ThunderWolves fall in five games to Mesa State

PUEBLO, Colo. - Saturday night's volleyball match between CSU-Pueblo and Mesa State served as a microcosm for the ThunderWolves' 2007 season, showing a team that was capable of beating anyone in one game, while looking beyond ordinary in others. The result was a little more of sub-ordinary than the great as the Pack squandered a two games to one lead fall away in five-game loss.

The ThunderWolves were playing one of their most fundamentally sound games of the season, showing absolute control in its first two wins, a pair of 30-26 wins in games one and three.

But the potentially clinching fourth game is what doomed the ThunderWolves' chances and attacked their confidence. The Pack was getting walloped 24-9 before going on a 9-6 run that left the fourth game as a little more respectable 30-18 loss, but the damage was done and momentum was squarely in Mesa State's hands.

In the fifth game, Mesa State managed to stay consistently two points ahead of the ThunderWolves before going on a 6-3 run that clinched the deciding game 15-10.

"It was a tale of two teams," Pack coach Chris Jonson said. "If we could get that good team to be more prominent, the future looks bright."

Statistically, the ThunderWolves nearly stole a game they had no business winning. Mesa State's attack was brutalizing the Pack's front line, outkilling them 85-56. But it was errors that allowed the Pack to hold strong, committing only 20 attack errors to Mesa State's 35. But on the service side of things, the Pack committed 14 errors to Mesa State's six, six of which came at pivotal moments in the fourth and fifth games, and played a big part in the loss.

"Our problem tonight wasn't on a large amount of errors, it was about our footwork and positioning," Jonson said. "Sometimes, we hang back there waiting for things to happen when we should be going out there and making things happen."

The loss drops the ThunderWolves to 6-19 overall and hands the Pack their seventh straight loss. Despite that, Jonson said that the fire is still there even though there isn't anything tangible to play for.

"Our season's over, but we still played very hard, and it's nice to see that," Jonson said