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FORT COLLINS — Being perfect and being at home, Saturday’s match played out the way it should.
There was an aggressiveness from the start from Colorado State, and the No. 12 Rams never let San Jose get to comfortable on the Moby Arena floor with a crowd of 2,864 watching.
“Thursday, we had too many long point runs scored against us,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “We didn’t tonight, which is good. That is very good, and that makes us tough in any situation.”
The Rams have been tough all year, and Saturday’s 25-12, 25-18, 25-11 win over the Spartans was another example of why they are 19-0 on the season and completed the first half of Mountain West play at 10-0.
Colorado State hit .488 in the match, tying a season low of just seven hitting errors. Marlee Reynolds paced that effort, finishing with just one error against 15 kills, , hitting .588 on the afternoon. The 11 points SJSU scored in the third set matched a season low, done twice previously.
If Hilbert found a drawback — and coaches are always on the lookout for those — it was the second set when the Spartans hit .344. When Hanah Blume put down a kill, it drew SJSU (5-16, 2-8) to within 20-17, but true to form, the Rams won five of the next six, then stormed away with set three.
“I was really pleased with how cleanly we played,” Hilbert said. “There were a few little bumps in the road in the second set. I’m disappointed we let them hit .344 in the second set, and that was because of the sort of a emergence of Hanah for them. She’s a good player, but we did a better job (Thursday night) on Korrin Wild. That’s something that next time we play them we’ll have to do a better job of.”
Blume led all hitters with 16 kills, but the Spartans only had 31 as a team. Again, the Rams displayed their balance, as Dri Culbert, Sam Peters and Kelsey Snider each had eight, all fed on a steady diet of clean sets by Deedra Foss (37 assists).
But from the outset, Reynolds had the hard swing from the left side. The junior said she found a good flow early, and she also wanted to bounce back from what she said was a tough night Thursday in the win over Fresno State (seven kills, five errors).
What it didn’t do was sap her confidence. It’s been key for her this season, and it was on full display Saturday with her 11th match in double-digit kills, exceeding 15 in three of the past four.
“Just knowing that I can,” she said. “If Deej is going to set me a ball to get out of it, if we’re stuck in a row or something, I’m like, set me the ball and I’m going to put it down. I think it’s made me like more reliable.”
The Rams are off to the second best start to begin a season in program history, trailing just the 20-0 start of the 2000 team. This season is the fourth time they have started conference play 10-0 since the MW was formed, with a 14-0 start in 2003 the best.
The Rams, currently one of just two undefeated teams in the nation (Missouri is 24-0) are looking at three straight road matches to open the second half, which libero Jaime Colaizzi said presents a challenge.
“I look forward to conquering those tough matches,” said the sophomore who had a career-best three aces in the match, all in the first set. “Our record, that’s great, but it doesn’t mean anything yet. We have a long way to go and a lot to still do. We have some tough road matches coming up, so that’s where my focus is right now.”
Mike Brohard can be reached at 635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and @mbrohard
