The puzzle pieces that are Colorado State volleyball are falling into place, securing depth and success.

What once was a team that was unpredictable due to so many new players — whether it be first-years or transfers — bloomed into a roster with enough momentum and motivation to become one of the top-ranked Mountain West squads.

And with a 3-0 win (25-13, 25-13, 25-11) against Fresno State Thursday, the Rams brought themselves to a five-game win streak, bringing their conference score higher and the team closer together.

“The team really loves each other,” head coach Emily Kohan said. “Regardless of what the lineup is, if Kekua (Richards) is in or if it’s Brenna (Rowland) in, I think our team is stuck together. And one of our core values is unity, and (we) stay as a unit throughout the season.”

Kohan expanded beyond the usual lineup as CSU wedged a bigger gap into the score, with 14 players of a 17-person roster rotating in throughout the match, with each round of players bringing in their own wave of skill.

And through this, instead of one player shining, it was the chemistry of the Rams that propelled them further.

“Everyone on the bench can come in, as you saw,” Jameson said. “Like Jazen (Debina) came in, got a few kills; Brooke (Holman) came in, got the game-winning kill. We just have so many amazing players on our team, and just at any moment, anyone can come in and do really well.”

In the front row, all the attackers racked up a team total of 44 kills. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs only scored 18 during the entire match — and notably, CSU’s Maria Brun tallied the most on the court with 10, more than half of FSU’s total — with a hitting percentage of 0%.

“It shows how hard we’ve been working,” outside hitter Halle Jameson said. “One of our main goals has been to lower teams’ hitting efficiency. So I think it just shows (that) we’ve been working really hard. We have a good defense, we have a good block, and it can really shut down some teams.”

Jameson tied for second in kills for the Rams with Riley Simpson, each securing seven, and had a combined hitting percentage of 49%. On par with the rest of the season, Jameson was a constant for the team in the back row and topped her season high of aces with three.

Although there was a dip in momentum at the end of the first set, CSU proved why it’s currently second in the MW standings.

And with a shaky Bulldog defense, the Rams time and time again proved their power.

“Our goal for October was to still be getting better,” Wilson said. “I think we’ve grown a lot since our first match in October, so this will be our last match in October. And I think there’s just been a lot of growth, and we really wanted to just make a statement.”

And a statement of a punctuation of a five-game win streak with 44 kills, nine aces, 31 digs and 11 blocks was a nice one to make before entering the last stretch of the season.

Recently, CSU volleyball has been readjusting the roster after the introduction of Simpson into the starters. For the better portion of the season, Simpson was out on injury, but a few games ago, she made her debut, and because of that, positions have been shifting.

Eve Wilson has returned to her main role as middle blocker — she began the season hitting in the opposite position — and, since her return to middle, has flourished with a multitude of kills and blocks.

Often when FSU attempted to trick the Rams and tip it over, Wilson or Richards hung in the air, forcing the ball right back down. The two main middle hitters of the night got a combined total of five blocks.

“I think we served really great today; that’s our first line of defense,” Wilson said. “And then we’ve really been (performing) accurately on blocking. … Just all areas of our defense (were) well-rounded tonight.”

Yet the Bulldogs had a different fate when it came to blocking.

FSU either went up too late or did not go up high enough, allowing several explosive hits from the Rams — most notably from Richards — and only managed to get four blocks throughout the entire match.

And with a sporadic defense, the Bulldogs attempted to shift their approach with the offense and began to tip, which worked for one point, but CSU quickly adjusted — something it learned after an exploitive game from Notre Dame earlier in the season.

“We’re ready to play hard teams,” Jameson said. “We don’t want to let up and give them a chance to get in the game. So, we’re ready to play really, really hard.”

And the Rams only have one more game before they face off against Utah State again, a team that has a current win streak of 11 and sits at the top of the conference.

This time last season, Kohan referred to this part of the year as the “revenge tour,” and now, with this boost in confidence, CSU will be ready to hit the road for two weeks after playing San Jose State Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We’re definitely not satisfied,” Wilson said. “Kind of the same thing with the Wyoming game, we have some revenge to do, so we have a lot of work for this next coming week.”