Rams suffer first sweep of the season against No. 14 Baylor

Calendar

Show:/

Sep 11

6:00 PM

Volleyball

vs East Texas A&M

Sep 12

6:00 PM

Volleyball

vs Notre Dame

Sep 13

12:00 PM

Volleyball

vs Notre Dame v. East Texas A&M

Sep 18

6:00 PM

Volleyball

vs RV Colorado

Sep 19

7:00 PM

Volleyball

at RV Colorado

By: Braidon Norse

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For a moment, it seemed like Colorado State could come back from a 6-point deficit late in the third set to make things interesting, but ultimately they could not hold on in extras.

The Rams hit .232 in the match, which was boosted by a .400 performance in the third set. That kind of production in a match typically falls short against a team like No. 14 Baylor, who won 25-18, 25-20, 26-24.

After keeping pace with Baylor early in the first set, CSU started to struggle to get things going on either end. Both teams came out swinging, but Baylor's strong attacking and smart tipping put the Rams on their heels.

The score quickly progressed from 11-all to 18-13 as CSU's hitting percentage dropped considerably, finishing the set hitting .074, their third-lowest set percentage all season.

"We were playing out of system a lot of the time and you saw us playing a little more tentatively than we have maybe in the past couple games," head coach Emily Kohan said. "So when we do get out of system, we need our pins to be taking big cracks at the ball."

They improved the hitting in set two, but not by as much as Kohan would have liked. Baylor was able to find more open areas to tip into, just out of reach for any Ram to dig, which contributed to a 25-20 win for the Bears.

By that time, the hole the Rams had dug themselves into was deep. Kohan said despite steadily improving throughout the match, 'we can't start as slow as we did,' especially against a team like Baylor.

After a 19-13 start to the third set by the Bears, hope for a comeback was dwindling. Then CSU cleaned up their hitting substantially while Baylor started to miscommunicate on easy plays. Both things contributed to a 8-2 run by the Rams to tie the score up at 21.

Some more back and forth towards the end had the 3,237 fans in attendance on their feet, but Baylor pulled away in extras to clinch the sweep.

CSU's passers settled down as the set went on, affording Kennedy Stanford and Naeemah Weathers to get better opportunities on the attack. Stanford led the Rams with 10 kills and Weathers added seven of her own while recording two block assists.

"Our offense got going, you saw (Weathers) come out and have some really great kills," Kohan said. "That's why it's hard when we don't pass well, we can't use her or Kennedy at what they are best at, so I was proud our passers settled in and got our offense going."

Baylor is the fourth ranked opponent CSU has seen this season, even notching a win against then No. 10 Kentucky in the season opener. They haven't gotten as lucky with the other three matches, but for Kohan, it's not all for nothing.

"We can play with anyone, you know?" Kohan said. "If we are playing well, I really do think we can hang with and beat a team like Baylor. But it takes all of our attackers playing well in the same match and us being able to pass. So I hope, from many of the good teams we've played, we've learned we can play with the best of them."

Colorado State will close out their play in the Ram Volleyball Classic against Pacific Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results