If there’s a certainty with Colorado State volleyball, it’s that the team writes its own narrative.
Last season, outside noise attempted to creep its way onto the court, but CSU shut it down by not only winning the regular conference season but also the Mountain West Championship.
After the departure of five out of six starters, there was outside speculation about the strength of the team, but once again, the Rams proved themselves in their season opener sweep (25-18, 25-15, 25-10) Friday against Colgate. And while the win was a team effort, the offense stole the spotlight.
“Obviously, with (fix of sive) of our starters being gone, it was nerve-racking to come out there, because everyone’s like ‘Oh, they’re either going to be good,’ or ‘How are they going to be anything?” middle blocker Brenna Rowland said. “So we really showed who we are tonight, and we’re going to keep building from this. It’s just the beginning.”
Although it’s just the beginning, Rowland has already established herself within the team, not only by being one of the most outgoing players on the court — cheering and jumping after every point — but also through racking up numbers on the stat sheet.
Rowland had one of the most consistent swings of the night, having a hitting percentage of 50% and was a wall in the front row, scoring the most blocks of the night with eight.
“I’m not going to lie, I was super nervous. But I decided, I’m just going to take this energy and just put it out on the court,” Rowland said. “To come out and have a great night, connecting with the setters is a really good feeling.”
Redshirt freshman Erin Debiec was the primary setter of the match, and despite only being in her second year of collegiate ball, was incredibly consistent on getting all 23 assists to the best hitter available, one of which was — if not the best of the night — Maria Brun.
Brun had a hitting percentage of 41% and had the most kills of the night at 14, more than doubling the top hitters from CU. But then, being an all-around player, showed off her skills on the back line, serving 10 in a row during the third set as the Rams were itching to finish the game off.
From the beginning, the Rams were sticking with the mindset of playing to win instead of playing to not lose, and that, mixed with the passion of it being the first game of the season, meant nothing was going to stop CSU.
“I feel like everybody this week was practicing with so much energy,” Brun said. “We were so energetic, and I feel (like) we took all that to the core.”
As a whole, CSU had a hitting percentage of 31% — meanwhile, CU crumbled under the energy known as Moby Madness and finished the match hitting a -1%. Every single player who was not redshirting or injured got to have playing time for the Rams, but it didn’t quite work out at first.
In the first set, CSU managed to create a sizeable distance in the score, which is when two new players were subbed onto the court for the first time and a shift occurred, causing CU to bridge the gap by a few points.
This roster experimentation was later repeated in the third set and had a much better outcome as the Rams were more adjusted to CU’s tactics, and with each player celebrating between points, there seemed to be electricity flowing throughout the green jerseys.
“Moby was absolutely packed, the energy was unexplainable,” Rowland said. “And I’ve never felt such excitement out of the student section, and all of the visitors, so it was awesome to see.”
It was evident that CSU has been busy at work during the offseason and that Ram fans will be able to see more playing time from faces that didn’t see the court as much last year. Sydney Black took the second set by storm, going on a serving spree of 10. Aine Doty is coming into her own as libero — scoring the most digs of the night at 11 — and even Karsyn Fetzer was able to see some action after recovering from an injury during the offseason.
Moby Arena quickly set the tone of the night, lively with pride for the Rams.
“I know the faces have changed and the offense looks a little different, but those offensive numbers, I think a lot of coaches in the country will take that on any given night,” head coach Emily Kohan said. “(I’m) just really proud that they made their mark to say, ‘Hey, we’re back.”
Reach Sophie Webb at sports@collegian.com or on social media @sophgwebb.
