Rams Take More Than a Passing Glance at Opening Weekend

When Tom Hilbert says he didn't see it coming, it's not just in reference to dropping a match to Air Force.

No, it was how his volleyball team went about being swept by the Falcons at home, snapping a 53-match win streak with their in-state neighbors. The Rams did not pass well, and that's not something he had seen from his team in preparation for the season opener.

Then again, part of it didn't shock him either, not after looking back on practices.

"I was surprised. You know, it just wasn't working out very well," he said. "We've been better than that in practice almost every day. It doesn't surprise me because what we haven't practiced enough is being uncomfortable. We have to experience that. We have to try to create it in practice, because that's what was happening. You don't just completely implode in an area without something really disrupting you."

Serve-receive and passing were issues in the four-set win over Air Force on Friday, but to have it come back again the next night – and his team not react well to the circumstances – had to be addressed.

And it's not just the passing – there are going to be off nights, even sets, but what they do with the ball out-of-system to not compound a situation.

"We have to focus on our serve-receive game. Not only just practicing doing it better, but we have to be able to recover and come back and make a good pass so we are not bleeding away like three-and-four-point runs," he said. "That comes from being able to center yourself and stay present as a passer, but it also comes in the setting area of really understanding what decisions to make."

So the first step in combating the issue heading into a two-game road set with Nevada on Friday and Saturday was to turn up the heat in workouts. Drills that were brought out on Monday returned on Tuesday, even Wednesday.

Libero Alexa Roumeliotis said the early sessions have already produced results. Beyond that, in a match, the senior knows there are things she can do as the back-row leader to help her teammates on the court, enable them to not let one bad pass become a run of two or three more.

Each one is going to require a unique approach.

"It's just about knowing your teammates. Each teammate is going to need something different from you," she said. "Some people need a key to stick on, some people need to laugh, some people need me to tell them where the server is serving. It's knowing your teammates and trying to help them figure things out so they can get the next one. They've all got it."

It made for a difficult weekend for setter Ciera Zimmerman, who made her first two starts in a CSU uniform after seeing assorted matches last year. Hilbert understood what she was going through, having been a setter himself.

It's not that Zimmerman has never had to handle passes which put the team out-of-system, but it had been awhile since she has run an offense for an entire match and at least four years since doing so on a team struggling to pass.

The sophomore knew immediately the entire weekend was a valuable learning experience to grow from.

"A big thing for me is I can only control what I can control. I've kinda got to let go and realize that maybe it's not a good passing night," she said. "I can do my best to better the ball and work on out-of-system plays, so that's what we've been doing at practice this week, working on setting balls from not-so-great passes so we can get better swings in those out-of-system situations.

"In those situations, when I'm expecting a serve to come over, my brain isn't thinking, 'OK, what am I going to set when the pass is bad?' I'm thinking, 'OK, I'm going to run this when the pass is perfect and if it's not, then I'll figure it out.' It's kinda like last second decisions. You never know where the pass is going to be and who I'm going to be able to set. It's along the lines of thinking on the fly, and I don't make perfect decisions every time. Sometime I flail and dump a ball out of bounds, sometimes I'll set a player who has two blockers in front of them. It's just unfortunate and we have to move on to the next play."

Which is what the Rams intend to do. They will learn from the mistakes and correct them in workouts. What they will not do is panic, and neither will Hilbert.

He understands the rest of the Mountain West is smelling blood in the water. Fine. He will not allow his team to think they have to be perfect from here on out. That's undo pressure.

"Everybody is watching those videos, everyone is going to know what seams to serve at, so we either change our offense completely or we get better," Hilbert said. "So, what do they want to do? The last thing I'm trying to do is say right now we can't afford to lose another match. There's no real benefit to that. We're trying to beat Nevada twice, that's what we're trying to do."

With a championship pedigree in the program, that approach comes as absolutely no surprise.

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