Rams Return Home, Host Lobos for Pink Out

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State returns to Moby Arena after spending the last week on the road picking up two wins to move tied for first in the Mountain West. The Rams will continue conference action hosting New Mexico, which is tied for first in the league standings. The Thursday match will serve at 7 p.m., and will be a Pink Out. CSU will finish the week on Saturday, facing Air Force at 1 p.m., in Moby Arena.

Rams at a Glance
» Colorado State recorded its first Mountain West road wins last week with a pair of victories against Nevada and San Jose State and are now 3-4 while playing away from Moby Arena
» The Rams started Mountain West play three weeks ago and hold a 5-1 mark, which sits tied for first the league standings with defending champs UNLV and New Mexico, who was tabbed to finish 10th in the preseason coaches' poll.
» CSU has cruised passed four of their six conference opponents, including recording three sweeps to start the Mountain West schedule. The Rams are a perfect 3-0 while in Moby Arena playing league opponents with all three being sweeps.
» The Rams have played three five-set matches this season, with each coming down to the final two points.
» Colorado State has gathered two Mountain West weekly awards so far this season -- sophomore outside Kennedy Stanford earned Offensive Player of the Week and senior libero Alexa Roumeliotis earned Defensive Player of the Week.
» In the Rams 15 matches played this season, 19 sets have been decided by two points – with 10 falling in favor of CSU. In Mountain West action, the Rams are 4-1.

Scouting New Mexico
» New Mexico has been a surprise for most so far this season, after being picked to finish 10th out of the 11-team Mountain West, the Lobos are tied for first heading to the half-way mark of the league slate.
» The Lobos had a weak pre-season schedule, recording a 9-2 mark in their non-conference, but sitting at 120 in this week's RPI. More notes on RPI below.
» New Mexico started the season with six-straight sweeps and have since totaled nine for the season, including a pair while at home against Fresno State and Air Force to start the Mountain West schedule.
» The Lobos picked up a pair of wins last week at home against Utah State in five sets and Boise State, which was the first home win against the Broncos since 2014.
» New Mexico has done well keeping opponent hitting marks low as it leads the Mountain West overall in opponent hitting percentage with a .136 mark, but while playing in league matches, Colorado State paces the conference with a .169 tick with the Lobos third at .180.
» Alena Moldan was named the Defense Player of the Week in the Mountain West - her second weekly award of the season - as she is second overall in the league with a 4.56 average.

Scouting Air Force
» Air Force comes into the week with a 4-12 overall mark and 1-5 in the Mountain West. The Falcons will face Wyoming on Thursday before heading to Fort Collins.
» AF will look to snap a four-match skid on Thursday against the Cowgirls as the Falcons haven't seen the win column since the opening week of the Mountain West with a victory against Fresno State.
» Air Force had a tough go at its non-conference slate, posting a 3-7 record coming into league play.
» The Falcons finished their pre-season with three consecutive wins, including a five-set win against Iowa.

Series History
» Colorado State and New Mexico have one of the longest standing series, as the Rams and Lobos will meet for the 83rd time on Thursday night.
» The Rams hold a 58-24 advantage in the series that dates back to 1974.
» CSU is 30-9 all time while in Moby Arena, including 9-1 in the last 10 matches.
» Colorado State's last loss to New Mexico in Moby Arena was in 2018, which snapped a 24-match home win streak in the series, a 45-match Mountain West home win streak that dated back to the 2013 season AND a 12-match streak in the series history.
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» Colorado State handles the series against Air Force, holding a 53-2 overall record.
» The Rams suffered a loss to Air Force last season in Moby Arena, which snapped a 53-match winning streak and a sweep that was the first in a conference match since 2010.
» The loss was in the opening week of the 2020 season, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the two split the series.
» Before the loss, the Rams had swept the Falcons 49 times and had only played one five-set match.

Coaches
» Tom Hilbert: 25th year at Colorado State (608-148); 33rd year overall (782-220).
» Prior to coming to Colorado State, Hilbert was the head coach at Idaho from 1989-96 and accumulated a 174-72 record, which remains the best winning percentage by a coach in Idaho history. While in Moscow, he helped the Vandals win the regular season or tournament every year from 1992-95.
» Jon Newman-Gonchar: Third year at New Mexico (29-32); third year overall.
» Keith Barnett: Third year at Air Force (19-40); third year overall.

Up Next
» Colorado State will have a 'weird' week, having to travel to San Diego State for Thursday night match before coming back home to host defending Mountain West champs UNLV on Saturday for State Pride.

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