With a sweep and several accomplishments throughout the game, Colorado State volleyball emerged victorious in its penultimate game of the season before the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship.

But why exactly does this win hold so much value to the team?

This victory against Nevada (25-13, 25-20, 25-17) means the Rams are guaranteed one of the top two spots in the MW Tournament. For this reason, they will not play in the first round of the tournament on Nov. 27 but instead Nov. 29, already putting them at an advantage. 

Before they compete in Las Vegas, however, one last home game of the season awaits. 

“I’m just excited because it’s a really tough team,” Malaya Jones said. “(Utah State) kind of had an interesting kind of curve in their season. … I’m just really excited to see that, to see us going toe-to-toe and see who’s going to be the best team at the end.”

The game started on a high note when Kennedy Stanford was awarded a golden volleyball for becoming CSU’s career service ace record holder, a accomplishment Stanford reached during the Rams’ game against Boise State. 

While also on the road, Karina Leber became the school record holder in career sets played — sitting at 511 after the game against UNR — and Jones broke the school record for most kills in a single four-set match in the modern scoring era with 31 against Boise State. 

The broken records didn’t stop there for Jones. 

Last season, Jones broke the single-season kill school record in the modern scoring era with 466 kills. Against UNR, she broke her own record again, ending the game with a total of 477 kills on the season. 

“I honestly just think it’s so cool,” Jones said. “I didn’t even know it was coming. … (It’s) such a cool experience; I’m just so excited about it.”

At the end of the game, CSU had 15 more kills than UNR — 18 of those thanks to Jones, who hit .485 and had the most amount of service aces in the game at three. 

Standing alongside Jones was Leber, who dominated on the court and led second on CSU’s side with kills at eight and tied with Stanford for most blocks of the night at four. 

“I think we had to work really hard after the two losses,” Leber said. “We came into practice this week we were really focused, and our word was revenge, trying to prove ourselves again, so this was a really nice thing to have.” 

CSU was especially able to prove themselves in the second set when Jones got three kills in a row, forcing Nevada into a timeout and giving the crowd a chance to celebrate her new record.

When the Rams first played UNR Sep. 28, they won 3-1. But having just lost their two most recent games there was work to be done — CSU came out with fire in its plays and finished the game in less than an hour and a half.

“I was really proud of the way we kind of just regrouped ourselves and just (rebounded) our identity,” coach Emily Kohan said, reflecting on recent losses. “We had some really uncharacteristic things that was like, ‘Hey, what are we doing?’ And to go out here and refind out a pass and get our middles involved and play really high and hard — super proud of them.” 

Although the Rams did not have the cleanest first set, they fought valiantly to secure a spot within the top ranks of the Mountain West. Overall, the team hit a .440 and threw up 6.5 blocks compared to UNR’s respective .122 and four. 

As they round into their final home game of the season, the players said they are left feeling emotional but plan on executing the strategies they know best. They have one last leg of the “revenge tour” and want to beat USU, a team CSU barely beat previously in five sets. 

“It’s my last time in Moby playing — hoping for a win,” Leber said. “We’re going to get some confetti for the championship, so we’re super excited about that. We’re gonna ball out.”

Reach Sophie Webb at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @sophgwebb.