Colorado State volleyball sent Boise State University galloping back to Idaho after sweeping the Broncos to kick off homecoming weekend (25-14, 25-23, 25-20).

Coming into the match, BSU was 3-3 in conference play while the Rams were 4-2. The hosts came into the match with their eyes on the lookout for outside hitter, senior Sabryn Roberts. The Torrance, Cali. native came into the match leading the herd in kills with 266 on a .257 hitting percentage. 

The Rams were able to come in hot and make stops early as they posted 14 kills in the first set over the BSU’s six.

“I thought that we played really well and I thought that it was interesting because you know our service pressure was really good,” Coach Tom Hilbert said. “We got them disrupted right off the bat in the match and they kind of bailed on the first set.”

Roberts was prepared for but still managed a .321 hitting percentage and 13 kills as BSU’s leading scorer.

Celebrating her birthday, junior Paulina Hougaard-Jensen was right behind redshirt sophomore Breana Runnels on the team with 11 kills and hitting a .391 hitting percentage. Runnels finished the night with 12 kills of her own, adding to her team-high total. 

The closest set in the match came during the second set where the Rams only won by a pair of volleys. CSU was able to stick through and finish off the sweep. The aforementioned Hougaard-Jensen tallied four of her 11 kills and added a block to lead the way through the hard-fought middle set.

“We get really excited to play Boise and we wanted to go into this match starting strong right away with a lot of intensity and passion into the match,” sophomore Maddi Foutz

Junior setter Katie Oleksak had 40 assists in the game, tying her season-high in a match. The third-year starter contributed to the Rams’ successful attempt at holding BSU at one win in the teams’ history of contests once again. 

With eleven regular season games left for the Rams, Hilbert and his team are looking to maintain the same vigor in preparation for games as they have thus far. 

“We are working really hard to stay positive in practice and not just think of practice as something we have to get over with but as something to be happy about and play for each other,” Hougaard-Jensen said. 

Playing the matinee matchup of the universities’ homecoming weekend, the Rams reversed their previous two-game losing streak with a pair of wins at home against BSU and the Air Force Academy Oct. 5.

“I know it’s funny that it’s the same size court and the same height net but it’s just different when you’re on the road,” Hilbert said. “They just think a little bit too much sometimes but when we’re at home… the whole key now is just for these girls to get that feeling and to understand what it feels like to be comfortable as an aggressive server and then we can go do it on the road.”

A perfect three-game homestand is on the line when the Rams take on Mountain West foe Utah State University who is 1-6 in conference play. The game will take place in Moby Oct. 13 at 7 p.m.

Sydney Wicker can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @sydney_wicker