Colorado State University Athletics
Tuesday, August 30
Fort Collins, CO
7:00 PM
Colorado State
2-1,0-0Mountain West
1
vs
3
Northern Colorado
3-0,0-0Big Sky
1
2
3
4
F
Northern Colo.
25
25
23
25
3
Colorado St.
10
13
25
22
1
Rams Served First Loss of Season
8/30/2022 9:45:00 PM | Volleyball
Late push falls short at home
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – One problem balanced out. The other never went away.
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Northern Colorado's aggressiveness at the service line paid off early dividends, and even when the Bears started to come back to earth on the Moby Arena floor Tuesday night, it still carried some lingering effects.
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What carried lasting effects was the terminal nature of their pins, both of whom hit better than .371 in what would become a four-set victory for the guests, 25-10, 25-13, 23-25, 25-22. Colorado State and Northern Colorado entered Tuesday's match at Moby Arena with identical 2-0 records, beating both of the same teams, but behind a really strong defensive effort through the match, they were able to remain perfect while picking up just the program's second win in Fort Collins, the first against a Tom Hilbert-coached Rams' squad.
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"We just had no rhythm or tempo in our offense because we couldn't pass," Hilbert said. "And then even when we got back to where we were passing pretty good, we just still never captured it."
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The Bears won the first two sets in convincing fashion behind their serving prowess, producing eight aces against just two errors. They wouldn't have an ace in the final two sets and their errors skyrocketed to 10 in those stanzas, but Colorado State still struggled at times to get into a flowing offense.
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"It does dig us into a little hole, and I think this was a great experience for us to feel that," said CSU libero Kate Yoshimoto, who had a career-best 16 digs. "In the future, we don't want to be in those situations, but it was good experience, and it was hard to come back, but I'm glad we improved throughout the sets.
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"We knew coming into this game they were going to be really speedy servers, and maybe we took it for granted we would be able to handle it. Throughout the night, we got more comfortable and were passing better. If we would have come in ready and started well, it would have changed the game a little bit."
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After hitting a negative percentage in the first set and only .152 in the second, the Rams did what they absolutely had to do but hadn't done in the first two matches, and that was play well in the third. They found some punch from middle Karina Leber, who started hot and ended strong as the Rams staved off a sweep.
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She would eventually tie her career-best with 14 kills – which she did initially in her first collegiate match – by hitting .500 on the night. Even still, her 20 swings weren't enough for Hilbert's liking because it was an area he felt they had a real advantage. The Bears started to pinch a bit more in the middle, but she was still able to be effective in the fourth set.
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"I think hitting straight in the middle that helped, because I had one blocker on me," she said. "Running 1s was better for us, so we figured that out."
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What Hilbert would have also liked to see is more potency from his team when it was out of system. There was a lineup switch with Malaya Jones out, so Annie Sullivan (who finished with 10 kills on 41 swings) moving back outside from the opposite position. The Bears had no such issue at any time.
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Kailey Jo Ince (19 kills) and Makenzie Harris (17 kills and a double-double with 17 digs), were hot from start to finish, in system or out. The Rams finished with eight blocks, but very few came against the UNC pins who were fed well by setter Syd Cole's 50 assists.
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"We didn't block that well. We got some stuffs, but they just had their way with us," Hilbert said. "I thought at times we were serving pretty tough. They're nails. They pass everything, and they were better than us defensively all night and they got the transition swings to go down. That was key. We would stop a first swing, but they would eventually get the ball in a rally and get the ball to Kenzie and K.J. and get a kill."
Â
Ince was front and center at the close. With the match tied at 22 after a Kennedy Stanford kill, she answered back, then put down the match clincher after a UNC block put them at match point.
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Northern Colorado's aggressiveness at the service line paid off early dividends, and even when the Bears started to come back to earth on the Moby Arena floor Tuesday night, it still carried some lingering effects.
Â
What carried lasting effects was the terminal nature of their pins, both of whom hit better than .371 in what would become a four-set victory for the guests, 25-10, 25-13, 23-25, 25-22. Colorado State and Northern Colorado entered Tuesday's match at Moby Arena with identical 2-0 records, beating both of the same teams, but behind a really strong defensive effort through the match, they were able to remain perfect while picking up just the program's second win in Fort Collins, the first against a Tom Hilbert-coached Rams' squad.
Â
"We just had no rhythm or tempo in our offense because we couldn't pass," Hilbert said. "And then even when we got back to where we were passing pretty good, we just still never captured it."
Â
The Bears won the first two sets in convincing fashion behind their serving prowess, producing eight aces against just two errors. They wouldn't have an ace in the final two sets and their errors skyrocketed to 10 in those stanzas, but Colorado State still struggled at times to get into a flowing offense.
Â
"It does dig us into a little hole, and I think this was a great experience for us to feel that," said CSU libero Kate Yoshimoto, who had a career-best 16 digs. "In the future, we don't want to be in those situations, but it was good experience, and it was hard to come back, but I'm glad we improved throughout the sets.
Â
"We knew coming into this game they were going to be really speedy servers, and maybe we took it for granted we would be able to handle it. Throughout the night, we got more comfortable and were passing better. If we would have come in ready and started well, it would have changed the game a little bit."
Â
After hitting a negative percentage in the first set and only .152 in the second, the Rams did what they absolutely had to do but hadn't done in the first two matches, and that was play well in the third. They found some punch from middle Karina Leber, who started hot and ended strong as the Rams staved off a sweep.
Â
She would eventually tie her career-best with 14 kills – which she did initially in her first collegiate match – by hitting .500 on the night. Even still, her 20 swings weren't enough for Hilbert's liking because it was an area he felt they had a real advantage. The Bears started to pinch a bit more in the middle, but she was still able to be effective in the fourth set.
Â
"I think hitting straight in the middle that helped, because I had one blocker on me," she said. "Running 1s was better for us, so we figured that out."
Â
What Hilbert would have also liked to see is more potency from his team when it was out of system. There was a lineup switch with Malaya Jones out, so Annie Sullivan (who finished with 10 kills on 41 swings) moving back outside from the opposite position. The Bears had no such issue at any time.
Â
Kailey Jo Ince (19 kills) and Makenzie Harris (17 kills and a double-double with 17 digs), were hot from start to finish, in system or out. The Rams finished with eight blocks, but very few came against the UNC pins who were fed well by setter Syd Cole's 50 assists.
Â
"We didn't block that well. We got some stuffs, but they just had their way with us," Hilbert said. "I thought at times we were serving pretty tough. They're nails. They pass everything, and they were better than us defensively all night and they got the transition swings to go down. That was key. We would stop a first swing, but they would eventually get the ball in a rally and get the ball to Kenzie and K.J. and get a kill."
Â
Ince was front and center at the close. With the match tied at 22 after a Kennedy Stanford kill, she answered back, then put down the match clincher after a UNC block put them at match point.
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Team Stats
UNC
CSU
Kills
62
39
Errors
16
19
Attempts
123
123
Hitting %
.374
.163
Points
79
49
Assists
57
36
Aces
8
2
Blocks
9
8
Game Leaders
Kills
14
Aces
1
Blocks
5
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
2
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
DS
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