Despite losing back-to-back conference matchups against Boise State and Utah State, the Rams had a chance to combat defeat and take home their first conference win this season. 

The Rams were able to knock off San Diego State in a tight 3-1 (25-2, 25-22, 25-1, 25-23) victory. 

Malaya Jones and Kennedy Stanford started off strong with multiple kills. They were able to continue this momentum for the rest of the match, with Jones leading the match with 16 kills.

“Staying high and seeing what’s open and being really smart with my shots,” Jones said.

It was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams, despite the aggression from CSU’s offense, SDSU was able to combat the Rams’ attack. 

Poor defense and a few mental errors from the Rams gave the Aztecs the first set in spite of a few late kills from Annie Sullivan. 

An early block from Jones and Naeemah Weathers in the second set defined the tone for the rest of the match, as the Rams sought to foster an early lead. The energy picked up after a few aggressive kills from the Rams; however, it was a closely fought battle throughout the rest of the match — except for the third set. 

“I think that we did a lot of things that we felt good about at the beginning,” Stanford said. “But we didn’t close it out at the end. We were really focused on if we get a lead holding it and then if we get a lead holding it past point 20.”

The Rams caught fire in the third set, putting them in a prime position to get their first conference win. 

“We had to serve a lot harder; we had to get a lot of assists in so they could stop running their middles,” Jones said. “And then just really clamp on the outside. … I think also just scrappy defensive plays: We need to make better plays, and we did make those plays.”

Stanford was unsteady to start off the match, but she was able to recover from her mistakes by producing multiple game-changing kills along with getting an ace for match point that would set up Sullivan for the game-winning kill.

“You have to let every play be every play (and) move on quickly from even the good plays so you’re not just dwelling on the last points,” Stanford said. 

The team’s ability to move on and focus on the next play gave the Rams the ability to close out the match with a victory.

“I’m really really proud of Kennedy coming back,” head coach Emily Kohan said. “She was keyed on last weekend and didn’t have her best offensive weekend last weekend. I think she hit over .350, which is astronomical as an outside hitter.”

The Rams prepare to take on the No. 1 team in the Mountain West, UNLV, at noon Saturday for the start of Ag Day.

“I think UNLV is a good team, and they also have the best player in (the) conference,” Kohan said. “It is exactly why we designed our preseason the way we did — to play other amazing teams, and we’ve shown we can play with anyone in the country, and I hope that the team’s able to take those memories and put it into effect against a really good UNLV team.”

Reach Luke Hojnowski at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @Lukehojo.