Colorado State University Athletics
Volleyball Releases Spring 2021 Schedule
1/5/2021 12:00:00 PM | Volleyball
Tom Hilbert sees intrigue and challenges.
Most of all, he sees a volleyball schedule – set and finalized – which makes him happy.
The Mountain West announced the 2021 spring season schedule, a 16-game conference-only slate with teams playing back-to-back at one site. Most of the paired matches are on successive nights, with the final four contests of the season the one-time-affairs for the Rams.
"The big question is: Is it fair? And we're not getting fair this year. Nobody is," Hilbert said. "We have 16 matches, you need to play 10 in order to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, so that's a big thing. We can't have more than six matches get canceled.
"We're still working through tiebreakers and that kind of stuff, but my deal is, they put a schedule in front of us. Let's be grateful and let's go play it."
Colorado State opens up at Moby Arena with a pair against in-state rival Air Force on Feb. 5-6. Other home matches are: UNLV (Feb. 18 and 20), Fresno State (March 19-20), Boise State (March 25) and Utah State (March 27).
There was going to be a Mountain West tournament this year, but the worldwide pandemic shelved the return of that event for the season. The NCAA Tournament is slated to run from April 9-25.
The Rams are coming off a 29-2 campaign which carried the team into the NCAA field for the 25th consecutive season. Hilbert, entering his 24th season at CSU, has led the program to 16 Mountain West regular-season titles in the 21 years of the conference's existence.
The back-to-back matches take Hilbert back to the early days of the Mountain West, though in those days, they'd play different teams. Still, the schedule will require stamina and an ability to adjust from night to night.
He says two teams standout in terms of returning talent, and that's UNLV and San Diego State. The Rams get the Rebels twice at Moby Arena, but play the Aztecs just once, and that closes out the schedule April 3.
"It adds intrigue for the coaches; I'm not sure about the fans, but it certainly does for the coaches," he said. "I see it as kind of fun. I think the second match of a doubleheader is always a better match. The coaches generally have a better idea of what they're getting into, the players get a little more comfortable – the initial emotion or shock or whatever is worn off. It really adds more parity to the competition."
Colorado State is retooling after last year's run to the Mountain West title, having lost a trio of All-Mountain West performers, including three-time player of the year Katie Oleksak, the setter. The Rams return four players who appeared in at least 100 sets a season ago, led by one of the most potent outside hitters in program history, Breana Runnels. Runnels led the conference with 417 kills as a junior, earning her All-MW honors a season ago. She is the school record holder for career kills in the modern scoring era (since 2008) with 1,238 (she needs 94 to crack the career top 10 regardless of era), and the single-season record holder with 454 kills her sophomore season. The other three are all backrow players -- libero Alexa Roumeliotis and defensive specialists Brooke Hudson and Alyssa Bert.
#PointRams
Most of all, he sees a volleyball schedule – set and finalized – which makes him happy.
The Mountain West announced the 2021 spring season schedule, a 16-game conference-only slate with teams playing back-to-back at one site. Most of the paired matches are on successive nights, with the final four contests of the season the one-time-affairs for the Rams.
"The big question is: Is it fair? And we're not getting fair this year. Nobody is," Hilbert said. "We have 16 matches, you need to play 10 in order to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, so that's a big thing. We can't have more than six matches get canceled.
"We're still working through tiebreakers and that kind of stuff, but my deal is, they put a schedule in front of us. Let's be grateful and let's go play it."
Colorado State opens up at Moby Arena with a pair against in-state rival Air Force on Feb. 5-6. Other home matches are: UNLV (Feb. 18 and 20), Fresno State (March 19-20), Boise State (March 25) and Utah State (March 27).
There was going to be a Mountain West tournament this year, but the worldwide pandemic shelved the return of that event for the season. The NCAA Tournament is slated to run from April 9-25.
The Rams are coming off a 29-2 campaign which carried the team into the NCAA field for the 25th consecutive season. Hilbert, entering his 24th season at CSU, has led the program to 16 Mountain West regular-season titles in the 21 years of the conference's existence.
The back-to-back matches take Hilbert back to the early days of the Mountain West, though in those days, they'd play different teams. Still, the schedule will require stamina and an ability to adjust from night to night.
He says two teams standout in terms of returning talent, and that's UNLV and San Diego State. The Rams get the Rebels twice at Moby Arena, but play the Aztecs just once, and that closes out the schedule April 3.
"It adds intrigue for the coaches; I'm not sure about the fans, but it certainly does for the coaches," he said. "I see it as kind of fun. I think the second match of a doubleheader is always a better match. The coaches generally have a better idea of what they're getting into, the players get a little more comfortable – the initial emotion or shock or whatever is worn off. It really adds more parity to the competition."
Colorado State is retooling after last year's run to the Mountain West title, having lost a trio of All-Mountain West performers, including three-time player of the year Katie Oleksak, the setter. The Rams return four players who appeared in at least 100 sets a season ago, led by one of the most potent outside hitters in program history, Breana Runnels. Runnels led the conference with 417 kills as a junior, earning her All-MW honors a season ago. She is the school record holder for career kills in the modern scoring era (since 2008) with 1,238 (she needs 94 to crack the career top 10 regardless of era), and the single-season record holder with 454 kills her sophomore season. The other three are all backrow players -- libero Alexa Roumeliotis and defensive specialists Brooke Hudson and Alyssa Bert.
#PointRams
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