In the final set of the match, with Colorado State volleyball holding a comfortable lead, Malaya Jones ricocheted the ball off her hair for a kill. Through embraces from her teammates, she held up her hands in the air as if to ask: Are you not entertained?

That moment, as improbable and random as it may have been, seemed to be a perfect encapsulation of how the Rams felt in their 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 27-25, 25-17) victory over Colorado: pure elation.

“I’m feeling more over the moon,” Jones said. “It was like my bun got the kill. It was crazy. So it was just like a wow moment, I was just so happy to be there, so happy for my entire team that I could do it for them.”

Jones made it clear set-after-set Friday night that she was the best player on the court. The opposite hitter had 22 kills on the night, six more than second place Ana Burilovic’s 16.

The Rams’ offense was firing on all cylinders, a scary sight for incoming conference opponents, whom the Rams will begin playing next week. While Jones may have took the spotlight, Naeemah Weathers’ 15 kills and Kennedy Stanford’s 11 showed CSU’s might from all angles of attack.

“Our team is full of exceptional athletes and exceptional people,” Weathers said. “So being able to get all of us firing on all cylinders and having (Emery Herman) dish out absolute butter was super cool to be able to see, especially in Boulder.”

The Rams’ win over CU closed out a 2-day competition for the Golden Spike, a trophy awarded to the series winner between both volleyball teams. After losing Thursday night 3-1 and winning Friday 3-1, the Rams won the trophy off of a tiebreaker based on the winner of the final game.

For every member of the team, this would be their first time ever hoisting the spike, as the Rams have not been awarded the trophy since 2019. Coach Emily Kohan said she felt an immense amount of pride in her team to be able to bring the Golden Spike back to Fort Collins.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Kohan said. “We showed a lot of resiliency and grit and we talked about that, like, ‘Hey, this is our last chance (for our seniors to play) CU probably ever and the last chance to get a Golden Spike trophy.’ I’m just really proud of the way they showed up. To get punched in the teeth yesterday to get up and punch back is good for our team to know they can do that.”

Punch back they did. The Rams outpaced the Buffs in both offense and defense, posting a .338 hitting percentage to CU’s .203 and tallying 54 digs over CU’s 43.

When it came down to fine details of executing, CSU excelled at putting the nail in the coffin. At the end of the third set, the Rams found themselves tied at 25 with the Buffs. In a season where CSU has found itself struggling to finish those close sets, coming out with a set win was crucial to its success. Thanks to a service error from the Buffs and a solo block by true freshman Maria Brun, the Rams closed it out and gave themselves the momentum to finish the rest of the match in their favor.

“We talked about it in the beginning of the third set saying, ‘Hey, we’ve been in that split situation, that 1-1 situation, in almost every match of the year so far,'” Kohan said. “We know that if we win that second one then the monkey’s off your back and you can go into the fourth one with a little bit of relief. … They didn’t give up and they just kept grinding and found a way to do it.”

The Rams will travel back to Fort Collins for just a few short days before embarking on the road again to take on their first conference opponent: Utah State.

The Aggies dominated the Mountain West last year, posting a near-spotless 17-1 conference record. Kohan said she has the utmost confidence in her team moving into the second part of the season.

“You hope that going into conference, you know, you always have the goal of winning a championship,” Kohan said. “And winning at Utah State on Thursday — the defending conference champions — I think would be a huge tone to set and say, ‘Hey we’re here and we’re going to take this seriously.'”

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