'Dogs drop MW opener at defending champion Colorado State

Thursday, September 22

Fort Collins, Colo.

6:00 PM

Fresno State

9-3 (0-1MW)

Colorado State

7-6 (1-0MW)

Fresno State

Colorado State

'Dogs drop MW opener at defending champion Colorado State

9/22/2016 9:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Colorado State Box Score (PDF)Season Stats (PDF)

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Communications

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Faced with the task of opening up Mountain West play on the road at the seven-time defending MW champion Colorado State Rams, the Bulldogs volleyball team fell in four sets (27-29, 14-25, 25-23, 22-25) at Moby Arena on Thursday evening.

"We had Colorado State on the ropes in the first set," said head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell after the 'Dogs pushed the Rams hard out of the gate. "If we would have been able to win that set, it is a different match. We showed a lot of toughness and determination to comeback and win the third set after a big momentum swing in the second set."

A week after setting a new career high in kills against UC Irvine, senior outside hitter Aleisha Coates led the 'Dogs with 14 kills while adding four digs and a block assist. Brielle Hefner added nine kills while Lauren Torres and Aubrey Folk each added seven apiece.

Senior libero Maggie Eppright posted her second match of the season with 20-plus digs as she finished with 20 and she now sits only 30 shy of moving into the top 10 all-time in MW history. Setters Madelyn Halteman and Brooke Legaux combined for 42 assists and Jacqueline Hutcheson added the 'Dogs two service aces.

Colorado State (7-5, 1-0) had four players finish with double digit kills as Sanja Cizmic finished with a team-high 18. Freshman setter Katie Oleksak had 59 assists and Cassidy Denny had 15 of the Rams' 45 digs.

In control from the start, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 12-7 lead in set one after a kill by Haile Watson. CSU responded by refusing to make life easy for the 'Dogs scoring seven of the next nine points to tie the set at 14. The first of 14 ties in the set, the 'Dogs took a 24-23 lead on a kill by Hefner to put them on the verge of winning set one, but CSU battled back to tie the match at 27 before scoring the final two points on a kill and an attack error to take the hard-fought set 29-27.

The second set was not as kind to the 'Dogs as Colorado State jumped out to a 9-1 and pushed it to as many as 15 (23-8) before winning 25-14. The 'Dogs were held to a .100 attack percentage and only seven kills in the set as the Rams countered with a .429 attacking percentage and 15 kills.

After a short break, the 'Dogs came out tough in the third set battling back from multiple deficits to tie the set at 22 apiece before a kill by Taylor Slover and an ace by Hutcheson sealed the set win over the Rams.

The 'Dogs continued to show fight and grit in the fourth set as they battled to ties at 12,13,15,16 and 17, but the Rams proved to be too much despite the 'Dogs cutting the Rams lead to two on three different occasions. With the 'Dogs only trailing 24-22, the Rams wrapped up the match with a kill by Cizmic.

"It was great to see that we can play with Colorado State," added Netherby-Sewell on the performance. "Jacque really played solid for us and Aubrey did a nice job tonight as well as the rest of the pins. We are moving onto Wyoming and hope to end a tough road trip on a positive note on Saturday."

The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday traveling to Wyoming (8-6, 1-0 MW) for a contest at 12:00 p.m. PT in Lararmie.

Mountain West Scoreboard
at UNLV 3, Boise State 1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-21, 28-26)
Utah State 3, at Nevada 2 (25-27, 28-26, 25-22, 23-25, 15-8)
at New Mexico 3, Air Force 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-20)
at Wyoming 3, San Jose State 0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-23)

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