Young Rams Learning How to Adjust on the Fly

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After two weeks of play, Colorado State's volleyball team is learning how to handle and react to the unique Mountain West schedule brought about by the pandemic.

Instead of seeing teams twice in a season weeks apart, the Rams are doing so on consecutive nights. It affects the scouting, the mindset and the reaction of it all flying at them in bulk.

There is the pre-scout. Then the match, when not everything goes according to plan. Then there's more film the morning before the next match against the same team, playing the guessing game of what will change on the other side of the net and how to counteract it, as well as the changes the Rams will make on their own.

"It's a lot of immediate turnaround and strategizing," outside hitter Jacqi Van Liefde said. "I think I like the back-to-back play, because we still have that excitement and adrenaline from that first night carrying over so quickly.

"I learned I just need to be really attentive during the second game and just adjust as we go. I thought I would have a lot more lines open, and they had some bigger blockers on me the second night. It was, OK, I need to figure out what my next best shot is going to be."

Van Liefde, one of the handful of Rams new to the starting lineup, posted double-digit kills in both road victories over Nevada last weekend. However, her second night came with a lower hitting percentage, which the Rams weathered through as a team, hitting just .158 in the four-set win.

In the first match, Colorado State moved Sasha Colombo from opposite to the middle, which led to not only in-match personnel changes, but a lineup change the following evening. It's a position the junior was used to playing back home in Italy, but she hasn't manned the spot much since coming to Colorado State.

It was just another alteration in what the Rams are finding will be a series of them throughout the season.

"I think the games were completely different, but how they approached us in game two definitely just really inspired us to be better. I think them bringing a better game made us play better, too," Colombo said. "We changed some lineups on our side as well, and I think they might have predicted that, but they didn't really see all of that.

"I think I'm overall just really glad I can help the team in any positon they need me to be in, really. The first game on Friday, when I switched to middle, I hadn't really practiced as a middle at all. Those were the first middle swings I've taken this past year. I'm really happy I managed to play the way I did."

Coach Tom Hilbert's team heads into a pair of home matches with UNLV this week (an outlier scheduling for Thursday and Saturday matches) with his team 3-1. He knew coming into the year the scheduling would be a challenge for a group with so many new faces in the lineup, and with youth dictating development in pursuit of another Mountain West title.

So far, he's been pleased with the growth the team has shown in being able to make the adjustments. He and his staff also found they have to be thoughtful in the way changes are presented.

"We found that when we give them some kind of instruction or adjustment, they take it super literally, and sometimes that hurts us rather than helps us," Hilbert said. "So we're trying to give them general ideas of what we're trying to do. They followed the preparation game plan pretty well."

The errors he did see are correctable, and even somewhat understanding for a young lineup, especially when it comes to attacking. Though the Rams were not as clean as a normal Hilbert team, he feels the impatience some of them showed at times will wane with experience.

While Nevada made the Rams work for both wins, particularly the second night, the Rams did win. Even in the one set they lost, they displayed more moxie in end-game.

That was the best adjustment of all.

"It's encouraging. And the most encouraging thing was we did some really good things at the end of sets," Hilbert said. "Even the second night, the set we lost, we were down by seven points and came back and tied it. Getting back to that point was really good for us."

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