Colorado State University Athletics
Volleyball Releases 2020 Schedule
6/26/2020 12:00:00 PM | Volleyball
The Rams will host 13 matches in Moby Arena.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Tom Hilbert has always preferred an ambitious schedule and the 2020 slate released Friday for his Colorado State volleyball team gets directly to the point.
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The Rams will open the season at Moby Arena by hosting traditional power Southern California on Aug. 28, followed by a match the next evening with Ole Miss (both at 7 p.m.) To drive the point further, the Rams will spend the next weekend in Waco, Texas at a tournament hosted by 2019 NCAA Tournament Final Four participant Baylor, with matches against Pepperdine and North Texas to follow.
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"It's an ambitious schedule. It's going to be educational for us as a program," Hilbert said. "Our players will approach this the right way. We have a good group, a smart group."
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CSU will have seven matches this year against six Power 5 teams, playing Colorado in a home-and-home matchup, Sept. 18-19, for the Golden Spike trophy created last season for the series between the in-state rivals. The first match will be played at Moby Arena. The weekend prior, a home tournament will bring in Oregon State and Boston College.
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The Rams will still feature 13 homes matches, with USC and Baylor the two 2019 NCAA Tournament qualifiers featured.
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The Rams open Mountain West play on the road with matches against New Mexico and San Diego State, then return home for the conference home opener against Boise State, followed by a visit from Utah State homecoming weekend.
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The conference altered scheduling this year to try to cut down on costs and travel, creating back-to-back matchups between six teams on each schedule. The first four matches for CSU are the four solo meetings in the model, with double dips against Fresno State, UNLV and Air Force at home; San Jose State, Wyoming and Nevada on the road.
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Most are Friday/Saturday meetings, with CSU's lone outlier being UNLV (Thursday/Saturday). While Hilbert said people could find flaws in any scheduling suggestion proposed by the league, this format will particularly test teams and create some interesting results.
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"There were a bunch of different models kicked around. This model can be good," he said. "It did save us some money, but there are some things about it I don't like. I don't like the fact we play Wyoming at Wyoming twice; I wish they could have split that up. But if you look at the number of home matches everybody gets, you have to do it.
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"This really tests your ability to prepare and adjust. You're going to see a lot of split throughout the entire league. I guarantee it."
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Colorado State will play one other non-conference match against Northern Colorado in Greeley on Sept. 1. The Rams, who have won three successive conference titles and 10 in the past 11 seasons, were 29-2 overall in 2019 as they qualified for the NCAA Tournament for a 25th consecutive season. They head into this campaign with an altered roster after the graduation of three-time player of the year Katie Oleksak, a pair of all-conference middle hitters and a fourth starter. Returning to head the defense of their titles is All-Mountain West outside hitter Breana Runnels, who is already the program's career kills leader in the modern-scoring era with 1,238.
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"We still get 13 homes matches, which is good, and I think a lot of teams had to give us some home matches," Hilbert said. "We're playing good people. We have a very young team, and they're going to be thrown to the wolves early."
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Season-ticket renewals are still taking place through the school website. Colorado State is transitioning to mobile ticketing this season, with complete details about the program here.
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The Rams will open the season at Moby Arena by hosting traditional power Southern California on Aug. 28, followed by a match the next evening with Ole Miss (both at 7 p.m.) To drive the point further, the Rams will spend the next weekend in Waco, Texas at a tournament hosted by 2019 NCAA Tournament Final Four participant Baylor, with matches against Pepperdine and North Texas to follow.
Â
"It's an ambitious schedule. It's going to be educational for us as a program," Hilbert said. "Our players will approach this the right way. We have a good group, a smart group."
Â
CSU will have seven matches this year against six Power 5 teams, playing Colorado in a home-and-home matchup, Sept. 18-19, for the Golden Spike trophy created last season for the series between the in-state rivals. The first match will be played at Moby Arena. The weekend prior, a home tournament will bring in Oregon State and Boston College.
Â
The Rams will still feature 13 homes matches, with USC and Baylor the two 2019 NCAA Tournament qualifiers featured.
Â
The Rams open Mountain West play on the road with matches against New Mexico and San Diego State, then return home for the conference home opener against Boise State, followed by a visit from Utah State homecoming weekend.
Â
The conference altered scheduling this year to try to cut down on costs and travel, creating back-to-back matchups between six teams on each schedule. The first four matches for CSU are the four solo meetings in the model, with double dips against Fresno State, UNLV and Air Force at home; San Jose State, Wyoming and Nevada on the road.
Â
Most are Friday/Saturday meetings, with CSU's lone outlier being UNLV (Thursday/Saturday). While Hilbert said people could find flaws in any scheduling suggestion proposed by the league, this format will particularly test teams and create some interesting results.
Â
"There were a bunch of different models kicked around. This model can be good," he said. "It did save us some money, but there are some things about it I don't like. I don't like the fact we play Wyoming at Wyoming twice; I wish they could have split that up. But if you look at the number of home matches everybody gets, you have to do it.
Â
"This really tests your ability to prepare and adjust. You're going to see a lot of split throughout the entire league. I guarantee it."
Â
Colorado State will play one other non-conference match against Northern Colorado in Greeley on Sept. 1. The Rams, who have won three successive conference titles and 10 in the past 11 seasons, were 29-2 overall in 2019 as they qualified for the NCAA Tournament for a 25th consecutive season. They head into this campaign with an altered roster after the graduation of three-time player of the year Katie Oleksak, a pair of all-conference middle hitters and a fourth starter. Returning to head the defense of their titles is All-Mountain West outside hitter Breana Runnels, who is already the program's career kills leader in the modern-scoring era with 1,238.
Â
"We still get 13 homes matches, which is good, and I think a lot of teams had to give us some home matches," Hilbert said. "We're playing good people. We have a very young team, and they're going to be thrown to the wolves early."
Â
Season-ticket renewals are still taking place through the school website. Colorado State is transitioning to mobile ticketing this season, with complete details about the program here.
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