Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
3-09-5/ MW
Utah State
1-26-8/ MW
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Recap: Rams offense shines in sweep at Utah State
9/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
LOGAN, Utah - The Colorado State Rams swept Utah State behind a strong offensive performance in Logan, Utah on Thursday night.
The Rams (9-5, 3-0 MW) won their first road Mountain West contest of the season, while Utah State fell to 6-8 (1-2 MW).
The Rams fell into a hole early in the first set and spent a good portion of the opening frame playing from behind. After Cassidy Denny served an ace that barely crept over the net to take a 2-1 lead, Utah State scored 6-of-7 points to take a 7-3 advantage. CSU wouldn't lead again until a pair of kills from Kirstie Hillyer and one from Jasmine Hanna pushed the Rams ahead 15-14. The Aggies were then playing from behind the rest of the way, but did so competitively, tying the match late at 22-22 and 24-24. The Aggies then had a service error while serving at 24-24, and a combo block by Hillyer and Katie Oleksak sealed the 26-24 first set victory for the Rams.
The second set was tight early on, and totaled 10 ties. The Rams took their first multi-point lead at 14-12 after another Hanna kill, but the Aggies immediately negated the lead with a two-point run of their own to tie it back up at 14-all. CSU came back with a 4-0 run, including a kill and block by Olivia Nicholson and an ace by Oleksak. USU pushed back with three straight on the scoreboard to cut CSU's lead down to 1, but the Rams had another three-point run in mind, punctuated by a block by Hillyer and Nicholson. The Aggies called timeout to try to reverse momentum, but Denny provided her second ace of the match out of the break to maintain the tone of the set. The Rams would ultimately take the second set 25-20, gaining a 2-0 match lead.
The third set featured another nine tied scores. Utah State took an 8-7 lead, and the Rams would trail until taking a lead of their own at 12-11. CSU had a 4-0 run that gave them a 14-11 lead following kills by Hanna and Nicholson, and the defending MW champs would not stop there. Alexandra Poletto turned it on late in the period with a pair of kills and blocks, ultimately leading to a 25-18 victory in the third set to clinch the match.
STAT OF THE DAY…
50 - CSU had 50 kills in three sets on a .311 hitting percentage, coming off 40 assists by Katie Oleksak. Three Rams (Hillyer, Hanna, Cizmic) had 10-plus kills.
NOTES…
• Sanja Cizmic reached the 10-kill plateau for the 10th time this season (most on the team), including each of the last six matches.
• Kirstie Hillyer (13 kills) led the team in kills for the third time this season. She also hit .522 (only one error) to reach .500-plus hitting for the third time.
• Cassidy Denny led the team with 15 digs, marking the eighth time this year she's had at least 15.
• CSU has won 63 of its last 65 MW contests, including 27 in a row.
NEXT…
CSU will have the weekend off before heading back out on the road for a challenging road trip that includes a Thursday meeting with New Mexico in Albuquerque and a Saturday afternoon match at UNLV.