Match Stats
- Colorado State defeats Wyoming 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 28-30, 27-25, 15-12)
- Colorado State improves to 21-8
- Wyoming drops to 18-13
Colorado State, still in the hunt for a 22nd-straight NCAA tournament bid, squeaked out a narrow 5-set victory at home against Wyoming this week.
Sanja Cizmic had a career-high 27 kills and Jasmine Hannah also hit 20 kills on the night for CSU. We had Colorado State as one of our first 8 teams out of the NCAA tournament in our projections earlier this week. The Rams are now firmly locked into second place in the conference at 15-3. Boise State clinched the Mountain West title and the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament bid. Plus third-place UNLV has a better overall record (23-7) than CSU and won a quick victory over New Mexico Tuesday night.
Wyoming’s Emily Lewis had 19 kills over the five-setter. Wyoming nearly pulled off a season sweep after upsetting Colorado State at home back in October. Kayla Slofkiss had 14 kills and 13 assists in her final collegiate match.
Press Releases
Colorado State:
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State Rams played an epic five-set match against the Wyoming Cowgirls on Tuesday night, with the Rams coming out on the winning side following career-best performances from their two outside hitters.
CSU (21-8, 15-3 MW) leaned on juniors Sanja Cizmic (career-high 27 kills) and Jasmine Hanna (20 kills) on its way to the win in front of the second-largest crowd in Moby Arena this year. The Rams also were able to split the season series with Wyoming (18-13, 11-7).
Cassidy Denny, the lone CSU senior, added 22 digs, including many in key moments, to keep the Rams alive in her final match at Moby Arena.
Cizmic powered the Rams through the fifth and final set, totaling 5 kills in the period and scoring the final two points for the team. CSU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth and never let Wyoming climb all the way back, although the Cowgirls did pull within one at 11-10. Cizmic’s final two kills and another by Olivia Nicholson sealed the 15-12 final set victory for the Rams.
Wyoming appeared to have won the match in four sets, when a lengthy rally resulted in Cowgirls kill and a 25-23 win. Earlier in the rally, however, an attack by Cizmic appeared to have possibly hit the floor, but the officials allowed the play to continue under the guise of a Wyoming pancake dig. The Rams implored Head Coach Tom Hilbert to challenge the play, and he did, resulting an overruling and a 24-24 reset score. CSU then scored three of the next four points, capped off by another Cizmic kill for the 27-25 win, forcing the fifth set.
The third set was arguably the most tightly contested of the match, featuring 20 tie scores and 10 lead changes. Each team had three opportunities at set point, with the Cowgirls fighting off three in a row by the Rams to take a 30-28 win and at that point, a 2-1 lead in the match.
The two sides split the first two sets. CSU never trailed in Set 2, and were led by 6 kills from Cizmic on 8 swings and an additional 4 by Hanna, as well as 4 team blocks.
IN THEIR WORDS…
“I am still definitely hopeful and optimistic. If for some reason we do not get (into the NCAA tournament) I think in a week or two it will really set in that this was my last game. In my head this was not my last game. You cannot think of it like that. This is my last game at Moby, that is bitter-sweet, but I went out the best possible way I could, in a five-set Border War win after having lost at Wyoming (earlier in the year). I could not ask for anything more, but it’s definitely not my last game.” – Senior libero Cassidy Denny on the match against Wyoming potentially being her last game
“That was a pretty crazy match. We were very one-dimensional offensively and I don’t know if that’s because of their middle blockers or we just got tentative. But, I’m very pleased with Sanja and Jasmine who both had great matches. I thought Cassidy had an amazing match, especially making some plays against (Wyoming middle blocker) Laura Beach at some very critical times to help us win and then making sure I challenged in that fourth set. That match took challenging to the highest levels. Both teams I thought were swinging. We could not stop (Emily Lewis), and she hasn’t even been playing very much lately, but we could not stop that girl. I thought we hit blocking assignments but we were not pressing in getting blocks, even though we did have quite a few. We really should have had more. They had a four-point advantage in the serving and passing game just in terminal numbers. But I did think that we served tough and I thought that they served tough and it was a battle, and I am happy we won, but I think that Wyoming is good and I think that we are good. It was a close match.”– Head Coach Tom Hilbert’s general thoughts on the match
“This is my last game with Cassidy in Moby, so I don’t know. I just decided that I was going to play this one for her. I didn’t want to let us lose in Moby for her senior night because she is just an amazing captain and I am going to miss her so much.” – Junior outside hitter Sanja Cizmic on playing one last time at Moby Arena with senior Cassidy Denny
“The Mountain West significantly improved their conference RPI this year. You know, we moved from 14th to seventh and I think that is a case to put three teams from the Mountain West in, and maybe that means (UNLV) gets in too.” – Hilbert on the NCAA Tournament outlook for his team and the Mountain West
STAT OF THE GAME…
71 – Katie Oleksak registered 71 assists, the most in CSU history in the 25-point rally scoring format. It was also the third-highest total in a five-set match by any player in the NCAA this season.
NOTES…
• This match marks the first time since Aug. 25, 2007, that the Rams had two players finish with 20+ kills: Jasmine Hanna (20) and Sanja Cizmic (27). The 27 kills were a career-high for Cizmic, and Hanna reached 20 kills for the second time this week (Hanna had 20 at Boise State on Wednesday).
• Kirstie Hillyer had 10 blocks tonight, marking the fourth time this season she has reached the 10 block plateau.
• Olivia Nicholson finished with a career high 16 digs on the evening.
• Cassidy Denny added 22 digs, which is the fifth time she’s had at least 20 digs in match this season.
• Moby Arena hosted its second largest attendance of the year with 3,218 spectators.
