Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State
10-1
Xavier
4-8
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Recap: Colorado State Continues Weekend with another Sweep against Xavier
9/16/2017 3:08:00 PM | Volleyball
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The No. 22 Colorado State volleyball team continued its' perfect weekend with a sweep over Xavier on Saturday afternoon. Sanja Cizmic posted a season-high 21 kills in the perfect match, after swinging 31 times and hitting .452. The sweep is the fourth-consecutive and seventh of the season for the Rams.
Xavier charged out to a 4-1 lead in the first set, but the Rams retaliated with an 11-2 run to take a 12-6 advantage. CSU continued to dominate the set, rolling to a 25-10 win.
Colorado State led to start the second frame, but the Musketeers strung together six-straight points to lead, 11-7. The Rams returned with their own run of six-straight to retake the lead – one that they would not lose. CSU finished off the set with the last three points to gain a 2-0 match lead with a 25-19 scores.
The Rams again led early in the final set and continued through the whole set. Xavier trailed by two at 15-13, but that all the closer it would get as CSU finished off the match, 25-18.
Sanja Cizmic led the Rams with 21 kills and hitting at a .452 clip and also added eight digs and three blocks. Jasmine Hanna added 11 kills, while Breana Runnels floored seven. Paulina Hougaard-Jensen led the defense with four blocks. McKenna Thornlow recorded 10 digs and Katie Oleksak and Cizmic also had eight. Oleksak dished out 43 assists in the win.
The Rams will close the weekend tonight, facing Colorado at 7:00 p.m. MT.
IN THEIR WORDS
Tom Hilbert on the performance from the outside hitters…
"All of our outside hitters were good. We needed to get more balls to the middle because I was afraid that we were going to wear our girls out. Sanja took a lot of swings. We are going to get her iced up and ready for tonight's match."
Tom Hilbert on how this match helped the team prepare for CU tonight…
"I think this game did help prepare us. The fact that we finished this match in three sets is great as well. We did not have to spend a lot of energy and we stayed sharp."
Sanja Cizmic on the key to why she was so successful in the match…
"Communication. It's that simple. It helps us a lot. I used to be really bad at talking to Katie (Oleksak), but that's improving and that's why we are working much better now."