Hilbert Era Comes to a Close at Mountain West Tournament

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The end of an era.

Not just any era, but a rather remarkable one. The 637 wins by Tom Hilbert as Colorado State's volleyball coach stand as the most of any coach at the university regardless of sport. He guided the Rams to the NCAA Tournament 24 times, reaching six Sweet 16s. He also knew his clock was ticking, as he set the timer when he announced his impending retirement a few weeks back.

None of that really had sunk in on the Moby Arena court Wednesday as his team fell in five sets to San Diego State to open the Mountain West Tournament, 25-23, 19-25, 26-28, 25-20, 15-12. All he thought about was the end of a season, the abrupt finish to the conference tournament and saying goodbye to another team as constructed.

"I feel the same way I would feel if this wasn't my last match," Hilbert said. "I'm disappointed. I think we were upset. I think that's a team we can beat, but we didn't do it tonight."

The Rams hosted the tournament by virtue of winning the regular season title in 2021. They entered as the third seed, facing an Aztecs team it had beaten twice earlier in the season, and in somewhere in the course of those matches, Annie Sullivan and Karina Leber had posted career nights.

Sullivan had a 17-kill performance in one of the matches, and Leber had a career-best eight blocks in another. Once again, they were both up to those standards.

Sullivan had 17 kills again, hitting .326, taking a series of monster swings. Leber reset her block mark with nine in the match. It just wasn't enough, because offensively, the Rams were timid on the attack more often than not.

"We have to take better swings, especially in transition situations, and we just weren't," Hilbert said, his team finishing the year 19-11 overall. "We lost the serving and passing game, too; they served and passed better and had more aces. We needed to take bigger swings in those times when we had the chance to score off the serve, and we just didn't do it, so their sideout percentages were higher. In set two we blocked pretty well, and we had the really nice comeback in three. I feel like there were times when we competed well, but it just wasn't the right mix today.

"Usually, we have two or three people step up, and I think Annie played really well, but in set five, she didn't have a kill."

In four of five sets, the Rams started in an early hole, and it took a strong comeback to take the third set and forge a 2-1 lead. In a key point, Leber had a great dig in the back row to lead to a point, with a Kennedy Stanford kill following to close out the set.

"We had moments where we were fighting really well, and other moments when the other team was fighting harder," said Leber, who also posted seven kills. "I thought we put in a really good effort, and we had heart, for sure."

Besides Sullivan, Stanford was the only other Ram to reach double-digit kills, finishing with 13 to pair with 10 digs for her sixth double-double of the year. But Sullivan and Leber were the only two Rams to hit better than .300 as the team closed at .217, hitting -.083 in the fifth.

"I think what it was was being in the Mountain West Tournament and knowing this could be our last match," Sullivan said. "I just wanted to go out there and leave it all on the court. So I was taking big swings and trying to be as aggressive as I could.

"There were a lot of times we played really well this match. It stinks it went to five, because you know anyone can win that fifth set. I think there was good volleyball on both ends."

Both teams had 10 service errors, but the Aztecs posted nine aces, the Rams just three. San Diego State also had four players with double-figure kills, led by Madison Corf with 17, while Kayla Rivera and Elly Schraeder both had 14.

Schrader put an end to night, taking a swing out of the middle and getting her attack to sail high off a CSU block and out the back end of the floor, sending the Aztecs to a semifinal match with San Jose State on Thursday.

The Rams, they gathered in the center of the floor and surrounded their coach as a video tribute from other conference coaches played on the board overhead and the crowd applauded Hilbert's final moment on the court where he helped create Moby Magic.

"We wanted to say thank you to Tom for everything he had done, and then honor Jacqi Van Liefde, our senior," Sullivan said. Even though this loss stunk, we don't want it to take away from our season and things we've accomplished this year."

Tears flowed, and for some time. Just none from Hilbert. He remained composed. Sullivan said the reality will continue to hit from time to time, especially when practice starts in the spring and Hilbert is not with them.

Leber, through tears, celebrated who the person was for her.

"He's just a really good guy in general and cares about us," she said. "He picks really good players to come here, and they've all become my best friends, so I'm really thankful to him for that."

It will hit Hilbert, too, somewhere. Maybe soon.

He walked off the court and around the back hand-in-hand with his wife, Claire, giving a few fist-bumps to players then continuing down the hallway, exiting for the last time.

"It's difficult, because losing stinks. So, I'm sure at some point there will be a sense of calm come over me and I'll realize that was it," Hilbert said. "I don't like losses, but I told the team at the end of this game I was proud to have coached them. They're great kids, they're a great team and they like each other, and they need to stick together, because I feel their best years and efforts are to come."

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