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VB: Rams Win 5th MW Tournament Championship

Nov. 20, 2011
Nick Hallisey
CSU Athletic Media Relations

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Being the No. 1 seed in a conference tournament is the toughest position to be in, Colorado State Head Coach Tom Hilbert said earlier this week. The Rams had a target on their back, with each team aiming to knock them off.

Three teams tried this weekend at the 2011 Mountain West Volleyball Championship, but none came close, as CSU became the second team in the conference’s history to sweep its way through the entire tournament, defeating the UNLV Rebels Sunday evening (25-14, 25-14, 25-22) at New Mexico’s Johnson Center, and bringing home its fifth tournament championship.

With the win, the Rams (22-5) have earned the league’s automatic berth, qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the 17th consecutive season.

Senior Katelyn Steffan was named the tournament MVP, her third tournament honor of the season, and CSU’s MW tournament MVP all-time. Dana Cranston and Brieon Paige were named to the all-tournament team, while Izzy Gaulia was named the outstanding libero of the tournament.

Plourde and Steffan led CSU offensively, with 12 and 11 kills, respecitvley.

The Rams fell behind early, 3-2, but with Gaulia serving, they took seven straight points to push the score to 9-3. The Rebels (14-17) fought back, closing the gap to 14-12, but that’s when the Rams took over by winning five points in a row, the last on a great defensive effort to save several UNLV attacks. CSU didn’t let down from there, though, extending the 5-0 run to 11-2 to close the set. The Rams finished the opening stanza with six total blocks and hit .361.

CSU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in Set 2 and never trailed, slowly extending its lead. Plourde had four kills and a pair of blocks in the set, as the Rams won again, 25-14.

With the score tied at 14-14 in Set 3, UNLV went on a 5-0 run to take its largest lead of the match. CSU didn’t cave, though, responding with a 6-1 run to force the set’s 11th tie at 20-20.The Rams then took five of the final seven points, capped with a Plourde kill to clinch the title.

Despite the top seed making it to the tournament finals eight times in the tournament’s 10-year history, the Rams, also winners of the 2011 regular-season title, became only the second No. 1 seed to win the championship tournament as well. CSU also did it in 2003.

The championship is the volleyball program’s 16th overall conference title, more than any other sport at CSU (it was previously tied with football with 15).

CSU will play a non-conference match at New Mexico State on Saturday (12 p.m. MT) before learning its postseason matchup.

Courtesy CSU Athletics