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Colorado State volleyball falls to 0-2 to start season

Taylor Paumen

September 1, 2021

Karina Leber spikes the ball down onto the opponents side. — Karina Leber (42) spikes the ball down onto the opponents side during the Colorado State season opening home game versus Northwestern University Aug. 28. CSU loses 3-1. (Devin Cornelius | The Collegian)

The Colorado State University volleyball team headed east Aug. 31 to take on the University of Northern Colorado Bears. The Rams seem to be having a rough start to the season beginning with a 0-2 record.

The Rams made themselves a threat early in the first set with 13 kills spread through the roster and took set one 25-11. Karina Leber led the team with four kills to kick off the match. Although the green and gold team snatched the first set of Tuesday’s match and had a match-high of four blocks, the team couldn’t follow through in set two.

Stretching into the night, the two teams headed into set five.”

CSU took the lead starting 3-0 in set two, but the Bears stayed close by with both teams, tying 11 times in the set. The Rams pulled forward slightly, taking an 18-14 lead but was short-lived, as UNC grabbed six of the last seven points and tied the match to 1-1.

After some adjustments to the line up, CSU headed into set three. The Rams stayed ahead of UNC for the majority of the set, allowing them to tie only four times until late in the set when the Bears got a second wind. The Bears pulled ahead to a 20-17 lead, but after several attack errors and multiple kills from Kennedy Stanford and Sasha Colombo, the Rams took back their match lead, winning 29-27, 2-1.

Heading into set four, CSU could see a light at the end of the tunnel, but the Bears shut that down, taking an early four-point lead with 9-5. The Rams struggled to fight back after adding nine attack errors to the Bears’ score as they led 15-12. UNC finished the set with kills and CSU added four more attacking errors to make a match high of 13 total, tying the match again 2-2.

Stretching into the night, the two teams headed into set five. Once again, Northern Colorado took an early 7-3 lead. The Rams fought back, tying 13-13 to try and steal the win. Ultimately, the Bears got the last two points of the night off a kill and attack error, taking the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.

Although Colorado State added to their losing streak heading into their next games, several Rams added some great stats to the books. Stanford led her team with 19 kills, and Jacqi Van Leifde was close behind with 14 kills and also added six blocks. Colombo put four blocks and two aces to her stats while newly added Annie Sullivan tied with the senior on kills, both adding eight.

The Rams will continue to be on the road their next two games as they head to North Carolina to take on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Friday evening at 5 p.m. and North Carolina State University Saturday at 5 p.m.

Taylor Paumen can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @TayTayPau.

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About the Contributors

Taylor Paumen, Content Managing Editor

Taylor Paumen is the 2022-23 content managing editor for The Collegian and has been with the newspaper since February 2021. She started out as a volleyball recap reporter and was promoted three months later to sports director. Now going into her fourth year, she is working on finishing a major in journalism and media communication and a minor in sports management. As The Collegian's content managing editor, Paumen takes care of approving content for the week, guiding the directors and editors of each desk and occasionally supplying her time to the cannabis and sports desks when they let her. When she first joined The Collegian, her time covering volleyball games was tough, as COVID-19 had just taken over. Games were fanless, but she knew it was where she wanted to be. Now as content managing editor, she loves learning things outside of the sports world and strengthening her skills. Now, fans are back, and working in the newsroom to create a weekly paper is her new passion. Paumen is most grateful for the memories created with the entire Collegian team and their work together to create the best content. When coming to Colorado State University, Paumen started as a health and exercise science major but quickly tried to find something new. She found writing and sports were her passions, and The Collegian welcomed her with open arms, reassuring her that this is where she was meant to be.

Devin Cornelius, Digital Managing Editor

Devin Cornelius is the digital managing editor for The Collegian. He is a fifth-year computer science major from Austin, Texas. He moved to Colorado State University and started working for The Collegian in 2017 as a photographer. His passion for photography began in high school, so finding a photography job in college was one of his top priorities. He primarily takes sports photos, volleyball being his favorite to shoot. Having been on The Collegian staff for 4 1/2 years, he's watched the paper evolve from a daily to a weekly paper, and being involved in this transition is interesting and exciting. Although Cornelius is a computer science major, his time at The Collegian has been the most fulfilling experience in his college career — he has loved every second. From working 12-hour days to taking photos in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference, he cannot think of a better place to work. Working as a photographer for The Collegian pushed him outside of his comfort zone, taking him places that he never expected and making him the photographer he is today. As the digital managing editor, Cornelius oversees the photos, graphics and social media of The Collegian along with other small tech things. Working on the editorial staff with Katrina Leibee and Serena Bettis has been super fun and extremely rewarding, and together they have been pushing The Collegian toward being an alt-weekly. Outside of The Collegian, he enjoys playing volleyball, rugby, tumbling and a variety of video games. When in Austin, you can find him out on the lake, wake surfing, wake boarding and tubing. You can expect that Cornelius and the rest of The Collegian staff will do their best to provide you with interesting and exciting content.

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