There is an embarrassment of riches at coach Emily Kohan’s disposal.
Colorado State volleyball showcased that in its sweep (25-14, 25-16, 25-17) of Air Force on Saturday.
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At the top of Kohan’s treasure chest the likes of Emery Herman, Naeemah Weathers, Kennedy Stanford and Malaya Jones glimmer. Dig a little deeper and Kekua Richards, Jazen DeBina and Maria Brun begin to shine.
Brun, Richards and DeBina finished the game with a career-high in kills with 11, six and three respectively. With CSU sitting 8-2 in conference play and first in the Mountain West, the prospects of a championship this season are still alive and well and doesn’t seem likely to die in future seasons either.
“I think it’s a sign of a great program, that you keep developing the young kids for when it’s their turn,” Kohan said. “Today was (the young kids’) turn. … Yes, we do have a lot of talented young kids and I think the future is bright beyond even this year.”
Although sitting behind Jones and Weathers might not equal a lot of opportunities for Richards and DeBina, Brun on the other hand, sees the floor a lot.
The true freshman is coming off a game where she finished with zero kills on seven attacks. Brun took her opportunity to bounce back in a big way and ran with it, leading the team in kills, something she credited to her parents’ wisdom.
“I think that game, I wasn’t as focused as this one,” Brun said. “I think about what I need to improve in me, to do what I did today. I talked to my parents and they told me ‘I need to be more concentrated and put more effort in.’”
Brun is only going to get better with each game. The tempo of American volleyball is different from that of the CV Sant Cugat Club, where Brun played prior to coming to CSU. Kohan said she’s been settling into that a lot better recently.
One of the biggest assets to the team this season has been the veteran presence. When young players do well, not always do the veterans respond in a positive way. That clearly is not the case for the Rams, who were picked to win the MW championship in the preseason. That’s evident by the ear-to-ear smiles each time a ball hits the opposite end of the floor, regardless of who killed it.
“The older kids are great mentors and really coach up and celebrate the young kids rather than being threatened or anything like that,” Kohan said. “And the young kids do a great job in the little coaching timeouts, giving feedback and being ready.”
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The offense has been well known for some time now — that was an exclamation point coming into the season.
The question mark was the defense, but through conference play, that’s been answered.
“We’ve always been a good offensive team, but this season we’ve highlighted a lot on defense,” libero Kate Yoshimoto said. “And we want to be both the best offense and the best defense, so we’ve put a lot of work into that in practice.”
Words echoed by Kohan. Yoshimoto finished the game with seven digs, bringing her career total to 1,002. Yoshimoto didn’t know, something she said she appreciated so she could stay locked into the game.
Yoshimoto also finished with a kill, her fourth on the season, beating her career total prior to this season of three.
Getting kills certainly isn’t why Yoshimoto is out on the floor, but the laugh and smiles by everyone on the team when it happened only elevate the already elated vibes of the team.
“It’s not something we strive to do,” Yoshimoto said. “I guess it’s kind of just a nice point for us to have, but it’s definitely fun (when it) happens.”
The Rams are now on a 3-game win streak, after dropping two on the road against San Diego State and Boise State.
The team’s goal has been to play their best volleyball in November, a month rapidly approaching.
“(We’re) looking to keep dialing in on some of the little things,” Kohan said. “And I’m happy to get San Diego State back next week. The taste of revenge is still pretty fresh and there were just a couple little plays that didn’t go our way on that reverse sweep. So (we’re) wanting to get back at them.”
Reach Damon Cook at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @dwcook2001.
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