Back in Moby Arena for the ninth time this season, Rams volleyball battled San Jose State in another head-to-head conference match. Following a disappointing performance in the first border war match against Wyoming, vengeance was weighing on the Rams to combat defeat.  

The Rams were full of energy to start off as they came out swinging, jumping to an early lead 5-2. Defensive domination was a pinpoint factor for the Rams’ early success with huge blocks and digs on the front line. That fast start helped the Rams sweep at home a second time in a row (25-22, 28-26, 25-12).

The Spartans were able to recover, picking up momentum, following errors in the backcourt by the Rams late into the first set. In spite of the mistakes, the Rams pushed through, with key blocks from Karina Leber and Kennedy Stanford allowing the Rams to take the first set.

 The Rams shifted to an offensive approach to begin the next set, as opposed to playing more conservatively the previous set. The first point of the second set was awarded to Malaya Jones, setting the tone with a powerful kill.

Jones was able to set a tone after the first set, including powerful kills — something that Ram fans have become accustomed to from her.

“I think it’s mostly training my mind to go into the same spots and see the same things every time — I think it helps me a lot,” Jones said. “Just going up having great vision helps me with a lot of my plays to stay consistent.”

The Rams let their guard down with multiple service errors late. These mistakes saw SJSU take their first lead of the game. However, the Rams didn’t let that happen for long and went right back on the attack with the struggling Spartans defense.

Following two aces from the Rams, the energy picked up heading into a late second set. After a deep effort from both teams with multiple back-and-forth lead changes, the Rams were able to capitalize on a few mistakes from the Spartans. Stanford continued that momentum with huge kills down the stretch, giving the Rams the second set victory 28-26.

The Rams sought their second straight home sweep, taking a commanding lead early in the third set 8-1. Both the offense and defense were on point for the Rams, as various starters were pulled, giving playing time to second stringers late into the match.

“I think we were kind of angry after Tuesday, and we wanted to come out aggressive, and we had a good week in practice,” Stanford said. “Translating the intensity we had in practice over into this game was definitely a focus.”

And anger is what the Rams showed. After the Spartans pushed the Rams late in both of the first two sets, the Rams took their anger out on the Spartans.

In spite of the few points awarded to the Spartans, the Rams struck with authority with late kills from Jones, allowing the Rams to continue their dominating performance at home and to pull off the sweep.

The team continues to pick up great wins at home, but their road record needs major improvements. Jones is one of the Rams’ biggest contributors to the success they’ve had at home, but the biggest struggles for the team has come on the road. With the team’s woeful 2-5 away record, including some bad losses, head coach Emily Kohan said she knows they have to be better on the road if they want to compete during tournament play.

“We have to create some practice environments where there (are) situations where they are feeling a lot of pressure,” Kohan said. “We’ve tried to restructure some drills. … Maybe we need to practice in another gym this week to get ready because we haven’t been the best road team. … The conference tournament is on the road, the NCAA tournament is on the road, so that is something we know we have to get better at.”

The Rams will hope to heed Kohan’s advice as they travel to take on Air Force 6 p.m. Oct. 12. The Falcons are 12-5 (4-2 MW) and are coming off a loss to UNLV.

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