MATCH STATS
- #21 Colorado State def. San Jose State, 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-22)
- Colorado State improves to 17-2, 7-0; San Jose State falls to 12-6, 4-3
- Fort Collins, Colorado
- Attendance: 2122
- Box score
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With a 9-2 lead in the second set, senior Jasmine Hanna became Colorado State’s all-time kills leader, passing previous leader Megan Plourde (2008-2012). With the win, head coach Tom Hilbert also became the 25th coach all-time to surpass 700 career wins. He is the 11th active coach to earn his 700th victory.
For CSU, the Rams were led offensively by Hanna with a team-high 13 kills and only one hitting error, hitting .522 on the evening. She also added two blocks. The balanced offense saw additional contributions from Kirstie Hillyer (8-1-13, .538), Paulina Hougaard-Jensen (7-1-12, .500) and Breanna Runnels (7-2-15, .333). The Rams hit .400 on the evening, with the offense being directed by Katie Oleksak’s 33 assists and team-high 4 blocks.
For the Spartans, they were led by a match-high 15 kills from Giulia Gavio and 9 kills from Nandyala Gama. In the second set, Gama put away her 1000th career kill, the 14th Spartan all-time to do so. Another milestone was achieved on the back line; libero Luiza Andrade dug her 1000th career ball, which also occurred in the second set. Andrade becomes the 8th Spartan all-time to earn 1000 digs. Despite the successes, however, San Jose State had difficulty slowing down the efficient Ram attack; the Spartans did not register their first block until the third set.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Colorado State Athletics
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Senior Jasmine Hanna needed just six kills entering Thursday night’s Mountain West match with San Jose State to surpass Megan Plourde (2008-12) for the all-time kills record (modern scoring) at Colorado State. The Queen Creek, Arizona native reached that goal in the second set when the score was 9-2 with her sixth kill of the match. Hanna went on to lead the Rams with 13 kills on a .522 hitting percentage in a sweep over the Spartans on Thursday in Moby Arena.
The sweep over San Jose State also gave Head Coach Tom Hilbert his 700th career victory as he became the 11th active Division I coach to reach the mark and the 25th all-time. The victory was Hilbert’s 526th win in his 21 seasons as the leader of the Rams. He spent his first eight seasons coaching at Idaho and amassed 174 wins.
The Rams – who have won 17 of their last 18 matches – finished the match swinging at a .400 clip, led by Jasmine Hanna who tallied 13 kills and finished with a .522 hitting mark. The senior had arguably her best night of the season, recording just one hitting error in 23 swings. Kirstie Hillyer added eight kills on .538 hitting, while Paulina Hougaard-Jensen and Breana Runnels added seven apiece. Katie Oleksak dished out 33 assists in the sweep to prime the offense, while also controlling the net with a team-best four blocks. Both Hougaard-Jensen and Hillyer added three blocks each.
Colorado State started the match controlling the first set, as they jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and kept it, while hitting at a match high .474 tally. The Rams continued to dominate in set two, as they charged out to a 6-0 lead and maintained it for the rest of the set. Following the break, the Spartans battled as they took their first lead of the night at 15-14, but it wouldn’t last long. The set was tied at 16-16 before the Rams put together a three-point run to gain a 19-16 advantage before earning the sweep with a 25-22 final-set score.
The Rams will stay in Moby Arena and host Nevada on Saturday starting at 12 p.m., and will recognized Breast Cancer awareness with a Pink Out.
IN THEIR WORDS…
Tom Hilbert‘s opening statement…
“The tale of the tape in the first two sets was that we had very few hitting errors and they had zero blocks. In the last set, San Jose State played better, but we continued to play well. I thought San Jose State played well towards the end of the match, but we were better and our preparation for this match was correct. We looked well prepared at times, but also forgot some things at times. Overall we did our job because we stopped their two best players.”
Hilbert on how tonight’s win included two milestones from himself (700 wins) and Jasmine Hanna breaking the all-time kills record…
“It is fun to be a coach long enough to get to 700 wins, but what makes coaching really fun is to see things like what happened to Jasmine (Hanna) tonight. These guys are here for just a little slice of time and Jasmine has made the most of it. She is such a durable player that she has only missed two matches in her career. I think she is tremendous and it is a great honor for her to earn tonight. I am really proud of her and I can’t wait to get her to sign a poster for me.”
Hilbert on how the team prevented San Jose State from getting any blocks until late in the third set…
“Our hitters knew how to attack them and Katie (Oleksak) gets the ball to the right people which gives us the matchups that we want. We liked Jasmine’s matchup tonight and I thought that Breana (Runnels) really heated up and played well in the final set.”
Jasmine Hanna on having any nerves tonight…
“I try not to be nervous to be honest. I just want to play my game and not think about it and just play the best that I could.”
Katie Oleksak on if there was any pressure trying to get Jasmine Hanna the kills record…
Obviously there was some pressure. We didn’t spend much time harping on it this week though. She played great and didn’t play nervous at all. I wanted to give her good balls to hit – but it is funny that the record-breaking kill came from an out-of-system play.”
Paulina Hougaard-Jensen on why she was able to find openings in the blocks in tonight’s match…
“We have be working really hard in practice on it. Our middle situation is tough right now, but I think we are competing well in practice and on the court, especially Kirstie (Hillyer) who is being really aggressive.”
Courtesy of San Jose State Athletics
Fort Collins, Colo.—Spartan volleyball players Nandyala Gama and Luiza Andrade reached 1,000 career milestones in kills and digs, respectively, Thursday night as the San José State volleyball team fell 3-0 at Mountain West leader #21 Colorado State inside Moby Arena.
Gama became the 14th Spartan to record 1,000 kills in her career when she recorded her third kill of the night during the second set. Gama ended the match with nine kills in the match and has 1,006 kills in her Spartan career.
Andrade also reached her milestone of 1,000 career digs in the second set. She became the eighth Spartan in school history to record 1,000 career digs, and finished the night eighth all-time in digs with 1,003. Andrade had eight digs, six assists and a service ace in the match.
Giulia Gávio led the Spartans hitters with 15 kills, and Laura Parts hit .333 in the match with eight kills on 18 attempts and only two errors. Breann Robinson added three kills to go with her 26 assists and four digs.
Defensively, Andrade and Hirai each recorded eight digs, while Gávio had four. Thaliana Grajeda had two blocks to lead the Spartans.
The Spartans hit only .119 in the match, while #21 Colorado State hit .400 and out-blocked SJSU 8.0-3.0.
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