Baird becomes 10th Ute to pass 1,000 career kills.
Sept. 18, 2008
FORT COLLINS, Colo.-Lori Baird slammed down the 1,000th kill of her career but the University of Utah volleyball team lost 3-2 (20-25, 22-25, 25-13, 28-26, 12-15) in its Mountain West Conference opener against No. 15 Colorado State Thursday at Moby Arena.
"I'm proud of the way our team came back," head coach Beth Launiere said. "It's disappointing we couldn't close out but it was a great effort. The MWC is tough. There will be a lot of good, hard five-set matches like tonight [this season]."
Despite battling back to force a fifth set, Utah (7-3, 0-1 MWC) fell to 0-3 against nationally-ranked opponents this season and is now 0-3 after losing the first set of a match.
In the first set, the Utes had eight kills on 35 attack attempts with eight errors and hit .000 while the Rams hit .216 with 13 kills on 37 attempts and only five attack errors. The Utes came back to outhit the Rams .565-.000 in the third set, but Rams held a .220-.190 advantage in hitting for the match.
Utah did carry a 12-7 edge in service errors for the match, with CSU committing six service errors within the first set of the match.
Kathryn Haynie tied Baird for the team high with 15 kills and also chipped in six digs. Middle blocker Emillie Toone finished third on the team with 13 kills and seven blocks. Outside hitter Cinthia Silva had 11 kills to go with nine digs and two blocks.
Baird joined the 1,000-kill club during the fourth set to reduce the Rams' advantage to 4-3 and came through with a team-high-tying total of 15 for the match, along with six digs and a match-high 10 blocks. Baird, a Murray, Utah native, is the 10th member of the exclusive club and now has 1,004 career kills.
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"For someone who has played middle blocker their whole career and doesn't always get as many sets it is great," Launiere said. "It is a great milestone that's not easy to reach."
In the first set, the Utes had eight kills on 35 attack attempts with eight errors in the first set, and hit .000 while the Rams hit .216 with 13 kills on 37 attempts and only five attack errors. The Utes came back to outhit the Rams .565-.000 in the third set, but the Rams held a .220-.190 advantage in hitting for the match. With the score tied at 16, a Ute service error started the Rams' 4-0 run that gave them a 20-16 edge they would hold onto for a 25-20 win.
Utah faced a 7-2 deficit in the second set when Utah head coach Beth Launiere called timeout then Toone got a kill and service ace to cut the deficit to 7-4. From there, the Utes battled back to take a 15-14 lead and were eventually ahead 18-16 after another Toone service ace. The Rams responded to tie the set at 22 points apiece then scored the last three points to clinch the second-set victory.
The Utes ran out to a 12-7 advantage at the start of the third set and continually extended their lead throughout the set. Utah's biggest lead of the third set, 12 points, was achieved with the final margin, 25-13. Three different Utes had three kills, Baird, Silva, and Toone. Both Silva and Toone had perfect sets, connecting on all three of their attack attempts.
Utah fell behind 16-8 in the fourth set but reduced the lead to 16-10 before fighting back to tie the set at 24 points apiece. The teams traded points until the score was tied at 26, then a kill by Haynie and a CSU attack error sealed the set for Utah, 28-26. Haynie and Silva both registered five kills apiece and Keisha Fisher came up with 11 digs in the fourth set alone.
Colorado State (9-1, 1-0 MWC) was led by 12 kills from Jamie Strauss as well as 11 kills from Mekela Barnes. Fornstrom set up the Utes with 38 assists, while Davisson had a team-high 11 digs.
"Colorado State is a great team and this is a tough place to play," Launiere said. "It was a good, hard match and I'm proud of my team, but we've got to put this match behind us. It's done and we need a win at Wyoming."
Fisher dug out a career-high 33 CSU attack attempts in the back row, while Stephanie Shardlow set the Utes up with 47 assists.
"This is the best defense [Fisher] has put together all season," Launiere said. "She played hard and was everywhere."
The Utes travel to Laramie, Wyo., Saturday for a 7 p.m., match against the Cowgirls.
