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Colorado State Upsets Top Seeded Utah to Win 2006 MWC Volleyball Championship MWC All-Tournament Team Annouced
Nov. 25, 2006 CLICK HERE for more MWC Volleyball Tournament information. LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The third-seeded Colorado State Rams (20-9) were on the brink of elimination from the championship match of the Mountain West Conference Tournament until they rallied to win the final three games to defeat the top-seeded and No. 9 Utah Utes (27-3). With the 3-2 win, the Rams earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. CSU won the match with game-scores of 25-30, 19-30, 34-32, 30- 20, 15-10. Colorado State has now won its fourth MWC Tournament title with previous wins in 1999, 2003 and 2004. The loss is the first for Utah since Sept. 2nd against USC. Utah had a run of 25 straight wins snapped with tonight's loss. Utah jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after the first two frames of the match and looked like they were going to run away in sweeping fashion. The Rams used a 24-kill outburst from Mekana Barnes in the rally. Barnes hit at a staggering .514 percentage for players with double-figures in the category. Tonya Mokelki and Jaime Strauss, the 2006 MWC Tournament MVP, joined Barnes in double-digits with 16 and 12 kills, respectively. Ashley Fornstrom dished out 59 of CSU's 70 assisted kills, while Strauss had six, as well. Defensively, Katelin Batten dug out 20 Ute attacks. Katherine Whitney (14), Strauss (12) and Ashley Fornstrom (10) joined Batten in double-digit digs. At the net, Barnes topped all Ram blockers with one solo and eight assisted put backs. For the match, CSU had 12 total blocks (two solo and 20 assisted). The Utes had five players nail down 10 or more kills, as Whitney Webb and Airial Salvo tied for the team-lead with 18 apiece. Webb hit a match-high .552 (18-2-29) and collected 14 digs for one of four double-doubles
racked up by herself and her teammates. Joining Webb in the double-double category were Sydney Anderson (60 assists and 12 digs) and Salvo (18 kills and 15 digs).
Anderson's 60 assists were a match-high, as she registered all but nine of the team's helpers. Connie Dangerfield kept alive 24 Ram attacks as she held the match-high in digs. Emillie Toone helped Utah to 19 total blocks, as she put back one solo and assisted on 10 others. Salvo was instrumental at the net, as well, as she had one solo and eight assisted blocks. The difference in the match was the offensive hitting as Utah hit for .320 in game one and .545 in game two. The Utes offense trailed off as CSU's defense notched wins in games three and four. Utah only hit .106 and .091 in those two stanzas. The fifth and final game was a bit of an anomaly as Utah out hit CSU .364 to .316, but dropped the game. 2006 MWC Volleyball Championship All-Tournament Team
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