closer than two points from CSU the rest of the set, with the Rams taking the frame, 25-22.
CSU came out strong in the second set, and took an eight-point lead at 18-10. Western Michigan called a timeout, and then scored eight of the next 10 points to narrow the margin to just two points. CSU held off the Broncos to take a 2-0 match lead with a 25-22 win in the second set.
The Rams finished off the match in the third set, led by exceptionally efficient attacking from Acacia Andrews (six kills on seven attacks, .857) and Adrianna Culbert (four kills on six attacks, .667). CSU never trailed in the final set, and clinched the match with a 25-15 victory in the final period.
IN THEIR WORDS…
“Offensively I was very pleased. We needed this kind of breakout match for our middles and setters so they can feel comfortable going to everybody. We’re speeding up our left side attack a little bit. It’s a work in progress and we’re continuing to get better.” – CSU Head Coach Tom Hilbert
“We definitely talked about (being more aggressive) and we went out and did that. When we were out of system a lot we were getting a lot of hard swings and I think there were only two balls that we had to end up free-balling over. It’s great to know that we’re putting our opponents in a hard situation.” -- CSU senior outside hitter/setter Adrianna Culbert
“We’ve been working on set location, we call it driving towards the ball, and that’s been a big emphasis in practice. We implemented it into the game and a lot of us were driving really well.” -- CSU junior middle blocker Acacia Andrews on set location and hitting technique
STAT OF THE GAME…
.706 – CSU junior middle blocker Acacia Andrews posted a career-best hitting percentage of .706 (12-0-17) against Western Michigan. The 12 kills were also a career-best.
NOTES…
• Adrianna Culbert tallied 16 kills (.500 hitting) and 15 assists to post her fourth-straight double-double. Culbert also added six digs and a block. Culbert is now hitting .362 for the season.
• Acacia Andrews’ .706 hitting percentage was the highest of any CSU player this season. Andrews currently leads the team in hitting percentage, attacking at a .491 clip so far in 2015.
• CSU improved to 6-0 all-time in Orange Out matches. All six wins have been sweeps.
• Senior libero Jaime Colaizzi led the team with 19 digs, her second-best total of the season. Cassidy Denny also recorded double-digit digs with 10.
• Sophomore Sanja Cizmic recorded a career-high five blocks (previous best: 3 vs. North Carolina Central)
• Sophomore Alexandra Poletto posted a team-best seven blocks, tying her second-best block output of her career. Poletto had eight blocks against Wyoming on Nov. 26, 2014.
NEXT UP:
CSU will host Northern Colorado on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT at Moby Arena in the last match of the CSU/UNC Tournament. The Rams will follow that with their first road trip of 2015, heading to Austin, Texas, to play Iona and No. 3 Texas at the Texas Classic on Sept. 13. CSU will then bus over to Texas A&M to face the Aggies on Sept. 15.
