A new year and a new conference, but it’s the same mission for head coach Emily Kohan and Colorado State Volleyball as they approach the 51st season in program history.
Last season the Rams found themselves with numerous storylines. In addition to the being the program’s semicentennial season, 2025 also served as the conclusion of a substantial chapter for CSU Athletics in the Mountain West conference, as the Rams prepared for their first season in the Pac-12 the following year.
In a season full of headlines, the group saw their season end in heartbreaking fashion, as CSU lost in the MW Championship to the No. 1 Utah State Aggies 3-0 (16-25, 20-25, 19-25). Despite the disappointing ending, the Rams look to not only bounce back this season but to take a dig at some of the unfamiliar faces the team isn’t accustomed to seeing come late September.
“All of us being able to play in the Mountain West tournament just gave us a lot of experience,” outside hitter Halle Jameson said. “We were a pretty young team last year. Over half our team was new, so I think it was good experience for our team to get to play in such a big tournament and we’re excited to go do it again this year in the Pac-12.”
CSU officially joined the Pac-12 July 1, in which programs like Gonzaga, Washington State, Oregon State and Texas State will become staple opponents, ultimately presenting the Rams with a new goal to aim for: a Pac-12 championship.
With a new year often comes a lot of change for a roster. Just a year prior, Kohan found herself being tasked with molding an almost entirely new roster. However, this season will be quite different. Eleven of the team’s 17 players are returning, allowing Kohan to find some consistency despite being in an era filled with change.
“I think we’re an incredibly close team,” Kohan said. “The dynamic of integrating six new players into the team is pretty seamless and you’re watching some of those young kids act way more mature than (first-years) on a roster.”
Since the beginning of her tenure as CSU head coach, Kohan has made it abundantly clear CSU is going to recruit hard, whether it’s their first-year or transfers..
While a new environment and system can be intimidating for any newcomer, it hasn’t deterred incoming players from trying to make an impact not only in practice but to make a play for a spot on the line up. First-year players Ella Stowell, Abby Little, Jaedyn Riley and Hayden Grimes all look to make an early impact on a competitive roster, along with Fort Collins’ own Olivia Ewing.
The 2025-26 official roster saw a sizable portion of the roster consisting of transfers like Eve Wilson, Brenna Rowland, Riley Simpson and Zosia Szczotkiewicz. This year, the team has only one transfer, Sophie Stephenson, an opposite hitter graduate student who previously spent time at both Loyola Marymount and Illinois, bringing veteran experience to a young and emerging team. Stephenson’s addition to the green and gold also allows Wilson to stay at her natural middle-blocking position, something she didn’t get going into the 2025-26 season.
“It definitely is nice to know there’s a set plan that I’m going to be playing middle,” Wilson said. “I think it’s great that we have such a great opposite position group, and Sophie’s been a great addition to our team, and she’s a great consistent opposite with a lot of experience, and she’s, like, an older player, so it’s cool to have her to look to, and I think it’s just helped me to settle into my position and being able to know what the fall is going to look like for me.”
With Simpson being sidelined to start last season due injury, Wilson took the responsibility of playing opposite hitter. Despite slowly moving back to the middle blocker role midseason, Wilson wasn’t fully able to get fully adjusted on the new team. Luckily for her, she not only gets to start the season in a role she’s known to flourish in but also the opportunity to play side-by-side with a proven opposite player in Stephenson.
While the roster and schedule for Kohan and Rams is set, their fate isn’t.
There’s quite the long road ahead with what some are saying to be one of the most competitive and grueling nonconference schedules in the entire country. They will face opponents like UC Davis, James Madison and UCSB, as well as No. 11 SMU, No. 19 North Carolina, and in-state rival No. 23 University of Colorado.
“When we’re scheduling nonconference, we’re definitely keeping (Rating Percentage Index) and the math behind trying to be a postseason team in consideration,” Kohan said. “You want to be able to be a forty-ish RPI team to know that you’re getting into that NCAA tournament either as the automatic qualifier or as an at-large berth, and so we were really deliberate in scheduling this nonconference to have 20 win teams.”
CSU is set to face UC Davis at home in Moby Arena Aug. 28 as the first official home game of the season. Its first official Pac-12 game is scheduled Sept. 24 against San Diego State. The Rams will play a combination of familiar MW teams along with four other programs within the newly solidified Pac-12, with the hopes of taking their throne back after last winning the conference championship in 2024. The final nonconference game of the season will come against the familiar in-state foe, the Buffaloes; the Rams will play at home for the Battle for the Golden Spike.
“I have seen various different media outlets come out with their Pac-12 preseason rankings, and I think we have the target on our back,” Kohan said. “And as somebody who’s really competitive, I love to be No. 1 and to stay No. 1. And I have no desire to be No. 2 ever in my life, and so I love that our team is really ambitious and excited about some of the new places we get to go and new conference opponents, but again, same mission statement.”
Reach John Vu at sports@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
