Colorado State to Play San Diego State to Open Mountain West Tournament

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – With the regular season officially in the books for the Colorado State volleyball team, the Rams will start a hopeful post-season run on their home court as they host the six-team Mountain West Tournament from Wednesday through Friday. Entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed, the Rams will face off against the No. 6 seed, San Diego State who clinched a tournament appearance with an upset win over San Jose State last Saturday.

Colorado State (19-10, 12-6 MW) vs. San Diego State (10-19, 8-10)
Moby Arena, Fort Collins, Colo.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022 // 4:00 PM
Stream: MW Network
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What You Need to Know

The road to a Mountain West Tournament Championship will mean the Rams playing and beating the Aztecs Wednesday afternoon, earning them a game with No. 2 San Jose State Thursday at 4 p.m. If the Rams can get a win over the Spartans, they will most likely see No. 1 UNLV for the second time in just one week in the championship game Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The other side of the bracket consists of No. 5 New Mexico and No. 4 Utah State playing in the opening round, with the winner of that game advancing to take on the top-seeded Rebels.
San Diego State is coming off a big final week of the regular season with wins over Nevada and San Jose State. The Aztecs needed to win both games last week in order to make the post-season and they did exactly that with their only losses in November coming against two tournament teams, Utah State and UNLV.
Should the Rams advance to the second round of the tournament, they will face San Jose State who earned a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed. The Spartans are the only team to beat the Rams twice this season and have looked dominantly athletic against Colorado State in their two prior meetings this season, but home court advantage could prove helpful in the case of the Rams.
This week will officially serve as the final time that Head Coach Tom Hilbert will coach in Moby Arena. The 26-year head coach will retire at the end of this season and boasts accolades such as winning Mountain West Coach of the Year 12 times and leading the Rams to 22 combined regular season and Mountain West Tournament titles.

Series History

The first time out, Colorado State swept the Aztecs on the road with all three sets being competitive and close in score, but the Rams being able to close out well on all three sets.
In their second matchup of the season, the Rams beat San Diego State 3-1, dropping the first set and then winning three straight. Annie Sullivan led the way with 17 kills while Kennedy Stanford followed close behind with 16. Karina Leber had seven blocks over the Aztecs with Ciera Pritchard totaling two service aces as well.

Series vs. Aztecs: 48-17
Home vs. Aztecs: 22-6
Hilbert vs. Aztecs: 45-4

Match Notes Nuggets

Last week, the Rams finished their final week of the regular season 1-1 as they swept Wyoming in a Tuesday Border War before traveling to Las Vegas to play UNLV Saturday. Top contributors across both matches include Leber, Jacqi Van Liefde, Malaya Jones, Pritchard and Naeemah Weathers.
Leber led the Colorado State offence at Wyoming, totaling eight kills at a .615 efficiency. She also added three blocks over the Cowgirls.
Van Liefde also ended with eight kills over Wyoming while also adding five digs.
Jones hit the ball at a .565 rate against UNLV, good for a team leading 14 kills. She was also the third Ram to finish with eight kills against Wyoming earlier in the week.
Pritchard notched three service aces against the Rebels Saturday, including back-to-back aces in the second set. The performance put the senior above the 100 career aces milestone.
Weathers continues to be an efficient hitter in the front row for the Rams as the junior hit at a .385 rate Tuesday versus the Cowgirls before hitting .625 against UNLV, good for 12 kills on the weekend.

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