No. 23 Rams Set to Rematch Michigan in First Round of NCAA Tournament

NO. 23 COLORADO STATE BEGINS NCAA TOURNAMENT WITH REMATCH VERSUS MICHIGAN

The Colorado State Rams will appear in their 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament with a rematch against Michigan in Stanford, Calif., on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. MT. The Rams swept the Wolverines earlier this season in Moby Arena when Michigan was ranked No. 16 in the nation.

The winner of the Rams-Wolverines match will face the winner of the No. 3 Stanford and CSU Bakersfield in the second round of the regional on Saturday night. Stanford is the host of the region, with all matches being held at Maples Pavilion.

The Rams earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament following a 28-3 overall record and 17-1 conference mark on its way to its 14th Mountain West Championship. CSU finished in the RPI ranking at No. 32 and No. 23 in the AVCA Poll. CSU was one of three teams in the Mountain West to finish in the top-100 of the RPI.

A program and Mountain West record six Rams received All-Mountain West honors on Monday – Katie Oleksak (Player of the Year), Breana Runnels (Newcomer of the Year), Jasmine Hanna, Paulina Hougaard-Jensen, Kirstie Hillyer and Sanja Cizmic (HM). Head Coach Tom Hilbert also was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year for the 10th time.

The Rams have nine players with NCAA Tournament experience. Three of those players (Jasmine Hanna, Sanja Cizmic and Alexandra Poletto) played in the 2014 season, when CSU reached the regional semifinals following wins at Moby Arena against Denver and Colorado. The three have the most experience of the group, each playing five career NCAA Tournament matches.

Hilbert is in his 21st season at CSU, having taken the Rams to the NCAA Tournament every year of his tenure. He is accompanied by assistant coach Luke Murray (fourth year) and second-year assistant coach Emily Hiza Kohan.

ABOUT COLORADO STATE
• No. 23 Colorado State enters its 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament after winning the Mountain West for the 14th time and eighth in the last nine seasons.
• The Rams hold the best record in the nation in three-set matches with a 21-0 mark.
• Colorado State dropped just eight sets during its Mountain West schedule - second lowest since 2003.
• Katie Oleksak led the conference with an 11.79 assist average, which also is No. 7 in the nation.
• Paulina Hougaard-Jensen is ranked No. 2 in DI in hitting percentage with a .470 tally, while Kirstie Hillyer is No. 39 with a .376 mark. Both are ranked in blocks per set with MW leader Hillyer at No. 14 (1.47) and Hougaard-Jensen No. 62 (1.21).
• The Rams rank fourth in the nation in hitting percentage with a .319 tick, 14th in blocks per set with a 2.89 mark and 29th in kills per set with a 14.10 average.
• Colorado State finished the Mountain West leading in nine categories and has leaders in assists (Oleksak), hitting percentage (Hougaard-Jensen) and service aces (0.42).
• The Rams also have three players ranked in the Mountain West Conference in hitting percentage, leader Paulina Hougaard-Jensen (.500), No. 3 Kirstie Hillyer (.357) and
No. 8 Jasmine Hanna (.300).

ABOUT MICHIGAN
• Michigan received an at-large bid and is one of eight Big Ten schools to qualify for the Tournament.
• The Wolverines are making their 11th NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years and their 17th overall.
• Michigan ended the regular season on a five-match win streak, including three straight wins over top-25 opponents for the first time in program history.
• The Maize and Blue is led by Carly Skjodt who is a six-rotation player that leads Michigan with 3.65 kills per set and has recorded 23 double-digit kill matches. She also ranks second on the team with 2.26 digs per set and has posted seven double-doubles this season.
• Michigan and CSU faced each other earlier this season, with the Rams sweeping the then-No. 16 Wolverines.
• The sweep was the second time in the 2017 season that CSU upset a top-25 opponent.
• The Rams had three players reach double-digit kills, led by Sanja Cizmic who finished with 13 and hit at a .550 clip. She was later named Mountain West Offensive Player of the week and National Player of the Week for her performance.

ABOUT CSU BAKERSFIELD
• CSU Bakersfield enters the NCAA Tournament after winning the WAC Tournament and earning an automatic bid.
• The Roadrunners are making just their second appearance in program history after making their first in 2014.
• CSUB will face Stanford again in the postseason after getting swept by the Cardinal in its debut in 2014.
• The 'Runners have five players average two or more kills per set, including leader Haylle Roberts who averages 2.48.
• The Roadrunners had a pair of players, Fabiana Andrade and Sydney Haynes earn WAC All-Tournament team. Aleksandra Djordjevic was named the tournament MVP.
• Haylee Roberts leads the 'Runners with a .279 hitting percentage, while Sydney Haynes follows with a .273 mark.
• CSU Bakersfield sometimes utilizes two setters, with Fabiana Andrade leading the team with 6.21 assists per set. Sidney Wicks has tallied 5.00 assists per set in 112 sets.
• At the net, Haylee Roberts finished ninth in the WAC and leads the squad with 0.94 blocks per set.

