Sept. 24, 2005
Final Stats
LAS VEGAS - UNLV's (5-8, 1-1 MWC) bid to knock off the five-time defending Mountain West Conference champion, Colorado State (8-3, 2-0 MWC) fell short in a four-game loss at the Cox Pavilion on Saturday evening. The first two games could have gone either way as both teams kept the scoring close, but CSU wound up taking games one, two and four. The Rams won with scores of 30-26, 37-35, 19-30, 30-21.
The first two games of the match were close as in game one there were seven ties and in game two there were 17. In game one, UNLV evened the score at 20-20, but CSU won 10 of the following 16 points. In the second game, the Rebels had five game-point opportunities, but were unable to find the winning point.
In game three, UNLV capitalized on CSU's inability to hit the ball cleanly, as the Rams tallied a game-low eight kills to seven errors (.036 hitting percentage). The Rebels got off to a great start with five-straight points with Lauren Miramontes serving following a score of 1-1. On four occasions, the Rebels had a 10-point advantage on their guests, one of which was in the final game score.
Game four began in similar fashion to the first two of the game. CSU broke the scoring open with four-straight points with Ashley Fornstrom at the service line. Fornstrom began serving with a 13-10 lead and stretched the lead to seven at 17-10. The Rams stretched their lead to a match-high 11 at the 24-13 mark, but held the Rebels in check fro a winning margin of nine (30-21).
Neither team had a good night on the attacking side of the ball. CSU out hit UNLV 62-to-52 and .205-to-.112, respectively. All four of UNLV's games were played a hitting percentage no higher than .189. CSU had to games over the .200 mark: game one at .256 and game four at .500.
Brittani Lumsden led the Rebels with her team-high seventh double-double of the season. On the offensive she nailed 12 kills and dug out 18 Ram attacks. Both figures were tops in each category. Michelle Banks (11) and Miramontes (10) rounded out UNLV's three double-digits attackers. Melody Nua collected 44 assists. Jada Walker notched 14 digs.
Casey Bauer led the Rams in kills with 26 and collected a double-double by adding 16 digs. Bauer's .328 hitting percentage was the highest of any player in the match. Rogers threw down 11 kills. Fornstrom assisted on 50 of the Rams' 57 kills and led the team with three solo blocks and assisted on three more. Katherine Whitney led all players in the dig department as she continued 19 Rebel attacks. Amanda Fahnestock contributed 11 digs, as well.
Up next for UNLV is its first conference road trip of the season with visits to New Mexico (Sept. 30) and Air Force (Oct. 1). Both matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. Pacific.
