Colorado State University Athletics
Tuesday, September 28
Fort Collins, CO
7:00 PM
Colorado State
7-5,3-0Mountain West
3
vs
0
Wyoming
8-7,0-3Mountain West
1
2
3
F
Wyoming
18
17
22
0
Colorado St.
25
25
25
3
Rams Send Pokes Packing Pronto
9/28/2021 9:26:00 PM | Volleyball
Colorado State notches third-consecutive sweep in Mountain West play
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Here's the thing: While Colorado State has come out guns a-blazin' in Mountain West play, the Rams are far from a perfect product.
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Coach Tom Hilbert knows this, and there are aspects of the game his team are still working on, and, in fairness, showing improvement. One area is blocking, and Tuesday night, they posted eight. Another is consistency offensively from the pins. Night to night, the Rams never know who is going to be on or off.
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Where they can help provide cover is from the service line and the play of the back-row, and both were rock solid as the Rams swept past Border War rival Wyoming, 25-18, 25-17, 25-22, Tuesday night at Moby Arena.
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"There's no doubt. We have embraced the fact that serving is our biggest weapon of disruption," Hilbert said. "We do it well, and we're consistent. Now we have a three-match road swing. If we can do that on the road too, I feel real good about where we're at."
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Back in 2019, Alyssa Bert's primary contribution to the team was as a serving specialist, a role she performed well. This year she's doing it again, while also playing strong as a defensive specialist. She produced a pair of aces (the Rams had five), and a myriad of her other offerings had the Cowgirls playing out of system.
Â
She didn't like how she was serving in non-conference play, so she pushed herself to be more aggressive in her approach, and it has paid dividends.
Â
"I feel like I got into a groove more at the start of conference," said Bert, who now has 12 aces on the year, four in the past three matches. "I challenged myself to start serving harder, because I felt like I was serving a little wimpy in preseason. I feel that's where the groove started. I came in with the urge to get aces."
Â
While she doesn't feel pressure on the line since it is one of her primary tasks, she said the team understands the emphasis placed upon how they serve. It does set up how a team can attack, and in turn, how the Rams (7-5, 3-0) block.
Â
The Rams outblocked Wyoming 8-3 on the night, helping to keep the Cowgirls (8-7, 0-3) down to a paltry .147 hitting percentage. Karina Leber finished with five, Annie Sullivan and Ciera Pritchard with three each.
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"I think serving aggressively has really helped our blocking," Bert said. "When the pass is off the net for the other team, our blockers can guess better where the ball is going to go. It helps everything, so it has become very important in every game plan."
Â
All three sets were tight at one point, with the Rams creating breathing room quicker in the opening two sets. The third one took longer to establish dominance, which eventually they did in posting another sweep.
Â
The middles were there early in the first set, but most of the remainder of the night belonged to Annie Sullivan, who paced both teams with 14 digs and did with a .387 hitting percentage with just two errors in 31 swings.
Â
Not all swings were the same, either, which made her output very heady and impressive. Hilbert felt they were setting her too high early, so an adjustment in tempo was called for, allowing her to be aggressive when she could, but she also could think on the fly, leading to Hilbert calling it one of her smarter performances.
Â
 "I could definitely see a lot of seams at times, and then sometimes go at their setter's hands," Sullivan said. "Also, just for tipping, we worked on out-of-system shots this week, which went right above the block, and that worked really well. You know you normally want to get just a straight-down kill or a pretty powerful kill, but once the tips start going too, it kind of gives you momentum as well."
Â
The Rams also received strong performances from Leber and Sasha Colombo in the middle, as the two combined for 12 kills, while Jacqi Van Liefde added seven as Pritchard finished with 28 assists, adding two aces and eight digs to her stat line.
Â
What the Rams have now is an unblemished record in the Mountain West, but now they have to carry it to the road. Hilbert said serving will be even more critical in this stretch, but the Rams will be headed out with confidence in their bags.
Â
Three consecutive sweeps is nice, even more so with the last one coming against a rival.
