Fort Collins – If No. 3 Washington makes good on its mission, Colorado State might take comfort in knowing it was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by the national champion.
The Huskies certainly looked the part in a 30-21, 30-25, 30-18 second-round victory over the Rams before 1,842 Saturday night at Moby Arena.
“That team has a chance to go all the way because of their balance and efficiency,” Rams coach Tom Hilbert said.
Washington (28-1) has five starters and defensive specialist Candace Lee from the 2004 Final Four squad that lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Stanford.
“After that we got back in the gym and said, ‘It’s not going to happen again.’ So every time we get in the gym we say we’re going to play like it’s our last game,” said Sanja Tomasevic, who put away 15 kills and dug out 10 balls to help the Huskies advance to the Sweet 16 against Purdue.
With CSU leading 24-22 in the second game, Huskies’ left-side hitter Christal Morrison made three of her 19 kills and one of her four blocks amid an 8-1 run.
“When you’re going through it, you figure they’re pretty good and then you look at the stat sheet and see how low their errors were,” Hilbert said. “They are well-balanced, and we didn’t block enough to disrupt them or serve hard enough.”
CSU (21-9) reeled off a 4-0 run in the first game to take a 10-7 lead, but Washington rallied for a 16-14 lead.
Rams senior Dre Downs, who dominated a first-round 3-1 victory Friday over Colorado with 29 kills and a .532 hitting percentage, was limited to eight kills and a .160 percentage against the Huskies.
“She had 16 kills in one game,” said Washington coach Jim McLaughlin, who scouted the CU-CSU match. “For a middle hitter to be set that much is unbelievable; I’ve never seen it before. We were going to put people in front of her tonight.”
The Huskies put two and some times three blockers opposite Downs, and if her hit split the block or got around it, Washington often dug it out.
For CSU senior starters Downs, Tess Rogers (11 kills) and Casey Bauer (five kills), it was a bittersweet ending.
“The community is so great in Fort Collins to come out and support us like they do,” Downs said. “And I have the greatest teammates in the country.”
