Colorado State University Athletics
Saturday, August 27
Fort Collins, CO
7:00 PM
Colorado State
2-0,0-0Mountain West
3
vs
1
UC Santa Barbara
0-3,0-0Big West
1
2
3
4
F
UC Santa Barbara
18
25
25
21
1
Colorado St.
25
27
18
25
3
Rams Run Up the Middle in Victory
8/27/2022 10:05:00 PM | Volleyball
Van Liefde, Leber lead path to four-set win over UCSB
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – This whole middle thing may just work out for Jacqi Van Liefde.
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Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert gave the fifth-year senior a look at the position late last season, lining her up there in the final two matches of the year. With an impressive vertical at her disposal, it seemed to fit. And the former pin hitter liked the notion she could fly high and hammer down, removing a bit of the thought process.
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In Saturday's four-set victory over UC Santa Barbara (25-18, 27-25, 18-25, 25-21), Van Liefde was getting up and after it pretty well, one of three Rams to finish with 12 kills in the match. One of the others was fellow middle Karina Leber, who was equally as potent while incorporating more slides, giving Hilbert's team the first pair of middles with double-digit kills in the same match for the first time in two seasons.
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Those were numbers which used to be fairly regular in the program, and setter Ciera Pritchard is all in favor of bringing it back in vogue.
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"In my opinion, middles are the first point of offense," she said. "If I establish them, then my pins can have a heyday, right? And our middles are spectacular. They're hitting high, they're hitting hard and they're hitting down, and they're seeing the court well. They're not just making errors and hitting right into the block. They're very well developed."
Â
The main deterrent for her at times will be the passing quality, because not every pass puts her in a position to set them, and if the team is out of system, she's forced to go to the pins. But if the middles are operating, those on the outside will likely see a slower block develop.
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Going to the middle was a big part of the plan against the Gauchos, who have struggled stopping them in this three-match swing to open the season in the area, having dropped matches to Northern Colorado and North Carolina prior.
Â
Van Liefde and Leber were more than happy to continue to the trend.
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"I'm totally enjoying it if you can't tell," Van Liefde said. "It's been really fun for me. I feel Ciera and I kind of have that connection now that we worked on all through two-a-days, so as long as I'm keeping my spacing, I'm trusting her to give me a good set. Whatever I see in the moment is what I hit, and it's been working, so it's good."
Â
What she's liked best about the switch is the freedom to do what she does best at the spot, which is use her jumping ability and arm swing to her advantage. Both she and Leber were perfect on their swings through the first two sets, and both of them finished the night with impressive percentages – Van Liefde at .733, Leber at .647.
Â
On the roll she was, she was calling for the set consistently, even understanding it may just create a decoy for Pritchard.
Â
"My job is to be up so our pins can get free," she said. "Even on some of those out-of-system ones, I'm trying to make sure I am calling for maybe a bit of a higher ball, so they know the middle is still in this, and maybe they have to stay on me and free our pins up a little bit."
Â
The match was nearly a carbon copy of the opener with North Carolina. The Rams were in control the first two sets, then hit a lull in the third. In each instance, the passing and serve receive took a dip, and the Gauchos took advantage by producing 10 aces.
Â
Hilbert called his team's serving Friday night "fluffy," and while he felt they took a bit of a step forward on Saturday, he'd still like to see more. It was a strength for the team a year ago, but the Rams are also missing two of their top servers, both of whom graduated. Making it more frustrating to him, he felt the better UCSB served, the softer his team became.
Â
"We started off good, but when they got good, we got fluffy again," Hilbert said. "That's been happening to me my whole career. Teams do that when team's start serving them tough and disrupting them, then they get cautious. We talked about it in huddles. Let's serve balls to get them out of what they wanted to do. They didn't miss a serve for a game and a half, and we were."
Â
By the end of the night, Pritchard had an impressive 48 assists, visiting every spot along the buffet. Annie Sullivan matched the middles with 12 kills, and Kennedy Stanford hit double-digits for the second consecutive match, finishing with 10. Malaya Jones was one shy of joining the club as the team hit .317 on the night.
Â
Weapons are good, and multiple weapons is best for a setter to work her craft.
Â
"There were some times when things didn't feel like they were working, but they were," Pritchard said. "Our middles were hitting amazing, and I need to run them more, honestly. I just feel so awesome I have a whole net across the board that I can trust to get a kill. It's not just one horse I'm feeding, it's every single person. It really makes it easier on everybody else because blockers aren't stocking up on people."
Â
So far, there's been a lot for Hilbert to study from his team, and what he's liked best so far is the fight. In both matches, the play in the third set has been less than desirable. But there has been no carryover, either.
Â
Each night, it hasn't lingered into the fourth set, and even the second set in the match showed him his team has some moxie, fighting off two set points then rallying to close it out.
