Northern Colorado Volleyball Drops Three-Gamer To #25 Colorado State
Oct. 2, 2007
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Northern Colorado's volleyball team (4-13) was defeated by #25 Colorado State (11-4) in non-conference action on Tuesday Oct. 2 in Fort Collins by a 3-0 margin. The games scores went 30-24, 30-19, 30-18. The match was the first one for NC against a ranked-opponent this season.
Sophomore Allison Raguse led the Northern Colorado attack with nine kills. Fellow sophomore Taylor Smith had a steady performance with seven kills on a .353 hitting percentage (7-1-17). Freshman Lindsey McDaniel tallied a team-best 31 assists. Ashley Lichtenberg led the team in points with 10.5 on eight kills, a service ace and three blocks. Senior Abby Mayne reached double-digits in digs for the 13th time this season with 10.
The Bears came out strong in the first game and took a 3-1 lead on the block from sophomore Kenzie Shreeve. The Rams would catch up and took an 8-7 lead on an NC attack error. The Rams kept attacking and extended the lead to three at 13-10, forcing the first Bears' stoppage of play. The lead reached five on the dump kill from setter Ashley Fornstrom at 20-15. The Rams kept rolling on their way to 30-24 victory. Lichtenberg led the Bears' attack in the first game with three kills.
The Rams built on the momentum of the first game and took a 5-1 lead in the second on a kill from Jonelle Wallace. After the lead reach as high as six, Raguse got the Bears within four again with a kill. NC kept fighting and got to within three on a Rams' attack error, but CSU again rallied and quickly extended the lead to eight on a kill from Mekana Barnes at 22-14. Colorado State's offense was now clicking and finished the game on an 8-5 run to take the second game 30-19. Lichtenberg continued her strong effort with four more kills in the second game.
It was another strong start by the Rams in the third game as the ranked-opponent opened a seven-point lead on the kill from Jamie Strauss at 13-6. After the Rams' lead reached as high as nine, NC managed to chip it down to six (20-14) on a well-place Raguse kill to the back left-corner. The Rams kept pushing though and took an 11 point lead on a Bears' attack error. A mini 3-0 NC run spearheaded by strong serving from Raguse closed the margin to eight, but it was short-lived as the Rams coasted to the 30-18 match victory. Shreeve led the Bears with three kills in the third game.
Strauss led the attack for the Rams with 11 kills. Danielle Minch came off the bench and totaled 11 kills on a .476 hitting percentage (11-1-21).
"Our middles played a good match tonight," head coach Lyndsey Benson stated. Allison and Taylor were matched up with two All-American caliber players tonight and they showed what they were capable of doing. It was another step forward for the team. It was good experience to have a team of Colorado State's caliber on the schedule this season. Any time you can get a team like Colorado State on the schedule it benefits the program in both the short and long term. This weekend's two conference matches are crucial to team's standings in Big Sky play and I feel playing a fast-paced athletic team like the Rams is going to help us prepare for this weekend's challenge."
Northern Colorado will now return home for a Big Sky conference weekend. The Bears will start the weekend early with a match against Weber State on Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. NC will also play against Idaho State on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.
