Rams Unable to Replicate Magic Against No. 3 Stanford

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FORT COLLINS -- A second upset over a top-10 team wasn't in the cards for Colorado State's volleyball team against Stanford, but lessons learned over the opening weekend are just as valuable moving forward.

The Rams put up a courageous effort against No. 3 Stanford and their two All-Americans, Kendall Kipp and Kami Miner, but would lose in four sets, 25-16, 25-17, 20-25, 15-25.

The first two sets were a little sloppy, as the scores in those frames would suggest. There were struggles to settle in, but following the break between sets two and three, things started to click. The hitting became noticeably better, less errors were made, and the Rams found more lanes to hit through in Stanford's towering defense at the net.

Stanford's defensive presence proved to be one of the biggest hurdles for the Rams to get over. For much of the match, CSU's hitters were struggling to find opportunities on the attack while being outblocked 9-1 on the night.

Going through the frustration of playing physically large and talented middles provides lessons. It's not easy to get through such challenges, but when you do, a team is able to take away a lot of wisdom in how to navigate tough defenses.

For outside hitter Kennedy Stanford, how you respond is where the real lessons are learned.

"I think we learned a lot about how to fight," Stanford said, after posting seven kills in the match. "I really am proud of how we came back against a team which just keeps coming at you. We knew we needed to stay consistent to put that set together and to never give up. I feel like we ended each set better than we started it and that's something which really speaks to the type of team we are."

While there weren't many jitters going through the Rams just a day after upsetting No. 10 Kentucky in four sets, outside hitter Malaya Jones said the team's struggle to settle into the first two sets was because at times, they were trying to do too many fancy things. Some good came from it, but so did eight of their 12 service errors of the night.

Head coach Emily Kohan wanted her team to slow it down and play the way they always do -- dial in, start dictating the pace and be more aggressive.

Once they did settle in, Stanford slowly started to even out the service error column in the third set, committing four of their 14 total service errors in the frame. Taking advantage of the dip in quality of Stanford's play, along with their hitting percentage dropping to a match-worst .267, was one of the keys to securing the set.

"You don't win against a team like Stanford by being passive," Kohan said. "I was really proud of our attackers for continuing to try to swing hard and be aggressive. (Stanford) is a big block too, so it was a high-risk, high-reward situation but I was really proud of the way the team just kept swinging at the ball."

It wasn't just the offense clicking in the third set. Defensively, better hands and positioning helped the Rams to force a match-high seven Cardinal attack errors. Combine those things with better serving, better hitting and the ability to figure out and exploit an opponent's tendencies, there was something to build off of going forward.

Despite the loss to Stanford, opening weekend turned out to be a huge success for CSU. An upset against No. 10 and a set won against No. 3 has Jones excited and confident for the remainder of the season.

"I definitely feel like we can play great volleyball against really high-ranked teams," said Jones., who led the Rams with nine kills. "We deserve to be in the top 25 and we're going to be in the top 25 by the end of this season. I'm fully confident in that. We just need to play our game and we're gonna take it on the road next weekend for the tournament, and we're going to do great."

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