Connor Roche
The Colorado State University women's volleyball team celebrates together after a scored point in their game versus the University of Nevada in Moby Arena Sept. 27. CSU Won 3-0.
A conference play win can be checked off the list.
Colorado State volleyball defeated Nevada 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-13) Saturday in a dominant bounce back performance, firing from all aspects of the court.
After a road loss to Wyoming Sept. 25, the team needed a big performance at home against UN.
“Wyoming is always a tough place to play,” head coach Emily Kohan said. “We know that when we show up in conference, there’s a target on our back and we’re going to get the best from everyone. … I’ve been part of championship teams that have walked out of Laramie with a loss and continue to have a great season.”
From the offensive end to the defensive end, everything clicked once the Rams gained some momentum, and they never turned back.
“We’ve been working a lot on our offense,” Eve Wilson said. “We really got in a good rhythm today, all the middles were able to feed them a lot, I think passing was great which always helps keep our offense going, and I think us just taking good rips, staying high and doing what we do best helped us win.”
Wilson set a season-high in blocks Saturday with seven — her previous high being five. Whichever middle blocker duo was out there through the combinations of Wilson, Kekua Richards and Brenna Rowland, they put on a blocking clinic for the fans of Moby Arena to see.
“They have a pretty even offense, which is what we’re practicing and scouting,” Richards said. “So I think our scouting report was super awesome, too, and just the schemes that we were in worked really well.”
Through the first two sets, CSU played very consistently, building a little lead early in the set and then practically trading points every possession with Nevada from there on to finish out sets one and two each with a four-point victory.
It was the front row, however, that pushed the Rams over the edge, having a 23-6 edge in blocks and holding the Wolfpack to just a 10% hitting percentage after the whole match.
“We wanted to come out strong and also respect Nevada as a team too,” Richards said. “Just kind of keep playing at a high level for every team that we play, so we wanted to play them like how we played Wyoming.”
After taking a 2-0 set lead, the Rams not only didn’t take their foot off the gas in the third set, they pushed down even harder, opening the set on an 11-3 run — this time with the attackers taking the spotlight.
“Every week we’re trying to make sure the whole team is ready to go if their number gets called,” Kohan said. “And today was a great data point to say that there’s a lot of weapons that we could use.”
Richards and Halle Jameson tied for the team-lead with nine kills apiece, while the versatility of the team showed as Rowland and Wilson had seven kills each — and Maria Brun continued her successful sophomore season with five kills.
The middle blocker trio of Rowland, Richards and Wilson combined for 20 blocks, with Richards chiming in eight of those to round out her stat line with a complete offensive and defensive performance.
“We were definitely hungry today,” Wilson said. “It sucks to lose in that fashion on Thursday, and we didn’t want any of that energy going forward. So we came out on Friday, a good reset, not dwelling on the loss, but definitely were ready for today.”
The team celebrated Alumni Weekend and the 50th anniversary of CSU volleyball during Saturday’s match, as the Rams put on an outstanding performance for the dozens of CSU volleyball alums who were in attendance and commemorated before and during the game.
“I was really emotional before the match,” Kohan said. “To look around and to be like we have a great support system in the whole Ramily that has built this program over the 50 years into what it is, it’s such an honor to play your little part in it and to hopefully make everyone who came before you really proud.”
The Rams now hold a 1-1 conference record and improve to 7-5 on the season, as they prepare to travel and play New Mexico in Albuquerque on Oct. 2.
Reach Devin Imsirpasic at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter at @DImsirpasic.