Air Force Academy

Sept. 22, 2011

Box Score

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The Air Force volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to 20th-ranked Colorado State to open Mountain West Conference play on Thursday, Sept. 22, in Fort Collins, Colo. The Falcons, facing their second ranked opponent of the season, fell in straight 25-19, 25-14, 25-20 sets to the host Rams.

Colorado State jumped out to a fast 10-2 lead in the first set. The Falcons recorded a pair of blocks (freshmen Ayesha Hein/Megan Clary and Hein/sophomore Cami Richan), before Richan gave Air Force its first point on offense at the 12-6 mark. Richan added another kill, while several errors by the Rams helped cut Colorado State's lead to three at 15-11. The Rams had no answer for Richan, as she added a pair of back-to-back strikes. Colorado State reached set-point (24-16), but Air Force rattled off three straight points behind kills from Richan, freshman Kristen Holt and classmate Lizzy Carpenter. CSU tallied the final point for the 25-19 score.

Hein and sophomore Fort Collins native Claire Bieber teamed up for a block to start the second set, but despite kills from freshman Hillary Keltner and Holt, Colorado State took the early 9-4 lead. A pair of kills from Bieber helped Air Force cut its deficit to three (10-7), but the Rams recorded nine of the next 11 points to go up 19-9. Air Force took four of the next five points, as Hein and Keltner posted back-to-back kills and Richan added another pair of scores. Colorado State closed out the game with a 5-1 run to take the second set by a 25-14 margin.

The Rams struck first in the third set, but Air Force quickly evened it up with a kill from Carpenter. Trailing 4-2, Air Force scored six straight points, forcing Colorado State to call a timeout. Sophomore Josalynn Wise recorded a service ace and Richan added two kills during the Falcons' run, while Holt and Clary teamed up for a block. Richan, Carpenter and Clary used kills to put together a 3-0 run for Air Force, as the Falcons improved their advantage to 11-6. Colorado State came back, scoring eight of the next 10 points to take a 14-13 lead. After Carpenter tied the set at 14, Richan posted kills to take a 16-15 lead, tie the set at 17 and even up the score again at 18. Richan also added a service ace to give the Falcons a 19-18 lead. But, the Rams came back again, scoring seven of the final eight points for the 25-20 win.

"We served and passed really good at times," McShane said. "But we still have those lulls that cost us points. CSU is a really good blocking team and we need to work on getting better swings. We need to work on getting swings for our middles. We need to get Kristen more sets and Ayesha better sets."

"Our defense was great," he continued. "Maiya was very good tonight. We did a good job of being courageous in the third set."

The Falcons head to Laramie, Wyo., on Saturday, Sept. 24, to take on Wyoming at 1 p.m.