CSU volleyball wipes out in white out match against Notre Dame

Moby Arena — usually covered in green — was flooded in a white sea, packed to the brim with students and spectators for Colorado State volleyball’s white out match. A home court match filled with fans is a recipe for a high-energy win, but one looming factor stood in the way: the Fighting Irish.

Despite having a mix of younger and older players, Notre Dame gelled together on the court extremely well, almost like the team had been together for years, stealing a 3-0 win (12-25, 19-25, 25-27) Friday.

“We need to support each other and come out stronger, and just like if (someone) messes up, we’re gonna have their back,” first-year Halle Jameson said. “In the long run, this is a game that we learned from. So, each step, we learn something, and each game, we learn something new. And it’s just important, even if we lost.”

In most of the Rams’ matches, they come out of the gate strong and become slower as the game progresses, but the game against the Fighting Irish was quite the opposite. After losing the first two sets, CSU was determined not to go down without a fight.

And after endlessly fighting, cheering after every point so loud it shook Moby, the Rams had the win in their hands with just one point left to go before winning the set, but ND’s Morgan Gaerte had other plans.

“We put Kekua (Richards) up against her for the most part and held her to some pretty respectable numbers,” head coach Emily Kohan said. “Unfortunately, those other players also got hot. But that’s what good teams are. Good teams have a lot of weapons in a lot of places, and we’ve got to just keep growing through the season.”

Standing at sixth in the NCAA for kills per set — averaging 4.94 — Friday was no different for Gaerte as she led the game in kills with 14. Gaerte was only one of the many strong weapons that the Fighting Irish wielded, as the team was consistent in every area, scoring a total of 45 kills, six aces and 10 blocks.

Yet CSU’s stats read quite differently as it only tallied 32 kills, five aces and six blocks, but the real struggle for the Rams was their inability to deliver a kill, racking up 22 attacking errors throughout the match.

“You never want to give up on your team,” Jameson said. “So, even if you’re down, we all want to support each other, and we all know we’re doing the best we can, and we want to all have each other’s backs … so that we’re able to keep fighting.”

But despite the errors and mistakes, CSU turned up the heat with each set, even if it wasn’t enough to grab a win.

The Rams ended the first set with a hitting percentage of -11% but by the third — when fans thought the loss was sealed — CSU banded together with the cheers of students and ran with the lead, even having a seven-point gap midway through the set.

“We just have an amazing fan base here, especially being a freshman and coming from somewhere where I’ve never experienced this before,” Jameson said. “It’s just amazing to see that people show up and show out and just continue to cheer even when we’re down two sets. They’re just are so consistent, they show up to every game. So, it’s just amazing.”

And with that support flowing from the stands, Jameson flourished once again as a steady player for the Rams, scoring seven kills. Although Jameson had many notable hits throughout the night, ND was just in sync in the backrow, able to return most hits that CSU put down.

Yet on the Rams’ side of the court, they failed to get the ball up several times as the Fighting Irish capitalized on CSU’s weakness: tipping.

The Rams would prepare to dig a slamming hit, but instead would receive a slight tip over the net and evidently not be able to get to it in time. One of ND’s best strategies was it didn’t always have to place the strongest hits, just the smartest ones.

“We didn’t scout them tipping as much as they did, and it took us a long time to recover from that,” Kohan said. “We were really dug in, I feel like, for their for their hard attacks, and it took us a set and a half to shift into a different kind of defense to recover from those tips.”

Although the Fighting Irish took their opportunity to exploit the defense, players like Delaney McIntosh and Erin Debiec were sweeping the back row with a combined total of 13 digs, continuously improving CSU’s defensive stats as the conference season is rapidly approaching.

The Rams showed moments of scrappiness whether it was McIntosh digging a crashing kill or Sydney Black running into the stands to recover a shanked ball, but the way ND came out as a team and won as a team should be a good standard to work towards as the Rams have a week off before their next game against Colorado.

“They saw weaknesses in our defense, which is always tough, but usually that’s something that we like to rise to the challenge to,” McIntosh said. “That (loss) definitely sets a fire underneath us. We’ll be practicing all week, and then come back and see (fans) on Thursday and Friday. So, we’ll be ready for that.”

Reach Sophie Webb at sports@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.