Rams Set to Host NIVC

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – For the first time, Colorado State will participate in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), while also playing host to Tulsa, UTEP and Houston Baptist for the first two rounds. The Rams will face Houston Baptist on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m., MT in Moby Arena. The winner of the first round matches will play on Friday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m., MT.

Rams at a Glance
» Colorado State finished Mountain West action last week at the Mountain West Tournament, dropping a five-set match to host UNLV on Thanksgiving Day.
» The Rams suffered its fourth loss against a Mountain West opponent - all on the road.
» CSU finished the Mountain West regular season with a win at Boise State to clinch it's 17th regular-season title and shared the title with Utah State, since both teams finished the season with the same records.
» Colorado State swept 11 of its 18 conference opponents, including posting a sweep in all nine conference matches at Moby Arena and holding a 45-16 set mark in Mountain West matches.
» The Rams have played six five-set matches this season, with all but the last two matches coming down to the final two points.
» Colorado State has gathered four Mountain West weekly awards this season -- sophomore outside Kennedy Stanford earned Offensive Player of the Week and senior libero Alexa Roumeliotis earned Defensive Player of the Week three times.
» In the Rams 28 matches played this season, 30 sets have been decided by two points – with 18 falling in favor of CSU. In Mountain West action, the Rams are 12-4 in those sets.

Mountain West Conference Awards
» Colorado State picked up a program-tying six All-Mountain West awards, taking home the most in the Mountain West Conference.
» Alexa Roumeliotis and Ciera Pritchard both repeated on the All-MW team for the second time, while Sasha Colombo earned honorable mention for the second season.
» Annie Sullivan was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year - the first for the Rams since 2017.
» Kennedy Stanford, Karina Leber, Roumeliotis, Pritchard, Colombo, Sullivan were the six honorees.

Recapping the Mountain West Tournament
» Colorado State earned the No. 1 seed for the Mountain West tournament - winning the tie breaker with Utah State. The MW tournament returned after not being played since 2011 when the Rams won it last.
» The tournament was originally going to start it in 2020, but the COVID-19 global pandemic forced it to delay until a full schedule could be played.
» The conference took the top six programs from the regular season and seeded 1-6. The first and second seeds received first-round byes.
» Seeds: Colorado State (1), Utah State (2) San Jose State (3), UNLV (4), New Mexico (5), Boise State (6).
» Boise State won its first tournament and received the Mountain West's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament - the Broncos second appearance.

NIVC History
» This is the fourth edition of the NIVC since its reboot through Triple Crown Sports; the event previously ran from 1989-95.
» There are 31 teams that make up the field, including programs Arkansas, Boston College, Arizona and Mountain West foe, UNLV.
» Previous champions of the current NIVC are Georgia Tech (2019), Iowa State (2018) and Ole Miss (2017).
» Triple Crown did not host the NIVC in 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Mountain West Tournament History
» Since the Mountain West's inception, the league has held 10 tournaments, running from its first year in 1999 to 2007 and again in 2011.
» Colorado State has won five of the 10 tournaments - 2011, 2006, 2004, 2003, 1999.
» Past members Utah (3) and BYU (1) also have won with UNLV being the only other current Mountain West member to win (2007).
» CSU has been the No. 1 seed six times and has won two championships when the No. 1 seed.
» Colorado State has entered the tournament as low as the No. 3 seed (2006), while winning its fourth title.

Keep Digging
» Alexa Roumeliotis has been stellar for Colorado State in the back row, after leading the Mountain West with 4.42 per set and No. 95 in the country.
» The libero has recorded double-figure digs in 22 of 24 matches so far this season and had a 27 match streak with double-figure digs that dated back to Feb. 13, 2021 but that streak snapped against New Mexico.
» This season's streak of 15 matches, was the longest in a single season during her career at Colorado State, with her last back in 2019 when she had an 11-match streak with double-figure digs.
» For her career at CSU, the senior has 63 matches with 10-or-more digs, while playing in 69 total.
» In her collegiate career, she has totaled 69 - recording six while at Creighton.

Dropping in Aces
» Ciera Pritchard has been dominate from the service line, dropping in a season-record 42 so far this season - setting the modern scoring record at Colorado State.
» The redshirt junior broke the record in the Mountain West Tournament against UNLV, adding back-to-back aces in the fourth set and finish the match with three.
» She has had six matches with three-or-more aces, including four matches tallying four aces.

Up Next
» Should Colorado State defeat Houston Baptist, the Rams will play the winner of the Tulsa/UTEP on Friday at 7:00 p.m., MT in the second round of the NIVC. From there, the third round takes place at host sites Dec. 6-8, following by semifinals Dec. 8-11 and the championship Dec. 12-14.

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Sasha Colombo

Karina Leber

Ciera Pritchard

Alexa Roumeliotis

Kennedy Stanford

Annie Sullivan

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