Rams ousted by Cardinals in NCAA volleyball
Cardinals won the second round of the 2010 National Collegiate Athletic Association Volleyball at the Cardinal’s Maples Pavilion last Saturday by defeating Colorado State University in straight sets. The 17th-ranked Rams gave good competition
in the first set which ended in 28-26, but they could not match the performance of the third-seeded Cardinals in the last two sets (25-13, 25-15).
Seniors Danielle Minch and Jacque Davisson of the Rams performed well. Their total kills were 17 whereas senior Audrey Hemmings had 11 digs. Junior Katelyn Steffan played her part by adding 7 kills of her own and making four assisted blocks. At the end of
the match, Munich and Steffan were tied for team - high blocking honors.
"It has been an honor to be part of this program for the last four years and do the things we've done," Davisson said. "Me, Danny, Audrey and Emily (Koenning) put huge emphasis on being changers of this program. Every day we showed up at practice we tried
to make the program better."
The four seniors of CSU have much to be proud of as they were able to achieve a lot to their credit. Colorado State University was able to get to the second round in each one of their four years. They were able to push past Washington to reach the Sweet
Sixteen last year.
"These kids are going to do great things," Davisson added, who had her parents in the stands as part of a small and boisterous rooting section. "The four freshmen are phenomenal players as they keep maturing they are just going to keep things happening."
The first set was pretty intense as the Rams reached a tie at 26-26. However, the Cardinals brought them down with full force in the next two sets despite the fact that they were out hit by the Rams 0.312-0.154. The Rams were also able to record more kills
then the Cardinals (16-15) as well as more blocks (5.5-3.0), digs (13-10) and assists (15-13).
"They are one of the best blocking teams in the country," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "To have more blocks than them is good for us."
The Rams could only manage to keep the Cardinals challenged till 4-3, after which Stanford took seven consecutive points and established an 11-4 lead. The set ended with the Cardinals winning it.
The third set was the last one. Megan Plourde tied the set with a 4-4 achieved by making a kill. Stanford then took a lead of 10-5. Rams were propelled by Minch and junior setter Evan Sanders, bringing CSU to 10-7. Cardinals answered back with a straight
lead of seven points, ending the set at 25-15.
The star performer for Stanford was Alix Klineman, who is the three-time All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year. Klineman posted 18 kills on .400 hitting, adding three solo blocks to finish with 22 points in the match.
Overall, the Rams were outblocked by Stanford by 9.0-7.5.
A successful Rams season is brought to an end with this defeat, in which they won the Mountain West Conference championship for the second time consecutively. It was their 16th consecutive post season appearance in the program.
Rams Coach Tom Hilbert had encouraging words for his team at the end of the match: "We had some tactical things we wanted to do to try and make them uncomfortable. I think we were successful, limited their scoring runs and giving ourselves a chance."
Cardinals are in line to play the regional semifinal round with Ohio State next weekend in the Dayton Regional.
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