Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert had high praise for Katherine Whitney on the night the former Boulder High star finished her college career in her hometown.

"Katherine Whitney played a terrific game and she is a great volleyball player," the coach said. "She is one of the better smaller volleyball players in the United States."

Whitney's Rams had a huge task in trying to beat defending national champion Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Coors Events Center on Thursday night. They fell short in a 26-30, 30-26, 30-24, 30-22 loss but took a game from a Washington team that didn't lose a game in last year's NCAA Tournament.

"They are just very steady," Whitney said. "They have a lot of weapons and they can go to anybody on the court to get it done."

Whitney, who was the Daily Camera player of the Year as a senior at Boulder, finished with 11 kills and 17 digs against the Huskies. Her team was in danger of not even making the NCAA Tournament, but they beat then-No. 9 Utah in the Mountain West conference title game.

They continued to play well and rattled the Huskies (26-4) by winning the first game. The Rams (20-10) just couldn't hold them off in the next three games.

"One of the things we talked about was staying composed and trying to be that way for the duration of the game," Whitney said. "I thought we did that in the first game very, very well."