No. 13 Colorado State clinched the Mountain West volleyball title with a 3-1 win at UNLV by scores of 25-18, 23-25, 25-19 and 25-15. The win also marks seven straight conference titles, a feat no other school has accomplished. Ever. 

“It is exhilarating, I’m telling you I feel great,” CSU head coach Tom Hilbert said moments after clinching the title. “It was nice to win it outright, nice to win it at UNLV because we lost here last year so getting through this little hurdle was a great thing.”

The Rams came out to battle in the first set and looked to be in control until unforced errors slowed them in the second set.

“We had a lot more unforced errors tonight than we normally do,” Hilbert said. “It’s the reason we lost the second set and you know that shouldn’t happen. So, we have to make sure that it was maybe just an off night. But we need to take care of the ball when we’re hitting it. That’s really important.”

Both UNLV and CSU were hitting in the negatives throughout the second set, however CSU volleyball came back throughout the match and finished hitting .189.

The Rams had three different players record double-doubles: Adrianna Culbert, Alex Reid and Crystal Young.

Culbert and Reid led the team in kills with 12 each, while Culbert also contributed 26 assists and Reid added 12 digs. Young had 25 assists and 13 digs against UNLV.

Hilbert went on to explain where his focus is now with just three games left in the regular season before the NCAA Tournament. 

“The biggest focus is for us to stay fresh,” Hilbert said. “We need fresh legs, we need to be athletic.”

However, he’s trying not to look too far ahead.

“I still want to win two conference matches and beat Iowa State,” Hilbert said. “I mean, that’s whats on my mind.”

The Rams will be presented their hard earned Mountain West trophy at the match against Fresno State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Moby Arena.

Collegian Sports Reporter Pia Myers can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com and on Twitter @ByPiaMyers.