Â
"It feels great. Wyoming is our biggest rival, so getting the win, especially in three, feels great," Sullivan said. "It feels good. It's just helping us get momentum, and we're going to use that for our next three away games."
Â
Â
Coach Tom Hilbert knows this, and there are aspects of the game his team are still working on, and, in fairness, showing improvement. One area is blocking, and Tuesday night, they posted eight. Another is consistency offensively from the pins. Night to night, the Rams never know who is going to be on or off.
Â
Where they can help provide cover is from the service line and the play of the back-row, and both were rock solid as the Rams swept past Border War rival Wyoming, 25-18, 25-17, 25-22, Tuesday night at Moby Arena.
Â
"There's no doubt. We have embraced the fact that serving is our biggest weapon of disruption," Hilbert said. "We do it well, and we're consistent. Now we have a three-match road swing. If we can do that on the road too, I feel real good about where we're at."
Â
Back in 2019, Alyssa Bert's primary contribution to the team was as a serving specialist, a role she performed well. This year she's doing it again, while also playing strong as a defensive specialist. She produced a pair of aces (the Rams had five), and a myriad of her other offerings had the Cowgirls playing out of system.
Â
She didn't like how she was serving in non-conference play, so she pushed herself to be more aggressive in her approach, and it has paid dividends.
Â
"I feel like I got into a groove more at the start of conference," said Bert, who now has 12 aces on the year, four in the past three matches. "I challenged myself to start serving harder, because I felt like I was serving a little wimpy in preseason. I feel that's where the groove started. I came in with the urge to get aces."
Â
While she doesn't feel pressure on the line since it is one of her primary tasks, she said the team understands the emphasis placed upon how they serve. It does set up how a team can attack, and in turn, how the Rams (7-5, 3-0) block.
Â
The Rams outblocked Wyoming 8-3 on the night, helping to keep the Cowgirls (8-7, 0-3) down to a paltry .147 hitting percentage. Karina Leber finished with five, Annie Sullivan and Ciera Pritchard with three each.
Â
"I think serving aggressively has really helped our blocking," Bert said. "When the pass is off the net for the other team, our blockers can guess better where the ball is going to go. It helps everything, so it has become very important in every game plan."
Â
All three sets were tight at one point, with the Rams creating breathing room quicker in the opening two sets. The third one took longer to establish dominance, which eventually they did in posting another sweep.
Â
The middles were there early in the first set, but most of the remainder of the night belonged to Annie Sullivan, who paced both teams with 14 digs and did with a .387 hitting percentage with just two errors in 31 swings.
Â
Not all swings were the same, either, which made her output very heady and impressive. Hilbert felt they were setting her too high early, so an adjustment in tempo was called for, allowing her to be aggressive when she could, but she also could think on the fly, leading to Hilbert calling it one of her smarter performances.
Â
 "I could definitely see a lot of seams at times, and then sometimes go at their setter's hands," Sullivan said. "Also, just for tipping, we worked on out-of-system shots this week, which went right above the block, and that worked really well. You know you normally want to get just a straight-down kill or a pretty powerful kill, but once the tips start going too, it kind of gives you momentum as well."
Â
The Rams also received strong performances from Leber and Sasha Colombo in the middle, as the two combined for 12 kills, while Jacqi Van Liefde added seven as Pritchard finished with 28 assists, adding two aces and eight digs to her stat line.
Â
What the Rams have now is an unblemished record in the Mountain West, but now they have to carry it to the road. Hilbert said serving will be even more critical in this stretch, but the Rams will be headed out with confidence in their bags.
Â
Three consecutive sweeps is nice, even more so with the last one coming against a rival.
Â
"It feels great. Wyoming is our biggest rival, so getting the win, especially in three, feels great," Sullivan said. "It feels good. It's just helping us get momentum, and we're going to use that for our next three away games."
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Team Stats
UW
CSU
Kills
36
41
Errors
21
10
Attempts
102
104
Hitting %
.147
.298
Points
43
54
Assists
32
36
Aces
4
5
Blocks
3
8
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
4
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
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