Malaya Jones didn’t mince any words following Colorado State volleyball’s 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21) win over Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon.

“I told you we was going to win,” Jones said to begin her post-game press conference. “I told you.”

She’s not lying. During CSU’s 0-4 loss streak to start the season, Jones consistently posited that the level the Rams have been playing at is far higher than what their record displays, especially in their loss Friday night to No. 12 Oregon.

“(Central Arkansas and Grand Canyon) are not at the level of Oregon,” Jones said after Friday’s match. “I think if we play like (we did tonight), we stomp the whole weekend.”

Stomp they did. With the exception of the second set, CSU found itself firmly in the drivers seat the whole match, playing at a level of consistency it hasn’t fully been able to display all season.

After starting a season 0-4 for the first time in program history, a nice dominant win seems to be exactly what the squad needed.

“When you look down at the box score and you’ve got five hitters hitting pretty well, that’s a good sign things are going to go pretty well,” coach Emily Kohan said.

The green and gold had five players hit at least .250 or better throughout the match — with four of them hitting over .350.

One of those standout players was Maria Brun, a freshman from Barcelona, Spain.

Brun had never played a single point of collegiate volleyball prior to Saturday’s match. She didn’t even know before the match started she would be seeing time on the court.

“In the first set I was just on the bench, then (Kohan) told me ‘Come on, go onto the court,'” Brun said. “She didn’t tell me before the match; it was a spontaneous decision.”

For someone who didn’t know she would be playing until it was her time to go in, Brun certainly made a statement as to why she deserves more playing time.

The outside hitter came into the match in the first set and immediately went on a 7-0 service run. That run ended up as the determining factor in CSU’s first set victory, as it brought the Rams from being down 17-19 to being up 24-19.

“I’m sure she’s been eagerly awaiting her turn,” Kohan said. “She had a little injury this summer and she’s trying to work her way into understanding how fast our system is compared to how she played in Europe. … She’s been waiting for this moment to get to go into the game and say ‘I’m ready’ and she did a great job seizing her opportunity.”

Once again, CSU’s offensive production cannot be discussed without mentioning Jones. The opposite hitter had 26 kills, double the total of UCA’s Laci Bohannan, who had the second most kills with 13.

Jones hit .415 off of 53 attacks while also tallying six digs and one block assist.

“It’s funny because in the back row, she’s just as good as she is in the front row,” Kohan said. “Sometimes when hitters click into the back row you get a sigh of relief of ‘Oh, thank god they’re not in the front row anymore’ but she just keeps coming at you — you just don’t get a break from her. It’s been fun to watch her develop in all of her facets of the game.”

Reach Will Engle at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @willengle44.