Colorado State volleyball clinched the Pac-12 regular season title with a San Diego State loss 3-1 to Texas State and a win against Fresno State 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-16).
The Rams have now won 15 straight games. CSU has also swept eight straight games and won 27 straight sets, marking the third-longest streak in program history.
“Our entire team is super good,” sophomore outside hitter Halle Jameson said. “We have 17 girls who can play really well. So, in practice, we’re just super competitive, always playing super hard and every single girl on this roster challenges everyone.”
CSU has now won the inaugural Pac-12 regular season title while also clinching the top seed in the Pac-12 tournament.
“I think it’s huge,” Jameson said. “It’s super exciting. This is my first time winning a conference championship, so I’m super excited, and I’m just happy for this team. We’ve worked so hard, and I’m just glad that we can see it pay off with that.”
The last set loss for the Rams came almost a month ago, on Oct. 17.
“It’s really rewarding to be able to put in our hard work that we do every single day in practice and on and off the court and be able to get something out of that,” senior middle blocker Kekua Richards said. “It’s super amazing and I know all of my girls are super grateful that we were able to do this together.”
CSU entered today’s game first in the nation in blocks per set at 3.2. The Rams added onto this with five blocks in the first set, and 10 in total.
“I think April (Sanchez) done a wonderful job training them with mechanical blocking,” CSU head coach Emily Kohan said. “And the message is that, that can be one of our strengths, and we can slow down any hitter in the country.”
Richards and Eve Wilson have been the two top blockers on the team, with 118 and 119 total blocks respectively. They have been interchangeable for the Rams, giving them the advantage of having two top-caliber middle blockers on the same team.
“Yeah, I think me and Eve are always hungry,” Richards said. “I feel like me and her always want to be up as much as possible when we’re blocking, and also when we’re just going up in transition. So I think we just want our presence to be out there because that changes the game.”
CSU went on to win the first set handedly 25-16, with help from freshman outside hitter Ella Stowell, who had eight kills in the game.
“I’ve been really proud that Kekua and Erin (Debiec) have found a rhythm again,” Kohan said. “And Kekua has been pretty unstoppable for a few matches in a row, and so it’s a tough decision for the other team.”
The Rams had to fight hard to win the second set 26-24, with Fresno State attempting to claw its way back into the game with multiple momentum swings in the set.
“So I think it’s just us trying to get up,” Richards said. “And then our pins are doing a really good job with setting up the block too. So I think it’s just us being hungry, honestly.”
The green and gold then went on to complete the sweep in the third set, winning 25-16. The Rams ended up rolling out Stowell to the opposite side from which she is used to playing on, changing up the lineup.
“Listen, they have had a lot of different obstacles over the past few weeks with different lineups, and on any given night we’re changing people around,” Kohan said. “And tonight we rolled out with Ella playing opposite in the third set, and I couldn’t be more proud that they figured out how to win, even in that ugly set two, to claw their way back and have a really good end game. They’re figuring out how to win no matter what.”
The Rams were able to give some bench players opportunities during the first and third set today, getting Brenna Rowland, Brooke Holman and Silvie Graetzer playing time.
CSU now looks towards SDSU on Nov. 14, who is second in Pac-12 standings entering the game.
“We want to start strong on our side and control what we can control and not underestimate anyone,” Jameson said. “We know it’s going to be a good game, so we just want to go out and play our game.”
Reach Max Root at sports@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
