There is always a villain attached to a hero.

And for Colorado State volleyball, Colorado has played that role for years.

CSU rolled into Boulder on Thursday off a 3-0 week, and after winning the third set, the energy in the stadium had turned to CSU. But CU found its way back, resulting in a 3-1 Rams loss (25-23, 27-25, 22-25, 25-21). 

Thursday wasn’t the end of the Rams’ story, but the start of Sofia Zabjek’s. The sophomore hitter turned in one of her strongest performances this season, with 13 kills on a .250 hitting percentage while also finding herself with five blocks in a noteworthy showing.

“I thought we saw (Zabjek) really come out and shine,” head coach Emily Kohan said. “This is one of Zab’s best complete games. I thought she blocked well and she was obviously our best attacker tonight.” 

Even with Zabjek’s outstanding performance, junior Erin Debiec continued to lead the team with scoring opportunities, tallying 38 assists alongside four blocks and four service aces. 

“I think we were doing a really good job pulling the blockers, and Erin was making some really good decisions and setting me up for success,” Zabjek said. “I’m always calling for the ball, but I can tell when she’s got me set up.” 

Wanting that ball was something CSU desperately needed during the matchup after falling by just two points in the first and second sets.

“This is our biggest rival, not just for the volleyball team, for the whole school,” Zabjek said. “Especially with them being ranked this year, we really wanted to come back stronger.”

Zabjek wasn’t the only one finding a new story to write on the court. Halle Jameson didn’t have her usual night on attack, as the sophomore finished with just seven kills on 28 swings. Instead, she led the Rams with 11 digs — finding a new way to write her story on the court. 

“They’re a really good defensive team, so my hitting wasn’t where it normally is,” Jameson said. “I knew I could help in other ways, by trying to get big blocks and make big plays, just finding where I could help.” 

But for Zabjek and Jameson, it wasn’t about how the game started; it was the way the team could rewrite an ending. 

“Before the fourth set, (the message) was that this is a reset, no matter what’s happened, the game starts over and you get to rewrite it,” Jameson said. “We just kept talking about keeping our heads up and flushing out what happened in the past. We didn’t win the first two sets, but we told each other to forget it and move on to the next one.” 

And that mentality found its way from the Rams’ side of the court onto the scoreboard. Even down 0-2, the green and gold struck hard with a 25-22 third-set win and brought momentum into the fourth before CU closed it out 25-21. 

“We were down 0-2, and we’ve been in that spot before where we’ve reversed the sweep,” Kohan said. “The beautiful part about this game is after a set’s over, you get to start over and write your own story. We’re proud we didn’t fold in that third set, and we had some real momentum in the fourth.” 

CU finished just ahead with a .144 hitting percentage as a team compared to CSU’s .107. Senior Ana Burilovic‘s 22 kills led the way Thursday for the Buffaloes.

But this is something CSU has seen before, and it’s something that can be adjusted when returning to Moby Madness and having a home crowd. 

“It’s hard to beat a team twice in a row,” Kohan said. “Now we get the crowd, the momentum, the whiteout and the revenge factor. It’s a beautiful combination of reasons to show up and play really well tomorrow.” 

With the Golden Spike at risk of being taken from their hands, the Rams want to rewrite their story Friday in their whiteout game against CU  — not just for themselves, but also for the school. 

“We definitely want to come back with better energy tomorrow,” Zabjek said. “They had the crowd advantage here and I think that got us a little more than we wanted it to. But tomorrow we’re at home with our fans — that’s going to be to our advantage.” 

Reach Abigail Wood at sports@collegian.com or on social media @Abigaiil_Wood.