Colorado State volleyball found itself in unfamiliar territory mounting a comeback down two sets Thursday night.
Boise State shot out of the gates in its matchup against CSU Thursday at Moby Arena. The Rams put up a fight, but ultimately ceded to the top serving team in the Mountain West in a five-set competitive match. CSU walked away from the bout with a hard-fought loss (18-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-12, 12-15) and a broken win streak.
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An exhilarating fifth and final set ended with the Rams falling just three points short. Ultimately, they were just slightly outmatched.
The disappointing result matched the tone at the end of the second set. CSU is now known for its offensive prowess, but started their match by allowing an eight point run to put them behind early on. At that moment, it was just a matter of hanging on.
“(Boise State is) one of the best defensive teams in the conference and so, in those first two sets we really saw that,” coach Emily Kohan said. “And so after halftime, I was really proud that we came back and we kind of found our groove again.”
Malaya Jones and Karina Leber were a couple of the main reasons the Rams stayed in it. Jones finished with an impressive statline of 28 kills and six blocks, wearing different hats in key moments. The recently crowned Mountain West Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week hit harder than anyone on the court — and it yielded ample dividends.
The adjustments halfway through were a credit to the coaching staff, as the third and fourth sets were undoubtedly CSU’s.
“We go after different things every week,” graduate player Emery Herman said. “You want to make those adjustments because you don’t want to get beat. So, that’s kind of just a mentality thing, like, ‘Oh she’s doing this, let me change so I can get her,’ kind of thing.”
These adjustments are some of the things veteran players are looking to instill in the younger athletes. First-year Jordyn Tynsky contributed with two aces and four assists. The evident positive atmosphere during the game is something that the team expects outside of competition as well.
“You hope that the older players kind of help (younger players) maintain their emotional stability a little bit,” Kohan said. “You watch (Naeemah Weathers) hold Jordyn’s head when she’s coming in and the older players do a really nice job of giving them some comfort, even when they make a mistake.”
The cohesiveness of the Rams has served them well in the last several games. Prior to Thursday’s bout, CSU was on a six-game winning streak with an initial 5-0 start within their conference. It’s no surprise that four of those came at home, as spectators in Moby Arena constantly engage to support their team.
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“Moby is the best crowd to play in front of,” Leber said. “It’s just unmatched with any other school that you go and play at. … So when we go on the road, it’s a little bit harder because we don’t have the energy from our home support.”
CSU will look to continue their overall strong conference play in their upcoming match on the road against San Diego State.
“What we talked about was being a better road team this year,” Kohan said. “And we’re a mature team, we got all those fifth years that, they can be a good road team.”
Reach Michael Hovey at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @michaelfhovey.
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