(Highlights by Olivia Landis/CTV11)
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The No.12 Colorado State volleyball team not only went undefeated over the weekend in its first three matches of the year, it did so without losing a single set.
CSU (3-0) swept the University of Northern Iowa in three sets by scores of 25-19, 25-16 and 25-18 in CSU’s final match of the Rams Volleyball Classic.
Within each set played against UNI there was evident growth amongst the players individually and the team as a whole. Head coach Tom Hilbert pointed out how the efficiency of UNI’s defensive players tested the Ram’s patience at the net.
“It’s frustrating,” Hilbert said. “They dig a lot of balls but if you’re patient and you keep your errors down you eventually have good matches as an outside hitter.”
Throughout the match against UNI, the Rams began to settle into a more natural and patient type of playing, especially at the net.
“We are beginning to come of age as a blocking team,” Hilbert said. “We are starting to fundamentally do it right, we are starting to scheme right. It had an impact on that other team tonight. That’s what I want to do. I want to be physical enough to where even if we are playing the game at a similar level to a team like that we are going to win some of those physical battles at the net. And that’s what happened.”
Adrianna Culbert finished the match with 15 assists and 13 digs, and was one kill away from her second triple-double of the day.
“I think we learned some of our strengths, but we also learned a lot of the things that we need to get better at,” Culbert said. “I think that is the best part of it.”
Now, Hilbert is looking ahead to how CSU will prepare to take on No.16 Arizona State, Western Michigan and Northern Colorado this upcoming weekend.
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“We are going to go back into the gym for the next three days and really work on trying to be a better team at the (outside) attacking,” Hilbert said.
“Even though we know that went 3-0 this weekend, we know that we can get a lot better in every category,” Culbert added.
The next game for the No.12 CSU volleyball team is against No.16 Arizona State (3-0) Friday at 7 p.m. at Moby Arena.
Collegian Sports Reporter Pia Myers can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @ByPiaMyers.
