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Colorado State Volleyball Earns Share of Mountain West Title With Sweep Of Utah
Senior outside hitter Becky Sarauer, recording her 1,000th career kill this evening, led the Rams with 11 kills.
Nov. 13, 2004 SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The Colorado State volleyball team, ranked 10th in the country, swept the previously undefeated Utah Utes to split the regular-season Mountain West Conference title with identical 13-1 league records in Salt Lake City tonight. The Rams improve to 22-3 overall, while the Utes fall to 21-4. The teams share the conference title and a drawing by the commissioner will take place tomorrow to determine which team gets the top seed for the Mountain West Tournament next week. Senior outside hitter Becky Sarauer, recording her 1,000th career kill this evening, led the Rams with 11 kills, while junior right-side hitter Dre Downs added 10 kills and led the match with a .500 hitting percentage. Sophomore defensive specialist Katherine Whitney notched a season-high four aces, while senior setter Melissa Courtney notched another double-double on the year, leading the match with 15 digs and 33 assists and sophomore libero Kristen Karlik chipped in 12 digs. Senior middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley-Cahoon led the match with seven blocks. "I'm extremely proud of this team," said Head Coach Tom Hilbert. "Dre Downs was unstoppable tonight and was a huge spark. She got a block (back) on Bartoto in the first rally of the match which set the whole tone for the night. Melissa Courtney played great defense and our serving was key." Utah was led by senior middle blocker Lyndsey Henderson with 10 kills and four blocks, while freshman Emillie Toone hit a team-best .375 (4-1-8). The Utes had just two aces on the evening and senior setter Tracy Neumeier led the team with nine digs. Senior setter/right-side hitter Kelsie Kartchner also chipped in eight kills for the Utes. Henderson started the match with a Utah kill, but Downs returned the favor and then Whitney served her first ace to give the Rams the early 2-1 lead. Utah scored the next two, but the Rams answered with a three-point run, including an ace by Sarauer to take a 5-3 lead. Utah had an ace of its own in a three-point run to take the 6-5 lead. After a missed serve by Utah, the Utes scored three straight off two CSU errors to take a three-point lead, 9-6. Colorado State called a timeout and then Rogers got a big kill to pull within two, 9-7. The teams traded points until 11-8 when the Rams went on a three-point run behind two kills by Sarauer and one by Frech to tie the score for the sixth time at 11-11. The teams traded points so the score was tied at 12, 13, 14 and 15 before the Utes scored three straight to take an 18-15 advantage. Colorado State battled back, scoring four of the next five points, including an ace by Rogers and Sarauer got the kill to knot the score at 19-19, getting the 1,000th kill of her career. Utah scored the next two points, including a big block to take the 21-19 lead, but the Rams scored the next three points, with two Utah errors and a Downs kill for the 22-21 lead and Utah called a timeout. Sarauer got a kill out of the break to extend the lead to 23-21 and after a CSU missed serve, the Rams rattled off another three in a row, including another Whitney ace for the 26-22 advantage. Henderson and Sommerfeldt recorded back-to-back kills to bring the Utes within two, but then Sarauer and Courtney recorded kills and forced Utah into its final timeout, trailing 28-24. Rogers and Cahoon combined for a block, but Utah scored the next two to make the score 29-26 when Rogers got a kill to give the Rams the 30-26 victory. Utah came out in game two and scored seven of the first eight points, four off Colorado State errors, to take the early 7-1 lead. Downs got a kill and Whitney got another ace to bring the Rams within four, 7-3. Utah scored the next two to stretch the lead to six points, 9-3 and then Utah had two errors and Kartchner got a Utah kill for the 10-5 Utah lead. The Rams scored the next four points, including a Rogers solo block on Emillie Toone to close within one, 10-9 when Utah used its first timeout. The teams traded points until 18-17 and Utah got a kill from Kartchner to go up 19-17. On the next play, the lines judge called a ball by Downs in bounds to give her a kill, but the officials, after much discussion, called the ball out of bounds, giving Henderson and Bartoto a block for the 20-17 Utah lead. The Rams then went on a tear, scoring seven straight points behind the tough serving of Frech to take a five-point lead at 26-21. Henderson stopped the CSU run with a kill, but then the Rams finished the second game with four straight points, including another ace by Whitney to take the second stanza, 30-22. The third game started similar to the first game with ties at each of the first four points, and Downs got a kill for the first CSU point to give her the 800th kill of her career. Knotted at 4-4, the Rams scored two with kills by Rogers and Frech to lead 6-4. After a Utah block, the Rams answered with one of their own for the 7-5 CSU advantage. Utah scored the next two points and the game was tied at 7-7. Frech got a CSU kill but the Utes then went on a four-point run, including an ace serve to take the 11-8 lead. CSU called a timeout and came out with a three-point run to tie the score at 11-11. It was tied again at 12 and 13 when the Rams scored off an error by Utah, a kill by Cahoon and an ace by Sarauer to open up the 16-13 lead. Utah scored the next two, but CSU answered with a two-point run of its own for the 18-15 CSU lead. With the score 20-18, the Rams scored three straight off kills by a trio of players to lead by five, 23-18 when Utah called its first timeout. Katrena Ellett, seeing her first action of the night for Utah got a kill out of the break, but the Rams answered with a three-point run, including an ace by Frech to stretch the lead to 26-19 when the Utes called their final time-out. Frech served another ace out of the break for the 27-19 lead and after a Henderson kill, the Rams scored the final three points with a block by Cahoon and back-to-back kills by Sarauer for the sweep.
Colorado State will next play in the Mountain West Conference
Tournament, which takes place Thurs.-Sat., Nov. 18-20 in Moby Arena. The
Rams will either be the one or two-seed depending on the coin flip
tomorrow in the conference office, but will play in the 7:00 p.m. match
on Thursday, regardless of the outcome of the coin flip. Matches will
take place on Thursday at 11:00, 1:30, 4:00 and 7:00, while the
semifinals on Friday will be at 1:00 and 3:30 and the championship on
Saturday begins at 3:00 p.m. All times are Mountain.
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