Rams to Kick Off Conference Play at Utah State and Nevada

FORT COLLINS – The Colorado State volleyball team enters its first week of Mountain West play on the road against Utah State and Nevada after coming off a tough non-conference schedule with a bit of momentum.

Colorado State (4-6, 0-0 MW) at Utah State (3-8, 0-0 MW)
Wayne Estes Center, Logan, Utah
Thursday, September 26, 2024 // 7 PM MT
Stream: Mountain West Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Colorado State (4-6, 0-0 MW) at Nevada (7-5, 0-0 MW)
Virginia Street Gym, Reno, Nev.
Saturday, September 28, 2024 // 1 PM MT
Stream: Mountain West Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

What You Need to Know

Thursday's game against the Aggies marks the first conference game for the Rams and only second true road weekend. While the Rams are coming off a road win where they claimed the Golden Spike trophy against Colorado last friday, they're only 2-1 with limited road time so far this season.
Fifth-year setter Emery Herman was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week after she led the Rams offensively and defensively with 88 assists and 30 digs respectively throughout the home-and-home series with the Buffs. She also added 10 kills and led the Rams to a .319 hitting percentage over the two games against CU.

Saturday's game against Nevada will feature two of the most dominant hitters in the Mountain West with Colorado State's Malaya Jones and Nevada's Gabby McLaughlin both sit at 172 kills through non-conference play.
The Rams hold winning series records against both upcoming teams with a history of 35-15 against Utah State and 21-2 against Nevada.

Scouting the Road Trip

Utah State goes into conference play after a monumental reverse sweep against Weber State. In Saturday's game outside hitter Kaylie Ray led the Aggies with a career-high 16 kills and .414 hitting percentage while Senior Adna Mehmedovic finished with 13 kills and a .478 hitting percentage and five blocks. The Aggies have had a trend of coming back late in the match to pull out a win, seen in their match against Ohio, winning the fifth set with a score of 16-14. All three wins Utah State has accumulated this non-conference have been come back wins and have been won in five sets.
Nevada leaves non-conference play with a 7-5 record and will host Wyoming Thursday to kick off conference before facing the Rams Saturday. The Wolf Pack are coming off of a losing weekend, going 0-3 with losses to UCF twice and Maryland once. Yet three of Nevada's front line have recorded over 100 kills in 12 games, Gabby McLaughlin with 172, Carissa Chainey with 134, and Bella Snyder with 124. Nevada's offense is supported by sophomore setter Tehya Maeva who has recorded 412 assists, ranking fifth in the Mountain West for an assist percentage of 8.58.
The Aggies, coached by Rob Neilson who was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year the past two seasons, are looking to have another successful season in the conference, winning at least the regular season or tournament championship in each of the last three seasons. Neilson led the Aggies to one of the most impressive seasons in program history during the fall of 2023, with a 17-1 conference record ranking as the highest in program history. The team returns All-Mountain West opposite hitter Adna Mehmedovic who leads the Aggies with 101 kills so far this year. The team has had several standout games in non-conference play including taking No. 19 BYU to five sets. Like Colorado State, they have faced multiple ranked teams in preseason including No. 8 Purdue and No. 23 USC to help prepare for conference action.
The Wolf Pack are led by first-year coach Shannon Hunt. Hunt's first season leading the Wolf Pack comes off working as an assistant coach at Washington State since 2013. Throughout non-conference play Nevada has shown its strength, with big wins over Oregon State, Seattle, CSUN, and UC Riverside. Earlier this preseason, the team swept the Mountain West Player of the Week Honors as junior middle blocker Bella Snyder was awarded Offensive Player of the Week while freshman libero Kinsley Singleton won both Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week.

Match Notes

Last weekend Colorado State competed in the annual home-and-home series against in-state rival Colorado and came home champions in the Battle for the Golden Spike. The Rams made a strong comeback after falling 3-1 to the Buffs in game one of the series at Moby Arena and returned the favor to the Buffs on their turf with a 3-1 win of their own. With a true team win, the Rams set the momentum going into conference.
The third served as a defining set in both matchups last weekend with Thursday's third set ending with the Buffs on top by a score of 32-30. This set momentum carried into the rest of the match, propelling Colorado to come out on top. The Rams learned from this set and flipped the narrative in match two, taking the third set to extra points yet again and finishing with a score of 27-25, ultimately fueling a win in favor of Colorado State this time.
Naeemah Weathers notched 15 total kills in Friday's match, a new season-high. Weathers currently leads the team and holds the third highest hitting percentage in the Mountain West and sits in the top 30 of the NCAA at .418.
Outside Hitter Malaya Jones showed her range on the court, leading the team with 22 kills while also setting her season-high in digs during Friday's match with 13. As conference starts, Jones has the second highest amount of kills in the Mountain West and is ranked 21st in the NCAA, with 172 kills under her belt.
Along with Jones and Weathers, Kennedy Stanford produced 11 kills, Karina Leber with eight, and Maria Brun with five allowing for the offense to be spread across the board keeping the Buffs on their toes, which will prove useful throughout conference play.

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