ABOUT STANFORD
• Stanford is making its 37th-striaght NCAA Tournament appearance and is one of just two teams to have made it to all 37 tournaments.
• The Cardinal will be seeking an NCAA record eighth national title after it claimed its 17th Pac-12 title on its way to earning the No. 3 seed of the tournament.
• Nine Pac-12 schools earned bids to the NCAA Tournament, the most in the nation.
• Kathryn Plummer was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year, Jenna Gray earned Setter of the Year and Morgan Hentz was selected the Libero of the Year.
• Kathryne Plummer leads the Pac-12 with 4.70 kills per set, while carrying a .313 hitting percentage.
• On defense, Morgan Hentz averages 4.03 digs per set in 101 sets.
• Stanford has two players that average over one block per set. Audriana Fitzmorris averages 1.46 blocks per set, while Tami Alade puts up 1.43 per set.

23 YEARS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• For the 23rd-straight season, the Colorado State volleyball team will be playing in the postseason.
• The Rams have earned 29 NCAA tournament berths, including every year since 1995.
• Just 10 schools have been to more NCAA tournament than the Rams, and their streak of 20-consecutive appearances is the seventh-longest active streak in the country.

SUCCESS IN THE TOURNAMENT
• Not only do the Rams make it a habit of playing in the postseason, but they also win when they get there.
- 29 overall NCAA tournament appearances.
- 23-consecutive berths.
- 18-10 record in the first round, including winning five straight from 2007-11.
- 13-7 record in the first round under Head Coach Tom Hilbert.
- 10 trips to the Sweet 16, most recently in 2014.
- 24-28 all-time record in the NCAA tournament.

A WIN FRIDAY WOULD...
• Advance CSU to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. The Rams are 13-7 in first-round matches under Hilbert, but have lost in the opening round each of the past two years. CSU has never lost three-straight tournament matches.
• CSU would then face the winner of Friday's match between Stanford and CSU Bakersfield. The Rams' second-round match would take place Saturday at 7 p.m. MT. CSU has never played CSU Bakersfield and has played Stanford 11 times, including five in the NCAA tournament.
• Improve the Rams' NCAA tournament record to a 25-28 all-time, including 23-20 under Hilbert.
• Improve to 2-2 all-time against Michigan, including defeating the Wolverine twice in a season.
• Improve coach Hilbert's Big Ten record to 10-13 overall.
• Be CSU's 29th win of the season, just the fifth time ever - and most since 31 in 2014.

A WIN SATURDAY WOULD...
• Advance CSU to the Regional Semifinal for the 12th time in program history, and the first since 2014. CSU's Sweet 16 matchup would be announced later since Stanford is the regional host.
• Be CSU's 30th win of the season, tied for third most in program history - most since 2014. The 2000 team won a program-record 32 matches.
• Improve the Rams' NCAA tournament record to 25-28 all-time, including 24-20 under Hilbert.
• [If Stanford wins] Be the first win against the Cardinal in 12 matches, including six in postseason. CSU played Stanford in the NCAA tournament in 2010, 1996, 1987, 1985 and 1984.
• [If Stanford wins] Be CSU's third win over a ranked opponent this season, the most since 2014, and be the highest-ranked team upset since 2012 when the Rams upset No. 2 UCLA in Fort Collins.
• [If Stanford wins] Improve coach Hilbert's Pac-12 record to 50-30.
• [If CSU Bakersfield wins] Be the first win over the Roadrunners in program history.

RAMS RACK UP ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
• Colorado State set a program and Mountain West season record, with six selections to the post-season awards.
• For the eighth time in nine seasons, a CSU student-athlete was named the Mountain West Women's Volleyball Player of the Year. Katie Oleksak earned her second conference superlative in as many seasons after being named the MW Player of the Year.
• Joining her was Breana Runnels who was named Newcomer of the Year.
• Head Coach Tom Hilbert earned his 10th Mountain West Coach of the Year award - his 15th conference Coach of the Year award of his career.
• Joining Oleksak and Runnels on the All-Conference list are Kirstie Hillyer, Paulina Hougaard-Jensen, Jasmine Hanna and Sanja Cizmic (HM).
• The six selections are the most in a season for Colorado State since joining the league when it formed in 1999.

20 WINS ONCE AGAIN
• A comeback victory at New Mexico on Oct. 21 gave the Rams their 20th win of the season.
• CSU has reached that figure each of the past 23 season since 1995.
• Nebraska (43), Penn State (41), Florida, (27) and Hawaii (24) are the only teams to have longer streaks than CSU.
• In 21 seasons under Head Coach Tom Hilbert, CSU has averaged 25.57 wins per season.

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