Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
17-7 (11-2MW)
New Mexico
14-14 (4-10MW)
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Recap: Rams rally to beat New Mexico in five sets
11/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - For the second consecutive match, the Colorado State volleyball team gave its crowd the maximum amount of volleyball possible and again came out victorious. CSU beat New Mexico, 3-2, on Saturday evening at Moby Arena.
The Rams (17-7, 11-2 MW) moved into a tie with Boise State for first in the Mountain West with the win. New Mexico (14-14, 4-10 MW) lost its second straight following a three-match win streak.
The Lobos took a 2-0 lead into the intermission, looking for their first win over the Rams since 2012, and potentially their first sweep over CSU since 2010.
Paulina Hougaard-Jensen was inserted into the Rams' rotation entering the third set, and the Danish freshman made an immediate impact. She totaled 8 blocks across sets 3 and 4, leading the team in the category. CSU had a season-high 22 blocks as a team.
CSU's comeback was officially on midway through Set 3. After New Mexico led early, the Rams used a late 9-2 run to win 25-16 behind 4 kills each from Sanja Cizmic, Olivia Nicholson and Alexandra Poletto.
Set 4 was more of a battle, and New Mexico was 4 points from victory with a 21-20 lead. The Rams, who had led most of the frame, scored five of the next six points including a solo block and kill from Jasmine Hanna, to win 25-22 and force the fifth set.
CSU trailed 3-2 early in the decisive fifth set, but cruised the rest of the way. Hanna went 4-for-4 on her attack attempts and the team totaled 4 blocks to roll to a 15-7 win and the 3-2 victory. CSU had a trio of four-point runs with three different servers in the set (Nicholson, Cassidy Denny and Katie Oleksak).
New Mexico was significantly more terminal than CSU early, especially in Set 1. New Mexico tallied 18 kills compared to just 11 for CSU in the opening period, but the Rams still led a significant portion of the set. CSU led 23-21, but a service error gave control back to New Mexico and a pair of kills by the Lobos and an ace sealed the first set victory.
The Lobos more thoroughly handled the second set, taking a 3-2 lead and not looking back. Their lead grew as large as 6, and the Rams would only pull as close as 2 points at 22-20 after kills by Cizmic and Kirstie Hillyer. One of CSU's three service errors in the set would ultimately be its demise, giving New Mexico as 25-21 win.
IN THEIR WORDS...
"That match was interesting. I think, as a coach, when you watch this, you're going to think to yourself, New Mexico has got momentum; they have three senior outside hitters with big arms. Our block timing was not great. They were picking up on our schemes. We weren't able to stop them. Our point score side of our game was not good. That first set, had they not missed serves, they would have beaten us easier than they did. We knew we had to make a change. We put Paulina (Hougaard-Jensen) in because she can go into a balance a little bit better than Kirstie (Hillyer) can. She has more experience seeing pin-to-pin teams, and she can close those blocks. I thought she did an outstanding job. She came in and did a good job hitting. We probably should have set her more than we did. It made a difference. Now we are serving and scoring points the crowd starts getting into it, our team starts getting into it. Jasmine (Hanna) and Sanja (Cizmic) both got significantly better as the match went on. We took advantage of their smaller setter. We just took better swings from the outside. That helped us a lot. I don't think this was our best match of the year, but it was a great competitive moment for us again. If we win five-game matches, it makes us a better team. Now we have to go on the road and grind it out some more." - Head Coach Tom Hilbert's thoughts on the match
"I did not think that much about it. We had problems closing the block and getting over, so I focused on that. I had to get all the way out to Katie and feeling her hips on my side. I knew that I was closing that seam and that really helped." - Paulina Hougaard-Jensen on what she focused on after entering the match in the third set
"I think something that I've definitely learned as I've gotten older here, figuring out how to make yourself better. I was not very terminal in the first couple sets and it was super frustrating to me... I kept telling myself to just get back and keep hitting the ball hard and it will go down for you. Eventually it did. I think the third set was a lot better, as well as the fourth and the fifth. Katie (Oleksak) kept setting me and having faith in me, so that was great." - Jasmine Hanna on her mindset as the match progressed
STAT OF THE DAY...
.355 - CSU hit .355 as a team in sets 3-5 as the team made its comeback. The Rams hit over .400 in both Set 3 (.483) and Set 5 (.467).
NOTES...
• Jasmine Hanna finished with a season/team high 17 kills in the match.
• Paulina Hougaard-Jensen accumulated a career high 8 blocks in the match.
• Katie Oleksak finished the night with 51 assists, which marks the fourth time Oleksak has tallied 50-plus assists in a match.
• Two Rams finished with 15-plus digs on the evening, Cassidy Denny (17) and Katie Oleksak (15). The 15 digs were a personal-best for Oleksak.
• The Rams finished with a season best 22 blocks as a team against the Lobos.
• The match was the second consecutive five-setter for CSU. The win was also CSU's first of the season after trailing 2-0.
NEXT...
CSU will head back to California for the third time to face San Diego State on Thursday, before heading to Nevada for a Saturday match. The Rams will ultimately play three consecutive road matches, as they'll face Boise State in Boise on Nov. 16.