No. 21 CSU volleyball spent their Saturday on the road where they took down San Jose State 3-1 (25-23, 25-15, 25-14, 25-19), and they were able to add a first for CSU volleyball records thanks to Adrianna Culbert.
Culbert, who recently broke CSU volleyball’s career triple-doubles record, had the first quadruple-double in Mountain West volleyball history.
“I think it’s just a testament as to what a great player she is all around,” CSU head coach Tom Hilbert said. “She does everything. She’s really dedicated herself to learn the entire game and she’s such a hard worker and such a grinder. And I’m so proud of her.”
Culbert had 10 kills, 24 assists, 12 digs, and 11 blocks for the Rams in the match against SJSU.
The Rams had a rough start against the Spartans, who were able to steal the first set.
“The other team had a pretty good serving strategy. They were short serving us and took advantage of some opportunities,” Hilbert said. “And then we missed five serves, you can’t miss five serves in a set you’re going to lose.”
Errors were high for CSU after the first set with five serving errors and six attack errors, but CSU volleyball used their aggression to dominate the rest of the game.
“All that set did was just make them mad, and then we went out and played three of the best sets we’ve played,” Hilbert said.
The Spartans couldn’t penetrate the Rams’ defense and blocking all day. CSU volleyball out-blocked San Jose 17-9, and kept San Jose’s hitting percentage down to .064 throughout the match.
The Rams defensive execution is undeniably the reason that CSU won the match against San Jose. The Rams had a difficult time utilizing their outside hitters, and found themselves to be out-attacked by San Jose 140-126.
“Our outside hitters really struggled most of the day because San Jose is a good defensive team and they can put stops on people if you’re just swinging into the cross-court range,” Hilbert said.
CSU continues the road trip this upcoming week against Boise State and Utah State.
Hilbert’s emphasis for the team this week heading into the match against Boise State – who pushed the Rams to the brink in a five-set thriller earlier in the season – is preparing for the Broncos middles and learning how to control them.
The Rams look to defend their 8-0 MW record at Boise State Thursday at 7 p.m.
Collegian Sports Reporter Pia Myers can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @ByPiaMyers.
