Colorado State imposes its will in three-set sweep

Error-plagued Lobos drop 12th straight to MWC’s dominant program

Colorado State University’s volleyball team hardly needs any charitable donations.

Nonetheless, host New Mexico provided numerous early gifts Thursday night at Johnson Center and the Mountain West’s resident 800-pound gorilla took full advantage. CSU rolled to a 12-2 lead in the opening set and never looked back in a three-set sweep. The set scores were 25-16, 25-16 and 25-15.

Colorado State (15-6, 7-2) needed just an hour and 14 minutes to defeat UNM (11-10, 5-4) for the 12th straight time dating back to 2011. The Rams, who have won eight of the last nine Mountain West titles and 14 since 2000, appeared to be gearing up for another championship run, dominating the net against the shorthanded Lobos.

CSU’s Breana Runnels was largely unstoppable Thursday, racking up a match-high 18 kills in three sets. Runnels’ rocket-right arm kept UNM’s defense scrambling all night.

“CSU played really well, but Runnels was the difference,” Lobo coach Jeff Nelson said. “The other kids do a good job but your defense is so focused on Runnels it opens things up for everyone else.”

UNM was without 6-foot-3 right-side hitter Carly Beddingfield, who suffered a severe ankle sprain Saturday at Fresno State. It was a signficant loss against a tall,

athletic CSU front line anchored by 6-6 middle Kirstie Hillyer, who finished with nine kills and seven total blocks.

But Colorado State was the aggressor from the very beginning as a slew of early UNM errors set the tone. The Lobos committed five hitting errors, were called for double contact on a set and had two more attacks stuffed at the net as the Rams grabbed a 12-2 lead in the opening set.

“We changed our system up to make up for Carly being out,” Nelson said. “It looked great in practice but obviously not tonight. We just weren’t ready and that’s my responsibility.”

The Rams used big scoring runs to take control of the final two sets as well. Six straight points gave the visitors a 13-7 lead in set two, and CSU raced to a 14-3 lead in set three and coasted to the finish.

UNM’s offense struggled as starting outside hitter Lauren Twitty and starting middle Victoria Spragg finished with more combined errors (13) than kills (10). Right sides Mariessa Carrasco and Danica Rowan were the only hitters with attack percentages above .050 for UNM, but Carrasco and Rowan had just four kills apiece.

“You can’t think you’re going to have 24 hitting errors and have a chance to win,” Nelson said. “Not against a team like that.”