Texas ends Colorado State's NCAA tournament run

MINNEAPOLIS – Texas lived up to its billing.

The Longhorns actually surpassed it, displaying a better all-around game than the CSU volleyball team expected in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

That led to a quick exit for the No. 15 Rams as No. 2 Texas won 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-17) Friday in Minneapolis.

It wasn't just that Texas (26-2) was tall on the block with big hitters.

The Longhorns also defended exceptionally well and played a nearly flawless match.

CSU (31-3) hit just .175 and was out-blocked 8-3.

The blocking wasn't a surprise, but the Rams didn't expect Texas' other facets of the game to be as strong.

"They were digging and transitioning extremely well. They've got kids that can bang it," CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. "Besides the missed serves, we played pretty cleanly. We've got to kill more than we did. That was what was impressive to me because we went in thinking defensively we were as good as they are. Well, we weren't tonight."

CSU missed nine serves, and the aggressive serving didn't disrupt Texas as much as Hilbert hoped it would.

Texas' offense ran smoothly, with three-time Big 12 Player of the Year Haley Eckerman leading with 16 kills on 33 attacks.

No other Longhorns were in double digits in kills, but Texas hit .327 and had only 11 errors on 110 attacks.

CSU was led by 11 kills from senior Marlee Reynolds. Jasmine Hanna had nine and Adrianna Culbert had eight, but CSU's offense couldn't sustain success against the big front line

"I guess it was a little bit tougher than I thought," Reynolds said of Texas' block. "I knew they had big athletes and they jump high and that they were going to get touches."

CSU's solid play from its outside hitters and Culbert was to Hilbert's liking. But the usually strong middle blockers were shut down.

Kelsey Snider and Alexandra Poletto combined for just two kills on 23 attacks. Acacia Andrews provided a spark in the third set with a kill and block, but the overall lack of production from one of CSU's best units was a big hole for the Rams.

"Their middles are very efficient," Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said. "We knew in transition they would stay in front a lot, so we were collapsing them and with our size forcing them into difficult situations."

CSU's plan coming in was to try and keep each set close into the 20s, then win late. Each set had the Rams in position to do that, but Texas went on scoring runs that CSU couldn't match.

After trailing 6-1 early in the first set, CSU closed to 21-19 before Texas finished it off. The second was tied at 10 before Texas took over with an extended 15-8 run. The Rams led 8-6 in the third before a Texas run took all momentum away from CSU.

"We just weren't able to sustain that physical attack for a full match," Hilbert said.

As the Rams left the Sports Pavilion floor in Minneapolis, about 100 CSU fans applauded the effort that had the team win a sixth straight Mountain West title and reach the regional semifinals for the 10th time in program history.

Texas is into the regional finals for the ninth season in a row. The Longhorns will play Saturday in Minneapolis against the winner of Friday's late game between Oregon and North Carolina.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle.

NO. 2 TEXAS 3, NO. 15 CSU 0