Colorado State University Athletics
Thursday, November 4
Fort Collins, CO
7:00 PM
Colorado State
15-7,11-2Mountain West
3
vs
0
Nevada
3-21,0-13Mountain West
1
2
3
F
Nevada
18
18
11
0
Colorado St.
25
25
25
3
Rams Stay Perfect in Moby
11/4/2021 9:39:00 PM | Volleyball
Colorado State improves to 11-2 in Mountain West play and perfect in Moby Arena.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State has been hot, but also recently humbled.
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With a 10-2 conference record going into their match against Nevada on Thursday night, the team had a reputation to uphold, because Rams were the team to beat. With the lineup leading the Mountain West standings and trying to clench the conference regular-season title, there was little room for error.
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However, Colorado State had an advantage walking into this match. They faced the Wolf Pack earlier this season and had took a 3-0 win back in September and had developed substantially since then, leading to the second sweep of Nevada this season (25-19, 25-18, 25-11).
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"The first match against them, we didn't play as well as I would like," junior setter Ciera Pritchard said after finishing with 29 assists. "We let it get into extra points and this match felt a lot cleaner where we were able to run what we wanted to. Moby Madness always helps, but I think it's just been our development over the season."
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The first set took time to get going, with both teams holding a competitive distance from the other, with the Rams only posting a .188 hitting percentage for the first frame, the lowest of all three sets. After cleaning up, the Rams pulled away with a 3-0 scoring run to take the first set.
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The second set yielded more competition than the first, leading to eight ties and four lead changes on the scorecard before the Rams stole the second frame.
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And with quick work of the first two sets in the books, the third set allowed the Rams to play relaxed and simply take care of business. With the first point favoring Colorado State, the intensity was turned up and the team was ready to go.
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And to the approval of head coach Tom Hilbert, the Rams racked up a .591 hitting percentage for the third set, contributing to the overall hitting percentage of .355.
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"It's nice when we hit the ball very efficiently like that," Hilbert said. "We started this match off giving a bunch of points away in the serve and pass game in the first set, which allowed them to stay close. When I looked at the box score, we had 10 kills and they had three, and I was like 'we shouldn't be this close.' But that's what happens when you do sloppy things. We cleaned that up and look what happens, we kick them in the tail."
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This late in the season, several consistent players have established themselves on the court, including sophomores Kennedy Stanford and Karina Leber, joined by junior Annie Sullivan. Sullivan and Stanford tied for kills with 11, and Leber held the highest hitting percentage with .750, adding 10.
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"I think it came from our back row passing really well and defense not letting the ball drop," Leber said. "That translates to a good set and a good hit, so I have to give thanks to all my back row people."
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Alexa Roumeliotis led the defense with 16 digs in the match, and the Rams posted 14 aces, with four from Pritchard and three from Sasha Colombo.
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The rest of the season holds several high intensity matches, especially with Mountain West second-place team San José State on Saturday and round two of the Border War on Tuesday.
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Leading up to these matches, Hilbert and the rest of the team have their focus set on one thing: preparation.
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"Every match from this point on is good," Hilbert said. "(San Jose State is) sitting on three losses, they're contending for first place in the league, they're important. Wyoming is always a big rivalry game, they're important. I think Fresno beat us and we need to figure out what happened there and play well. They're a great blocking team and we have to be able to compete with that."
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With a 10-2 conference record going into their match against Nevada on Thursday night, the team had a reputation to uphold, because Rams were the team to beat. With the lineup leading the Mountain West standings and trying to clench the conference regular-season title, there was little room for error.
Â
However, Colorado State had an advantage walking into this match. They faced the Wolf Pack earlier this season and had took a 3-0 win back in September and had developed substantially since then, leading to the second sweep of Nevada this season (25-19, 25-18, 25-11).
Â
"The first match against them, we didn't play as well as I would like," junior setter Ciera Pritchard said after finishing with 29 assists. "We let it get into extra points and this match felt a lot cleaner where we were able to run what we wanted to. Moby Madness always helps, but I think it's just been our development over the season."
Â
The first set took time to get going, with both teams holding a competitive distance from the other, with the Rams only posting a .188 hitting percentage for the first frame, the lowest of all three sets. After cleaning up, the Rams pulled away with a 3-0 scoring run to take the first set.
Â
The second set yielded more competition than the first, leading to eight ties and four lead changes on the scorecard before the Rams stole the second frame.
Â
And with quick work of the first two sets in the books, the third set allowed the Rams to play relaxed and simply take care of business. With the first point favoring Colorado State, the intensity was turned up and the team was ready to go.
Â
And to the approval of head coach Tom Hilbert, the Rams racked up a .591 hitting percentage for the third set, contributing to the overall hitting percentage of .355.
Â
"It's nice when we hit the ball very efficiently like that," Hilbert said. "We started this match off giving a bunch of points away in the serve and pass game in the first set, which allowed them to stay close. When I looked at the box score, we had 10 kills and they had three, and I was like 'we shouldn't be this close.' But that's what happens when you do sloppy things. We cleaned that up and look what happens, we kick them in the tail."
Â
This late in the season, several consistent players have established themselves on the court, including sophomores Kennedy Stanford and Karina Leber, joined by junior Annie Sullivan. Sullivan and Stanford tied for kills with 11, and Leber held the highest hitting percentage with .750, adding 10.
Â
"I think it came from our back row passing really well and defense not letting the ball drop," Leber said. "That translates to a good set and a good hit, so I have to give thanks to all my back row people."
Â
Alexa Roumeliotis led the defense with 16 digs in the match, and the Rams posted 14 aces, with four from Pritchard and three from Sasha Colombo.
Â
The rest of the season holds several high intensity matches, especially with Mountain West second-place team San José State on Saturday and round two of the Border War on Tuesday.
Â
Leading up to these matches, Hilbert and the rest of the team have their focus set on one thing: preparation.
Â
"Every match from this point on is good," Hilbert said. "(San Jose State is) sitting on three losses, they're contending for first place in the league, they're important. Wyoming is always a big rivalry game, they're important. I think Fresno beat us and we need to figure out what happened there and play well. They're a great blocking team and we have to be able to compete with that."
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Team Stats
Nevada
CSU
Kills
25
46
Errors
8
13
Attempts
75
93
Hitting %
.227
.355
Points
32
63
Assists
23
38
Aces
3
14
Blocks
4
3
Game Leaders
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
11
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
3
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOH
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