Colorado State University Athletics
Thursday, November 2
San Jose, CA
7:00 PM
Colorado State
15-10,9-5Mountain West
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San Jose State
12-14,3-10Mountain West
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Colorado St.
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25
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San Jose St.
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Rams Survive Spartans in San Jose
11/2/2023 10:24:00 PM | Volleyball
Colorado State wins eleventh five-set match of the season on the road
SAN JOSE, Calif. – All but six games this season for the Colorado State volleyball team has required more than three sets. One of those six games was the last matchup between the Rams and San Jose State when the Spartans made the trip to Fort Collins earlier this season and Colorado State left Moby Arena with a 3-0 victory.
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Thursday night on the road in San Jose, a different, vengeful Spartans teams was on the other side of the net.
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Needing all five sets to close out Thursday night's matchup, the Rams survived the trip to San Jose with their ninth conference win of the year, allowing Colorado State to remain in third place of the conference standing. Colorado State claimed the second, fourth and fifth sets to take the match with set scores of 20-26, 25-14, 24-26, 25-15 and 15-11.
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Both offenses were hot and cold all night as the Rams eventually outhit the Spartans .232 to .147, but in set one, San Jose State came out of the gate with energy and a defensive powerhouse in the Mountain West's leading blocker Jiana Lawson and teammate Alyssa Bjork. While the Spartans' offense hit at a .333 efficiency, their defense earned seven blocks over Colorado State with Lawson and Bjork combining for five of those blocks.
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Set two completely flipped the script. Colorado State hit over .500 in the second frame with San Jose State only hitting .030. The Rams also added three blocks in the second compared to none from the Spartans. Opposite hitter Malaya Jones had four of her game-leading 16 kills in the second set alone. Colorado State rallied to a 25-15 set win to tie the match.
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Onto the third, once again the hitting percentages and total block number for each team flipped. Despite four service aces for the Rams, Colorado State hit at only a .047 efficiency compared to San Jose State's .237 while the Spartans again added seven blocks in the set compared to the Rams' one. Now down 2-1, Colorado State knew the only way to walk out of Spartan Gymnasium with a win was to play in and win their 11th five-set match this season.
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The service aces continued for the Rams in a dominant 25-15 fourth set win with Emery Herman recording four aces herself in the fourth frame. Herman totaled six aces on the night while also dishing out 44 assists and totaling 15 digs as the captain setter led her team to the fifth set while the Rams finished the fourth on a 9-1 run.
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In the fifth, neither team scored three points in a row until the 12-8 mark where the Spartans closed the gap on the Rams to make it 12-11. After a timeout taken by head coach Emily Kohan, the Rams responded with three straight points of their own to claim a 15-11 fifth set and 3-2 match victory.
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Colorado State continues to see fifth-year veteran Annie Sullivan step up in big moments as the outside hitter finished the night with 15 kills at a .237 efficiency. Another bright spot for the Rams was middle blocker Naeemah Weathers who not only recorded a season-high 13 kills on the night, but also did it at a .500 percentage while adding five block assists and a solo block.
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The Rams' defense was once again led by redshirt-sophomore libero Kate Yoshimoto who finished the night with 17 digs and five assists.
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With only two weeks remaining in the Mountain West regular season, the Rams will take their weekend off to focus in on conference foes UNLV and San Diego State as they continue on the road next week before returning to Moby Arena and Fort Collins for senior weekend against New Mexico and Air Force in two weeks. Â
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Thursday night on the road in San Jose, a different, vengeful Spartans teams was on the other side of the net.
Â
Needing all five sets to close out Thursday night's matchup, the Rams survived the trip to San Jose with their ninth conference win of the year, allowing Colorado State to remain in third place of the conference standing. Colorado State claimed the second, fourth and fifth sets to take the match with set scores of 20-26, 25-14, 24-26, 25-15 and 15-11.
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Both offenses were hot and cold all night as the Rams eventually outhit the Spartans .232 to .147, but in set one, San Jose State came out of the gate with energy and a defensive powerhouse in the Mountain West's leading blocker Jiana Lawson and teammate Alyssa Bjork. While the Spartans' offense hit at a .333 efficiency, their defense earned seven blocks over Colorado State with Lawson and Bjork combining for five of those blocks.
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Set two completely flipped the script. Colorado State hit over .500 in the second frame with San Jose State only hitting .030. The Rams also added three blocks in the second compared to none from the Spartans. Opposite hitter Malaya Jones had four of her game-leading 16 kills in the second set alone. Colorado State rallied to a 25-15 set win to tie the match.
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Onto the third, once again the hitting percentages and total block number for each team flipped. Despite four service aces for the Rams, Colorado State hit at only a .047 efficiency compared to San Jose State's .237 while the Spartans again added seven blocks in the set compared to the Rams' one. Now down 2-1, Colorado State knew the only way to walk out of Spartan Gymnasium with a win was to play in and win their 11th five-set match this season.
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The service aces continued for the Rams in a dominant 25-15 fourth set win with Emery Herman recording four aces herself in the fourth frame. Herman totaled six aces on the night while also dishing out 44 assists and totaling 15 digs as the captain setter led her team to the fifth set while the Rams finished the fourth on a 9-1 run.
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In the fifth, neither team scored three points in a row until the 12-8 mark where the Spartans closed the gap on the Rams to make it 12-11. After a timeout taken by head coach Emily Kohan, the Rams responded with three straight points of their own to claim a 15-11 fifth set and 3-2 match victory.
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Colorado State continues to see fifth-year veteran Annie Sullivan step up in big moments as the outside hitter finished the night with 15 kills at a .237 efficiency. Another bright spot for the Rams was middle blocker Naeemah Weathers who not only recorded a season-high 13 kills on the night, but also did it at a .500 percentage while adding five block assists and a solo block.
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The Rams' defense was once again led by redshirt-sophomore libero Kate Yoshimoto who finished the night with 17 digs and five assists.
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With only two weeks remaining in the Mountain West regular season, the Rams will take their weekend off to focus in on conference foes UNLV and San Diego State as they continue on the road next week before returning to Moby Arena and Fort Collins for senior weekend against New Mexico and Air Force in two weeks. Â
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Team Stats
CSU
SJSU
Kills
58
51
Errors
22
27
Attempts
155
163
Hitting %
.232
.147
Points
79.0
71.0
Assists
57
47
Aces
12
5
Blocks
9
15
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
2
Blocks
2
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Kills
9
Aces
2
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
S
/ VolleyballOH/OPP
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
DS
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