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University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Colorado State
Tar Heels Fall 3-0 At No. 21 Colorado State
September 12, 2008 | Volleyball
Sept. 12, 2008
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The North Carolina volleyball team dropped a 3-0 battle with No. 21 Colorado State (7-1) Friday night in Fort Collins, Co. as the Tar Heels fell 25-23 in the first and second set before dropping the final set by a 25-14 margin. Colorado native, Lauren Prussing, led the Tar Heels in kills with seven on the night as she and the Tar Heels will not have much time to reflect on the loss as they are set to take on Colorado (6-2) Saturday night in Boulder, Colo.
The Tar Heels took the crowd of 2,653 out of the opening set early as they jumped out to a 6-1 lead over the Rams. Colorado State's All-America candidate Mekana Barnes cut into the Tar Heel lead with a kill after the opening timeout helping to pull the Rams within two at 7-5. Junior Christine Vaughen helped give the Tar Heels a 10-7 lead with a kill of her own before a series of miscues by Carolina evened the score at 12-12 in the opening set. The teams would trade the next six points before head coach Joe Sagula burned his first timeout of the set. Colorado State would score five of the next seven points to take the lead and Carolina was forced into its final timeout.
Carolina would answer with a 3-1 run of its own to pull within a point at 21-20 before Colorado State called its final timeout. A pair of blocking errors on the Tar Heels in addition to another kill from Barnes put the Rams a point away from the win. Suzanne Haydel would answer with a kill to pull within two. A Ram attack error pushed the score to 24-23 but Barnes stepped up once again delivering the set-winning kill to help CSU to the 25-23 win. Carolina hit .227 in the opening frame, while CSU answered with a .353 mark.
The raucous Moby Hall crowd really got into the match in the second set when Colorado State made an unbelievable scrambling play to take the point and a 10-8 lead in the early going. Four points later with the score at 10-12, Carolina would call a timeout to settle things down. Colorado native, Lauren Prussing, would slam down a kill out of the timeout to put the score at 12-11 in favor of the Rams. An impressive 5-2 run by the Tar Heels helped them to a 16-14 and Colorado State to a timeout.
A 6-3 run in the favor of CSU would give the Rams the lead forcing Carolina to call its final timeout at 20-19. A service error by the Rams would even the score at 20-20 before another error by CSU made the score 23-22 in its favor before the Rams called their final timeout. A big kill by Prussing made the score 24-23 in favor of the Rams but Barnes would step up once again to give CSU the 2-0 set lead with another 25-23 victory.
The Tar Heels would come out of the locker room flat after the 10-minute break as they fell behind quickly by a 9-3 margin. Carolina would fight back with a 6-3 run to make the score 12-9, but a 7-2 run by the Rams would force Carolina into its final timeout with the score at 19-11. The Rams would cap off the match at 25-14 as they held the Tar Heels in check in the third and final set. Carolina hit a match-low -.038 in the final set, while CSU hit a match-high .360
Carolina falls to 3-4 on the year and will look to get back to the .500 mark tomorrow when they take on Colorado in Boulder, Colo. to close out their two-match non-conference trip.
