The remnants of Hurricane Hillary wasn’t the only storm that entered the Fort Collins area Friday night. Colorado State volleyball poured down as well. In Emily Kohan’s first career game as head coach, CSU defeated No. 10 Kentucky 3-1.
It was a thundering night to begin with from the crowd at Moby Arena. It was the third-largest crowd for a volleyball game ever and broke the record for largest student attendance in Moby Arena history, said Kyle Neaves, associate athletic director for communications at CSU.
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“I think we really came together today, and I’m proud of everything we’ve done, and I just couldn’t have done it without the girls next to me.” -Emery Herman, CSU volleyball setter
In a night that shocked the volleyball world, the Rams turned a new leaf. Although Kohan is new at the helm, a large part of the team from a season ago remain, with the exception of Arizona transfer Emery Herman.
“I think just running the offense, we have Emery (Herman), our new setter,” Malaya Jones said. “She’s a really, really great setter — she spreads the offense very well, even in situations that aren’t her strength. That’s what I really think gave us opportunities to be able to hit the ball, get more kills and spread the offense.”
Herman helped lead the Rams offense tonight, including notching a team-high 35 assists.
“She did wonderfully — not only looking at balls, but the team wants to play for her,” Kohan said. “They love her, and she’s constantly asking them, ‘What do you need more?’ and, ‘What do you need better?’ and so, yeah, she did awesome for the team in a great position to score on those rotations.”
Oftentimes last year, Kennedy Stanford would be alone at the top of the box score in kills, but that wasn’t the case in the Rams’ upset win tonight. It was a lot more balanced for the Rams, as Annie Sullivan (18) and Jones (11) led the team in kills.
“I think it just shows the work we put in,” Herman said. “I think we really came together today, and I’m proud of everything we’ve done, and I just couldn’t have done it without the girls next to me.”
Instead of staying on the front lines, Stanford moved around the court, allowing the Rams to be more dynamic and preventing the Wildcats from focusing in on Stanford.
“I just think we knew with the scouting reports of last year that teams are going to focus on Kennedy more,” Kohan said. “And so I think that’s a big kudos to the rest of our girls for being able to step up when they knew that Kennedy was getting blocks sent over to them.”
The Rams made it interesting to start the match. Needing 29 points to take the first set, the Rams set the tone. It was a true team effort by the Rams in order to clinch the first set. Herman assisted Stanford and Sullivan on the Rams’ 27th and 28th points before Naeemah Weathers capitalized on an attack error to clinch the set.
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The Rams took the third set up 2-0. However, they wouldn’t get the sweep done but came out in the fourth set with a thirst for victory. The Rams took care of business, winning the final set 25-18. Kohan’s message to the team helped calm them down and secure the victory.
“We got a little timid in the third set,” Jones said. “Even in those situations, you need to be brave; you need to block, tip and roll; you need to make better shots, better selections; you need to play how we played in the first two sets. They are a top-10 team, and we’re going to play that, and this is the thing: We did it, and we came out.”
The Rams will ride into tomorrow night with some of that same magic, as they take on No. 3 Stanford. Stanford is coming off of a 3-0 sweep against Northern Colorado. The game will be at home at 7 p.m., amd Moby Arena will continue rocking.
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
