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Colorado State Advances to Championship Saturday
The Rams will face Utah for the MWC crown.
Nov. 21, 2003
Complete Release/Box Score in PDF Format
SAN DIEGO - No. 1 seed Colorado State needed five games to edge the host San Diego State Aztecs 3-2 (28-30, 30-26, 30-16, 27-30, 15-10) in the MWC Tournament semifinals at Peterson Gym. The Rams advanced to the MWC Championship for the fourth time in five years and will face No. 2 seed Utah.
CSU hit .422 in the match and outblocked the Aztecs 12-7. Tess Rogers totaled 22 kills to lead the Rams, while Kara Moriarty recorded a double-double for SDSU with a match-high 25 kills and 10 digs. SDSU's Aspen McPartland posted 39th career double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs, while hitting .423.
Four Rams hit over .400 in the match, led by Melissa Courtney's .667 and Bri Frech's .538. Frech added 15 digs and 18 kills for her second double-double of the year, and was one block shy of a triple-double. Courtney recorded 71 assists one shy of the MWC Tournament record. Becky Sarauer hit .515 with 20 kills and Katie Jo Shirley totaled 17 kills and 11 digs to go with a .412 efficiency for the Rams.
Both teams hit well in game one with SDSU totaling .438 and Colorado
State .375. The teams nearly traded point-for-point from a 22-22 tie
through the final margin of 30-28. The Aztecs extended the margin to
26-24, but following a CSU timeout, the Rams rallied to knot the game at
27-27. Megan Schauermann came up with a block and Zlatina Anguelova
added a kill for a 29-27 SDSU advantage. An Aztec hitting error pulled
the Rams to within 29-28, but Melissa Cansdale ended the game with a
kill to give SDSU a 1-0 lead in the match.
Game two was also a back-and-forth affair, but the Rams used back-to-back kills by Rogers to break a 25-25 tie and take a 27-25 lead heading into an SDSU timeout. Frech and Courtney teamed up for a block to give the Rams a 28-25 edge, forcing the Aztecs into another timeout. Following an SDSU hitting error, Anguelova trimmed the lead to 29-26 on a kill, but Frech answered for the Rams with the games final kill to knot the match at 1-1. Frech accounted for five of CSU's final 10 points in game two with four kills and a block.
Colorado State took control of game three with a commanding block and outstanding defense, opening up a 24-14 lead. The Rams extended the lead to 28-15 before Frech again came through with two key blocks, teaming with Rogers and Andreya Downs, respectively, to end the game and take a 2-1 match lead. CSU outblocked SDSU 6-0 in game three and held a 22-11 advantage in digs.
SDSU held a 21-16 advantage in game four before the Rams used a 5-1 run to close the gap to 22-20, eventually tying the game at 25-25. The Aztecs responded with a 5-2 run to post the win and force game five. The teams again traded points through 6-6 in game five until CSU opened up a 10-6 lead after three straight kills by Downs, Sarauer and Shirley, lending enough cushion to close out the win 15-10.
UP NEXT: Colorado State advances to the finals of the tournament at 7 p.m. (PT) on Saturday, Nov. 22, where it will face two-time defending conference tournament champion Utah. The championship match will air live on Fox Sports Net (RM). |
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