Colorado State University Athletics
CSU volleyball celebrates seniors, historic season
1/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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- Banquet photo gallery
- Highlight video
- Coach Hilbert's `Deej and the Magic Fruit' story (story begins at 20:18)
The Colorado State volleyball team celebrated another record-breaking season on Thursday, holding its annual banquet, which took place at the Lory Student Center. The event recognized the Rams' three seniors, as well as the 31-3 team which won a sixth-consecutive Mountain West championship and advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinals.
Following a social hour and dinner, the program began with a live auction - which featured a signed and mounted jersey for each senior, as well as an autographed, game-used volleyball from the Rams' NCAA tournament match vs. Texas.
Next up, was the debut of the season highlight video, which included a round of applause when fans relived the block which sent CSU back to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2009.
Always a highlight of the evening, Head Coach Tom Hilbert told the story of, `Deej and the Magic Fruit', a self-created poem recited to the form of a Dr. Seuss book and about the team's season and superstition for grapes (story begins at 20:18).
The evening concluded with the presentation of team awards and speeches from each senior. Crystal Young earned the BOM Squad Award, which is given to the scout team MVP; Marlee Reynolds earned the Debbie Murphy Most Inspirational Player award; Adrianna Culbert received the Coaches' Award, which goes to the most-improved player; and Deedra Foss was voted on by her teammates as the Team MVP.
Season highlights
- 31 victories: Behind 18 wins in a row, CSU went 31-3 on the year, the second-most victories in program history, and the second-highest winning percentage (.912). Dating back to the start of the 2013 season, CSU has gone 59-5 (.922), the best two-year mark in school history and the second-best winning percentage in the NCAA over the past two seasons.
- Sixth-straight Mountain West title: For the sixth-consecutive season, CSU won the Mountain West, going 17-1 and leading the conference wire to wire. No other program nationally has won its conference championship each of the past six seasons. In the Mountain West's 16-year history, CSU has won 12 regular-season titles. Seniors Deedra Foss, Marlee Reynolds and Kelsey Snider graduated with five conference championship rings, three of just five players in CSU history to accomplish that feat.
- How sweet it is: After building quality wins and a strong RPI, CSU was selected to host NCAA tournament sub-regional matches at Moby Arena. The Rams opened the tournament with a straight-sets victory over Denver before beating then-No. 19 Colorado in a five-set instant classic. The win advanced CSU to the regional semifinal (Round of 16) for the first time since 2009, and the 10th time in program history. CSU has qualified for the NCAA tournament all 18 years under Head Coach Tom Hilbert, and dating back to 1995, has played in the postseason in 20-consecutive seasons. It is the seventh-longest active streak in the nation and the 10th-longest in NCAA women's volleyball history.
- Ranked in the polls: CSU has been ranked in 29-consecutive polls since September 2013, peaking at No. 6 this season - the Rams' highest national ranking since 2004 - and finishing the year at No. 12 - their highest final ranking since 2001. In total, CSU has been ranked in the final poll in six of the past seven seasons, and all-time, CSU has been ranked in 266 total polls, a figure which ranks 14th in the NCAA.
- All-American setter: Senior Deedra Foss was named an AVCA All-American on Dec. 17, becoming the 12th Ram to earn the classification, including the fourth in the past four seasons. In total, CSU has 14 AVCA All-America selections, 18th-most in the NCAA. Foss was one of two setters nationally to rank in the top 10 for both assists and team hitting percentage, and led all Pacific North Region setters with 0.73 blocks per set. Foss concluded her career with 4,833 assists, fifth-most in CSU and Mountain West history, including the highest total since sets were changed from 30 to 25 points.
- Additional postseason hardware: In addition to Foss, junior opposite hitter Adrianna Culbert was named AVCA All-America Honorable Mention for the second-straight season. She was one of five Rams named to the All-Mountain West team, joining seniors Marlee Reynolds and Kelsey Snider, junior Jaime Colaizzi and Foss - the 2014 Mountain West Player of the Year.
- Record-breaking attendance: CSU averaged 3,231 fans per match in 2014, a figure which ranked sixth in the NCAA and was the second-best in program history. For CSU's match vs. Wisconsin on Sept. 6, 7,018 fans were in attendance, setting CSU and Mountain West records. In total, three of the Rams' top-eight single-match crowds came during the 2014 season, also drawing more than 5,000 against Denver (5,399) and Colorado (6,011). The Rams have ranked in the top 25 nationally for attendance every season the NCAA has tracked the figure. The No. 6 ranking is CSU's highest since ranking fourth in 2001.
- Home-court dominance: CSU went 16-1 at Moby Arena in 2014, and since the start of the 2011 season, CSU has gone 56-4, the fifth-best home winning percentage in the nation. Away from home, the Rams were also stellar, going 12-1 in road matches. From Oct. 27, 2012-Oct. 30, 2014, CSU won 28-straight true road matches, a program record and streak which led the nation at the time.
- Top-ranked opponents: The Rams defeated three ranked teams in 2014, the most since 2008. In addition to No. 18 Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., and No. 19 Colorado during the second round of the NCAA tournament, CSU also upset No. 9 BYU on a neutral court in Las Cruces, N.M. It was CSU's first over a top-10 opponent away from Moby Arena since 2006. Overall, five of CSU's opponents finished the season ranked - BYU (No. 3), Wisconsin (4), Texas (5), Colorado (21) and Arizona State (22) - while four others received top-25 votes throughout the season - UC Santa Barbara, Marquette, New Mexico and Wyoming. Two of CSU's three losses were to teams which advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals (Wisconsin) and semifinals (Texas). Additionally, CSU defeated national runner-up BYU. It marked the first time in school history that CSU has beaten a team which advanced to the national championship.
