Rams save themselves from elimination by beating the Titans
The Colorado State University’s volleyball team was saved from being eliminated on Friday from the National Collegiate Athletic Association Volleyball Tournament 2010 as they beat the Titans. The onus of this victory rests upon sophomore middle blocker Megan
Plourde who did a record-setting performance.
The Titans had the Rams under pressure during the first two sets of the match by making no hitting errors.
Head Coach Tom Hilbert of the Colorado State University appreciated the Titan play in the following words: “In the first two sets they had nine in the error column and eight of them were our blocks, which means that they only hit one ball out of bounds.
That is extremely good and very high-level.”
Such flawless performance by the Titans kept the Rams on their heels in the first two sets causing them to trial by 0-2 for the third time this season. This acted as a stimulus for the Rams, however, and made them spur towards victory by strengthening its
defense. The last time they put on such a show and overcame a 2-0 deficit to win was in the 2006 MWC championship contest against Utah.
Megan Ploudre made the following comment regarding their victory: “I didn’t want to go out on two losses like that. We all knew the things we had to change and we came out motivated; we weren’t going to let them win that third set.”
The Rams showed their motivation and determination by putting on a marvelous 10-1 lead in the third set scored by Jacque Davisson, senior outside hitter, who secured 10 points straight on serve. The Rams got the serve after a Titan ace on the first point,
when Plourde killed the next ball. Plourde displayed flourishing skill by adding three more kills and four blocks. Led by Plourde’s brilliant performance, the Rams won the third set by 25-12.
Titans put up a fight in the fourth set by taking on a lead of 8-4 early on. Fullerton of the Titans was responsible for this accomplishment. However, Plourde proved to be stronger and secured the next six points for Rams by making four kills and a block.
The set reached a tie at 17-17 but it turned in the favor of the Rams as they scored the remaining 12 points and brought the game to an even two all. The set ended with the score board showing 25-21.
Junior Katelyn Steffan of the Rams helped to break the 8-8 tie in the final set and followed it by serving up an ace. The Colorado State University went on to obtain an 11-8 advantage with the help of Plourde and sophomore Dana Cranston.
The Titans struggled to make a come back and brought the score board up to 15-12. However, it was not sufficient to gain victory.
Rams win over Titans has made them advance on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This is the fourth consecutive year that the team is able to manage to get through.
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