Dec. 8, 2000

By Renee Carlson
The Coloradoan

LOS ANGELES - Three seniors played their final matches Thursday night with the Colorado State University volleyball team.

The Rams (32-5) lost in four games to Penn State (30-5), which advances in the NCAA Tournament to play Southern California in today's Elite Eight round.

Summer Jennings was solid all night for the Rams offensively, as she totaled 16 kills and hit .464, well above her season average of .341, which is a career high. Jennings added six blocks and finishes her career with 403 block assists, which is second all-time at CSU.

Tops on that list is teammate Angela Knopf, a junior who had eight total blocks Thursday and has 412 career block assists.

The Rams will lose another starting senior in Krista Swartzendruber. The left-side hitter had nine kills and seven digs to close out her career.

Katherine Pettit also will graduate. The fifth-year senior split starting time with Jennings, rotating in the back row for her. Pettit had five digs Thursday night and two service aces.

ON A ROLL - This marks the sixth straight year the Rams played in the NCAA Tournament, which ties a school record by a team in any sport.

The other team to do it also was in volleyball, when the Rams went to the NCAAs from 1983-88.

UGLY, UGLY, UGLY - Typically, coaches are happy with a 1-to-2 ratio when it comes to service aces to errors. Penn State coach Russ Rose was ecstatic with his team's eight aces and four errors. CSU, on the other hand, had six aces and 24 errors.

"It just makes you have to side out and side out and side out," CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. "If you have to side out six times in a row before you ever get a point, it does affect you emotionally. It's hard to hang in there."

The 24 errors easily was a season high. The worst previously was 17 in matches against New Mexico and Pacific.

Courtney Cox and Swartzendruber each had six errors, Angela Knopf had four, Soraya Santos and Pettit each had three, and Allie Peckham had two. Knopf and Pettit led the Rams in aces with two apiece.

BLOCK PARTY - Cox closed her season by topping the 200-block mark. She earned five Thursday and has 202 total blocks. Peckham, her roommate, finishes with 199 after collecting three against Penn State.

BY THE NUMBERS - CSU (32-5) has more wins than anyone else in the country. . . . CSU hit better than .300 for the 22nd time in 37 matches this season.

ON THEIR WAY - Penn State was supposed to be in a rebuilding year after winning the title last season and finishing second for two years before that.

That's not the case for a team that rotates a freshman and sophomore at setter. Freshman Jessica Hayden did the duties Thursday.

"I think our expectations are always really high," said Amanda Rome, a junior who had 10 kills. "That's just a result of the tradition. With each passing match, I think our younger players gain a lot of confidence."

NEXT UP - CSU finished its season with a 32-5 record. The Rams practice in the spring, then hit the court again in August.