GREELEY — Colorado State’s defense was good to start the season, holding opponents to a .100 hitting percentage in wins over VCU, UC Santa Barbara and Marquette last weekend.
But on Wednesday night the Rams were even better in that department, holding the host Bears to a .055 clip while tallying 13 total team blocks, forcing 25 errors and coming up with 42 digs, several of which kept momentum in favor of CSU.
Senior middle blocker Kelsey Snider led the charge on both sides of the net for No. 13 CSU, which made quick work of Northern Colorado with a 25-17, 25-13, 25-21 sweep at Butler-Hancock Pavilion.
The win improved the Rams to 4-0 on the young season heading into home matches Friday against Florida A&M and Saturday against No, 4 Wisconsin.
“We’ve got to get more kills from (the outside hitters) as we move on through the season, but I did think it was a great serving effort by us, a great passing game, great defensively, and great blocking,” said CSU coach Tom Hilbert, who improved to 8-0 all-time against UNC. “I’d like to see some other things get better, but we played well enough to win against a pretty good team.”
By starting the match with a 2-0 lead, the Rams won 11 straight sets to begin the season, the second-longest such streak in program history. The team won its first 21 sets to begin the 1986 season. Snider, though, knows it won’t always this easy.
“You want to sweep a team, but I feel like bumps are where you learn to grow, because it’s not going to be a sweep all the time,” said Snider, who also had six block assists to just one error. “We’re eventually going to face that, and it’s going to determine how we do as a team.”
But as far as Wednesday was concerned, it was a fairly stress-free night for the Rams, who were only really challenged in the third set — and even then they went up big early before a rally by the Bears (2-2) forced CSU to refocus to close things out.
“(UNC) is really good at the short, junky stuff, and we got a lot of them too. So really I thought we did a good job, especially on some of the hard-hit balls,” Hilbert said. “Jamie (Colaizzi) made a really critical dig at the end of the third set that kept us in it”
After hitting .333 in the first set (15-for-26) the Rams finished at .239 for the night. Along with Snider’s 11 kills, Jasmine Hanna had eight, Acacia Andrews seven and Marlee Reynolds six. Andrews was the most efficient Ram offensively, going 7-for-11.
On the other side of the net, UNC’s Andrea Spaustat was held to just three kills on 19 attempts for a -.263 hitting percentage. The junior middle came in averaging 3.75 kills a set while converting 32.3 percent of the time. That Spaustat struggled was no accident.
“I think we did a lot more scheming for this one. Luke (Murray), our assistant coach, is really good at it,” Andrews said. “I think we focused more this game than the other three. I thought we were a lot more prepared”
Weissmann breaks out — The Bears may have lost Wednesday, but Loveland High alum Kim Weissmann certainly had a memorable night. The freshman outside hitter converted on her first two career attempts for the first two kills of her young college career.
Weissmann had been used only as a serving specialist in the Bears’ first three matches of the season, but after the first two sets Wednesday, UNC coach Lyndsey Oates decided to give her some extended playing time in the front row.
“I was a little bit nervous, but just went in there and gave it all I got,” Weissmann said. “I just went out swinging and didn’t play hesitantly, and it worked out.”
Perhaps the best part was that Weissmann was able play well in front of her own personal cheering section, which made itself known when she recorded her first kill to cut the Bears’ deficit to 5-2 in the third set.
“It meant so much, just having that support from my family and friends and from my high school is just awesome,” she added. “I can’t thank them enough for that.”
Contact Reporter-Herald Sports Writer Sean Star at 970-669-5050 ext. 512, sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar.com