Â
"What I like about this team is we can kind of push them and they'll respond," he said. "They did that last night, too. They came back and competed after they had sort of gone into a lull. I like that. That's a good sign. That shows they have character as competitors."
Â
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Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert gave the fifth-year senior a look at the position late last season, lining her up there in the final two matches of the year. With an impressive vertical at her disposal, it seemed to fit. And the former pin hitter liked the notion she could fly high and hammer down, removing a bit of the thought process.
Â
In Saturday's four-set victory over UC Santa Barbara (25-18, 27-25, 18-25, 25-21), Van Liefde was getting up and after it pretty well, one of three Rams to finish with 12 kills in the match. One of the others was fellow middle Karina Leber, who was equally as potent while incorporating more slides, giving Hilbert's team the first pair of middles with double-digit kills in the same match for the first time in two seasons.
Â
Those were numbers which used to be fairly regular in the program, and setter Ciera Pritchard is all in favor of bringing it back in vogue.
Â
"In my opinion, middles are the first point of offense," she said. "If I establish them, then my pins can have a heyday, right? And our middles are spectacular. They're hitting high, they're hitting hard and they're hitting down, and they're seeing the court well. They're not just making errors and hitting right into the block. They're very well developed."
Â
The main deterrent for her at times will be the passing quality, because not every pass puts her in a position to set them, and if the team is out of system, she's forced to go to the pins. But if the middles are operating, those on the outside will likely see a slower block develop.
Â
Going to the middle was a big part of the plan against the Gauchos, who have struggled stopping them in this three-match swing to open the season in the area, having dropped matches to Northern Colorado and North Carolina prior.
Â
Van Liefde and Leber were more than happy to continue to the trend.
Â
"I'm totally enjoying it if you can't tell," Van Liefde said. "It's been really fun for me. I feel Ciera and I kind of have that connection now that we worked on all through two-a-days, so as long as I'm keeping my spacing, I'm trusting her to give me a good set. Whatever I see in the moment is what I hit, and it's been working, so it's good."
Â
What she's liked best about the switch is the freedom to do what she does best at the spot, which is use her jumping ability and arm swing to her advantage. Both she and Leber were perfect on their swings through the first two sets, and both of them finished the night with impressive percentages – Van Liefde at .733, Leber at .647.
Â
On the roll she was, she was calling for the set consistently, even understanding it may just create a decoy for Pritchard.
Â
"My job is to be up so our pins can get free," she said. "Even on some of those out-of-system ones, I'm trying to make sure I am calling for maybe a bit of a higher ball, so they know the middle is still in this, and maybe they have to stay on me and free our pins up a little bit."
Â
The match was nearly a carbon copy of the opener with North Carolina. The Rams were in control the first two sets, then hit a lull in the third. In each instance, the passing and serve receive took a dip, and the Gauchos took advantage by producing 10 aces.
Â
Hilbert called his team's serving Friday night "fluffy," and while he felt they took a bit of a step forward on Saturday, he'd still like to see more. It was a strength for the team a year ago, but the Rams are also missing two of their top servers, both of whom graduated. Making it more frustrating to him, he felt the better UCSB served, the softer his team became.
Â
"We started off good, but when they got good, we got fluffy again," Hilbert said. "That's been happening to me my whole career. Teams do that when team's start serving them tough and disrupting them, then they get cautious. We talked about it in huddles. Let's serve balls to get them out of what they wanted to do. They didn't miss a serve for a game and a half, and we were."
Â
By the end of the night, Pritchard had an impressive 48 assists, visiting every spot along the buffet. Annie Sullivan matched the middles with 12 kills, and Kennedy Stanford hit double-digits for the second consecutive match, finishing with 10. Malaya Jones was one shy of joining the club as the team hit .317 on the night.
Â
Weapons are good, and multiple weapons is best for a setter to work her craft.
Â
"There were some times when things didn't feel like they were working, but they were," Pritchard said. "Our middles were hitting amazing, and I need to run them more, honestly. I just feel so awesome I have a whole net across the board that I can trust to get a kill. It's not just one horse I'm feeding, it's every single person. It really makes it easier on everybody else because blockers aren't stocking up on people."
Â
So far, there's been a lot for Hilbert to study from his team, and what he's liked best so far is the fight. In both matches, the play in the third set has been less than desirable. But there has been no carryover, either.
Â
Each night, it hasn't lingered into the fourth set, and even the second set in the match showed him his team has some moxie, fighting off two set points then rallying to close it out.
Â
"What I like about this team is we can kind of push them and they'll respond," he said. "They did that last night, too. They came back and competed after they had sort of gone into a lull. I like that. That's a good sign. That shows they have character as competitors."
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Team Stats
UCSB
CSU
Kills
52
57
Errors
18
18
Attempts
117
123
Hitting %
.291
.317
Points
70
66
Assists
51
52
Aces
7
3
Blocks
11
6
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
10
Aces
1
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
OH
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