PROVO?The dream was over. After being beaten in the first two games, the University of Utah volleyball team was facing a wall that should have been too high to climb.
Colorado State had not lost a game all tournament long and looked to continue the tournament sweep as it entered Game 3 of Saturday’s championship matchup with the Utes.
However, the Rams did not count on Utah to come out of the locker room with any resiliency, and that underestimation led to Colorado State’s demise, as Utah won the match 32-34, 19-30, 30-23, 30-27, 15-8 and the Mountain West Conference Championship, leaving Colorado State wondering what exactly had happened.
“We broke so many barriers this weekend, and watching these players do what they did was a huge inspiration to me,” said Ute coach Beth Launiere.
Not many people expected the Utes to even participate in the championship match, as they had to face the BYU Cougars on Friday night.
Utah had not won a volleyball match in Provo since 1985 and were swept the last time they played there earlier this year.
However, as BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said, “I don’t even know about the streak?it doesn’t really matter because this is a different [Utah] team than past years.”
The Utes came out with the first punch and never looked back, stunning BYU on its own court in four games, 30-27, 25-30, 32-30, 30 25.
“We earned this victory, and if you want to say that we are the best team in Utah, you can,” Launiere said.
BYU played well in the first three games, but the wheels completely fell off in Game 4.
In Game 3, BYU was winning 29 28, however, Utah’s Sylva Strzinkov blocked the next two Cougar attacks to take the lead at 30-29.
“The turning point in this game was Game 3, and then we could not score one point, and after that, we did not serve or pass very well,” Michaelis said.
BYU was not finished, though, as All?American senior Nina Puikkonen scored a kill, however, the rest of the team was not playing at her level, and the Utes scored the next two points that took the air out of BYU.
“You want something so bad and when it doesn’t happen, you are devastated,” Puikkonen said.
Utah had near-perfect play out of senior Adrianne Bradley-Drake, as she turned 13 kills and zero errors into a match?high attack percentage of .765.
“Adrianne came through for us and, for awhile, put this team on her back,” Launiere said.
Overcoming the odds of getting to the championship game was just one of the barriers the Utes had to face, and Colorado State looked to be too dominant for the Utes to put a dent in its championship run.
However, the Utes were not intimidated.
“I don’t think anyone can scare us anymore after what we have been through,” Ute sophomore Kim Turner said.
After taking a 30-29 lead, the Utes could not finish the Rams off, and Courtney Cox delivered the final blow of Game 1, as Colorado State won 34-32.
That momentum led to a furious attack by the Rams, as Colorado State dominated the second game 30-19 as both teams headed into the break.
“I just told them to stop pressing and to play fundamental volleyball,” Launiere said.
“Our confidence was shaken, but we still stuck together, and Beth did a great job of motivating us,” Bradley-Drake said.
That led to a huge turnaround, and Colorado State could not find its touch.
Utah was dominant in Game 3 with a 30-23 victory, and its confidence was at an unbelievable level.
“It did not seem that we could ever get a flow and control the tempo of the last three games,” Ram coach Tom Hilbert said.
The most pivotal game in the match was coming up, as whoever won Game 4 would have the momentum to win the match.
The service errors did Colorado State in, as Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Angela Knopf had 4 service errors in Game 4 alone.
“If we just got the serves in play, then I think we could have won the match right there,” Hilbert said.
Although Knopf had set a record with 14 service aces throughout the tournament, her serve might have been the reason that Colorado State lost the match.
“I felt that my serve wasn’t as tough, but I couldn’t let up because they run a 6-2, which gives them so many options on the attack, if they got their passes off, we would lose the point,” Knopf said.
Game 5 was an afterthought, as Utah was just too dominant with 8 straight points leading to a Game 5 thrashing.
“We wanted it more and it showed” senior Alisa Geddes said.
Senior McKelle Stilson had 4 solo blocks in Game 5 and disrupted the Rams’ offense.
“It still hasn’t sunk in, but I do think that this is the proudest moment here at Utah,” Launiere said.
When all was said and done, Turner was named the MVP of the tournament, and Bradley-Drake joined her on the All?Tournament team.
“Our goal was to win a conference championship and we did it,” Launiere said