Rams Complete Reverse Sweep against Aztecs

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SAN DIEGO – In a thrilling match in the Peterson Gym, Colorado State went down early in the match before pulling off the reverse sweep at San Diego State on Thursday night. It was the Rams first reverse sweep in four years exact – Oct. 21, 2017 at New Mexico.

San Diego native Jacqi Van Liefde paced the Rams with a career night, flooring 21 kills, while posting just two errors in 34 swings for a .559 hitting mark.

"San Diego State is a talented team," said head coach Tom Hilbert. "Their two outside hitters were very successful again us in the first two sets, but we did a better job in the last three. We needed to be better in the service-pass game and were able to do that. We made the plays we needed to and were able to secure the win."

Jacqi Van Liefde started the night putting down four kills in the opening set before a match-high six kills in the second. She kept her dominant performance in the third with five kills before finishing the match with three kills in each of the final two frames. Her .559 hitting mark is a team-high for the season and the highest since Karina Leber hit .619 last season in the season opener against Air Force. Her 21 kills is also a season-high and the most since 2019 for a player.

"If you consider the importance of the match and the environment, it was the best match of Jacqi's career," added Hilbert. "San Diego State did not have an answer for her. She played so clean and that was great to see."

Colorado State took the early lead in the match at 5-1 before doubling up San Diego State at 10-5. The Rams held that lead through the majority of the frame, but the Aztecs went on a 6-0 run to tie the set at 16-16. From there, both teams traded points and the set went into 'extras' before SDSU took the final two points to steal the set, 28-26.

The Rams looked to even the match in the second, but SDSU manufactured another 6-0 run to lead 8-3 and never looked back. Colorado State came within two a handful of times toward the end of the set, including at 23-21 but again the Aztecs finished the set taking the last two points and a 2-0 match lead.

After intermission, the third frame was an all-out battle as neither team looked very dominate and controlling. The Rams lead at 16-12, but SDSU came back within one at 16-15 after a small run. From there, it was an edge-of-your-seat kind of match as the Aztecs lead at 21-20 and looked to sweep CSU. Colorado State took a breath and finished the match on a 5-1 run; including taking the last three points to avoid the sweep.

The fourth brought big scoring runs for both teams, as the Rams led early at 5-2 and 9-3 before San Diego State got close at 9-7. From there Colorado State put the pedal down and dominated the rest of the frame cruising to a 25-14 set win to even the match at 2-2. The fourth set was actually the Rams worst hitting set with a .214 mark, but was the best in terms of blocking with four.

The fifth was a rollercoaster. It was tied at 9-9 after back-to-back kills by Van Liefde, but a couple mistakes gave San Diego State an 11-9 advantage. Colorado State would take a timeout and come out dripping with confidence. The Rams finished the match on a 6-2 run to complete the reverse sweep. CSU's last six points came from four kills from different players, a service ace and a single Aztec error.

Jacqi Van Liefde led all players with 21 kills and hitting .559 for a career night. Annie Sullivan added 13 kills and four blocks, while Kennedy Stanford had 12 kills. Ciera Pritchard dished out 47 assists and was one dig shy of a double-double. Alexa Roumeliotis finished with 20 digs and helped give out six assists. Sasha Colombo owned the net, slamming down five blocks and Karina Leber added three.

Colorado State will return home and prepare to face UNLV on Saturday for State Pride. First serve is set for 1 p.m., MT on the Mountain West Network and Local3.

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