No Need for Five Sets for Rams against Bowling Green

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By: Braidon Nourse

The decision to give Malaya Jones more freedom to roam the court paid dividends for Colorado State volleyball against Bowling Green. For the first time in her career, the game plan allowed for her to play fully around the court, swing from the back line and do damage from all areas.

The result: a career record-tying 19 kills for Jones, topped off by recording the Rams' final three kills and a service ace to win the match in fourth-set extras. After going the distance in their last four matches, CSU beat Bowling Green in four sets, 25-19, 21-25, 25-14, 31-29.

"It makes me feel great, I love having a lot of kills," Jones said. "I think it just makes me more comfortable in the back row. I've never played in the back row before, so being able to do that and execute it very well was a really huge thing for my confidence."

While five-set matches can be thrilling for all involved, the Rams adamantly wanted to avoid doing it for a fifth straight match. Head coach Emily Kohan had to remind her team of it after the second set, when Bowling Green tied the score at one set a piece.

What followed was the second-best hitting set of the Rams' season. Their .560 hitting percentage in the third set was just behind the .640 mark in the second set against Central Arkansas last Sunday.

"We've had some trying five set matches, so I asked (the team), 'do we really want to go down this road again?'" Kohan said. "So I told them to find some motivation and let's put the pedal to the metal and try to get this done faster instead of messing around with it. I thought they did a good job with that."

It took a lot of extra volleyball in the fourth set to settle the match, including some long, wild rallies, a coach's challenge and a great need for level heads. In the end, the Rams took the set despite needing 31 points to do so.

Over the past week, the Rams have focused on being relentless, but disciplined when scores are close. According to Jones, five set matches against quality programs have certainly helped in learning how to play in tight moments.

"It's been like a killer mentality the entire time," Jones said. "Whether it works out or not, we're gonna go out swinging and we want to feel good about how we play so that's how it's been, and it's been working in our favor."

The Rams weren't just firing on offense behind Jones' performance and another 13 kills from hitter Kennedy Stanford. Out-blocking the Falcons 10-4 also played a factor, especially behind Naeemah Weathers, who had six blocks and was one of five Rams to record multiple block assists.

For a few stretches of play, the Falcons had a rough time finding any space to hit through Weathers and other Rams blockers. Still, Kohan thought the blocking could have "gone up a whole level."

The Rams will have less than 24 hours to prepare for their fourth ranked opponent this season, as they'll take on No. 14 Baylor at 6 p.m. Friday. Having already seen three ranked opponents and beaten one of them, they have the past experience to draw on to deal with Baylor, which has seen three ranked opponents of its own.

CSU won't necessarily require another career night from Jones or another individual to stand out. They'll take it if it comes, but it needs to be an entire group effort. Kohan knows it. Her team knows it.

"I hope the team can find a little extra level of motivation," Kohan said. "To beat those kinds of teams, you have to have a lot of people firing on all cylinders. You watch our last four games and different people emerge at different times, but when we put it all together and all of them are firing, I think good things are going to happen."

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