Sept. 16, 2011

Final Stats

By Leah Sakdol
Athletic Media Relations

DENVER, Colo. – The No. 19 Colorado State Rams were defeated by the Denver Pioneers, 3-1, Friday night at Hamilton Gymnasium in front of 613 fans, many of them wearing green and gold. The loss is the second against the Pioneers in the 16-match series, the first being in 2005. 

Head Coach Tom Hilbert was disappointed in the team’s performance.

“We missed serves. We played high error. We stopped being aggressive. We weren’t ready to play a match at this intensity. We just refused to believe what was going on. That bothers me. We’re not a good team right now. We have to go back to the drawing board and get better.”

The Rams took the first point of the match but dropped the first set to the Pioneers, 27-25. After a kill by senior OH Katelyn Steffan, bringing the score to 10-15, the Rams rallied to take their second lead of the set at 16-15. With a strong defense, though, the Pioneers regained control and won the set. 

The Rams showed up to the second set a different team and beat the Pioneers, 25-17. CSU improved its hitting percentage from .140 in the first set to .300 in the second. 

Colorado State could not keep up with Denver for Set 3 or Set 4. The team fell to Denver, 25-18, in the third set, and Denver claimed the match after winning the fourth set, 25-22. It marks the first time that DU has defeated a nationally ranked team since becoming a Division I team.

Denver freshman MB Faimie Kingsley proved to be a strong force against Colorado State. She had a hitting percentage of .560 with 15 kills and only one attacking error.