• Five of CSU’s last seven matches have gone five sets, with CSU winning four of them.
NEXT…
The Rams will wait until selection Sunday to see if they will be competing in their 22nd consecutive NCAA Tournament. The selection show will be televised live on ESPNU, with the broadcast beginning at 7 p.m. MT.
Wyoming:
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Nov. 22, 2016) — The University of Wyoming volleyball team dropped a five-set (25-22, 20-25, 30-28, 25-27, 12-15) thriller to Colorado State on Tuesday night at Moby Arena, capping the 2016 regular season. It was the sixth match this season that went to five sets, and the fifth in Mountain West action.
Sophomore Emily Lewis recorded a career-high 19 kills as senior Courtney Chacon added a career-best 60 assists for the Brown and Gold (18-13, 11-7 MW) against Colorado State (21-8, 15-3 MW). Senior Kayla Slofkiss added her fifth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 13 assists. Fellow senior Laura Beach also recorded 14 kills for UW on Tuesday night, in addition to a team-high nine blocks.
Sophomore Reed Copeland was the fourth Cowgirl in double-digit kills with 11. She also had three blocks against the Border War rival. Freshman Madi Fields added a team-high 19 digs for the Brown and Gold while junior Shelby Johnson recorded a career-high 18 digs against the Rams.
Set breakdown:
Set one: After a kill from CSU, a net violation gave UW its first point to tie it at one. An ace from Slofkiss began what was a 6-1 run early in the first set for the Brown and Gold. Wyoming held an 8-3 lead to open the first set as two straight kills from Slofkiss would then give Wyoming a 12-6 advantage. With Wyoming up 15-8, CSU called its first timeout of the set. After the timeout, CSU went on a 4-0 run before Wyoming regrouped. UW held a 22-18 lead before tying the set at 22 and forced the Cowgirls to call time. UW earned set point, 24-22, before a net violation gave the Cowgirls a 25-22 set victory.
Set two: After the opening point to begin the match, CSU never led again in the first set. The Rams were able to jump out to a 5-2 lead in the second before a kill from Copeland and a service ace from Fields closed CSU’s gap to one, 5-4. The Cowgirls battled back to tie things at ten before Colorado State went on a 4-1 run. Wyoming called timeout down, 11-14, and then went on a 5-0 scamper after CSU held a 17-12 lead to tie it all at 17. The Rams went on an 8-4 run to take the second set, 25-20. At the break, Chacon had 26 assists as Lewis had recorded eight kills.
Set three: Wyoming quickly ran out to a 3-1 lead before CSU garnered three straight for its first lead in the set, 4-3. Back and forth proved to be the better part of the third frame as there was a number of ties throughout the set. A Wyoming timeout was called with Colorado State up, 16-14. With the set score tied at 19, Fields led UW’s charge with a service ace to give Wyoming a one point lead, 20-19. Slofkiss earned her second block of the match to give Wyoming a 23-22 lead. Wyoming eventually took the third set, 30-28.
Set four: Neither team had a lead more than one before UW moved to an 8-6 advantage in the fourth frame. A net violation by Colorado State once again tied the score at ten. A timeout came from CSU with Wyoming up 13-11. A solo block from Beach then added another point for the Brown and Gold. The third challenge of the match resulted in no net violation and cut Wyoming’s lead to one, 17-16. Wyoming capitalizes once again after tied at 21, the Rams call time after another kill from Lewis. Copeland gave UW set point 25-24 but the Rams gathered two of the next three to take the set, 27-25.
Set five: The Rams earned three of the first four points to take a 3-1 lead. Their points came from three-straight points before UW called time. A 2-0 run made Colorado State call timeout with a 7-6 lead. Wyoming then took its timeout with CSU leading 13-10 and a kill from Slofkiss cut the Rams lead to two. Colorado State would go on to take the set, 15-11 and the match, 3-2.
The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will be announced this Sunday on ESPNU at 7 p.m. MT.
Notes:
-The 66 total team kills on Tuesday night set a season high. The previous best was when UW recorded 58 against Utah State on Oct. 27. Additionally, the 63 assists was also the best of the year. The Cowgirls had dished out 52 once again versus Utah State in late October.
-Wyoming recorded 77 team digs against the Rams to close out the regular season. The high before Tuesday’s match was 62 when New Mexico payed UW a visit on Nov. 3.
–Courtney Chacon is in sixth place in Cowgirl history with 3,352 career assists. She is 10th with 943 career digs and is also sixth all-time with 441 sets played. Chacon leads all active MW players with 37 career double-doubles. She needs one more double-double to be tied tenth all-time in MW history.
–Laura Beach is fifth all-time with 439 total blocks. Reese Plante (2010-13) is fourth all-time with 440 career blocks. Furthermore, Beach is now 18 kills away from 1,000 for her career. She continues to hold the top spot in career hitting percentage (.372) and her .399 percentage this year is third-best in a single season.
–Kayla Slofkiss is eighth with 951 career digs and 11th with 1,037 kills while wearing the Brown and Gold. She is also eighth in sets played with 427. Slofkiss joined Jodi Purdy (2009-12), Ronda Munger (1984-87) and Michele Rauter (2000-03) as the only players with 1,000 kills and 900 digs during their career.
–Reed Copeland now needs only 9 blocks to become tied for tenth all-time at UW. She has 338 for her career.
-The senior class of Laura Beach, Courtney Chacon and Kayla Slofkiss have won 85 matches as Cowgirls. The 85 victories are third all-time as a class. Bridget Shanahan was the lone four-year senior a year ago and helped Wyoming win 88 matches from 2012-15, while the 1983-86 teams won 86 matches for UW.
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