LOS ANGELES – A look a the stat sheet would suggest Colorado State was looking forward to the second round of the NCAA volleyball tournament.
Facing Cal State Northridge at USC, the No. 12 Rams hit better and had more aces, digs and blocks than did the Matadors. However, problems in one rotation swayed the ledger to the other side, with the 25-15, 25-13, 12-25, 18-25, 15-12 loss bringing an end to what was a magical season for Colorado State (28-2).
It is the second year in a row the Rams have lost in the first round.
“When you look at it, that’s just sad when the story is told,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “We started off the match and let them have an eight-point run, and they’re too good to provide an eight-point run. The second set was more competitive, but we got stuck in another rotation.”
After the Rams rallied back impressively to take the next two sets, it happened again, and at the wrong time. The fifth set was tied at 10-all, but the Matadors scored four straight, and it was too big a hole for the Rams.
The Matadors had trio of hitters with double-digit kills, led by middle Casey Hinger with 17 kills. Cieana Stinson had 15, with Natalie Allen adding 12.
“It was mainly behind the setter that she was very good,” Hilbert said of Hinger. “We didn’t block that spot very well. We blocked other people OK. We didn’t block that spot very well.”
Forcing the fifth set impressed Hilbert, but the fact his team didn’t play well at end-game – something they had done all year – was shocking.
“They gave us a chance. I was happy about certain people’s performances, but I was unhappy about our end-game performances,” Hilbert said. “We had some bad rotations that they continued to score in, and that is uncharacteristic. But it happened.”
Colorado State was able to fight back behind the play of true freshman Michelle Lawrence and the play of the two middles. With Lawrence and Kelsey Snider starting in the front row, Lawrence produced 18 kills on 32 swings, and Snider finished with 16 on 21. That helped the Rams finish with a .328 hitting percentage, nearly 100 points better than Cal State Northridge. They also had 16 blocks, with Snider coming up with seven, but their failure to point score in certain rotations hurt at the end.
“They have tough servers,” Hilbert said. “They could force us to do things we don’t want to do. That was the outcome.”
Sam Peters, the Mountain West player of the year, had nine kills and six blocks for the Rams, while setter Deedra Foss had 49 assists.