FORT COLLINS — Too many errors. Too many blocks. No production to speak of from the left side.
So to start Thursday night’s Mountain West match with New Mexico, No. 10 Colorado State found itself in a 1-0 hole.
No problem.
The Rams became more consistent, played cleaner and started to block better as the night progressed, and at the close, they still remained perfect on the season with a 16-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 win over the Lobos.
Now 24-0 on the season overall — a program-long win streak and one short of Utah’s conference mark — the Rams are more importantly 15-0 in conference play. With one more win, they can clinch at least a share of a Mountain West title, which would be a fifth straight.
And all they had to do was settle into their style of play.
“That was very uncharacteristic of us,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said of the first set. “Lots of unforced errors, we were very uncomfortable, a little over hyped. They blocked some balls and we hit a bunch of balls out of bounds. It was not a good set for us.
“That’s one of those ones where I knew we would not continue to do that, unless they were doing something that was completely disrupting us.
New Mexico (20-6, 10-5) did most of those things in the first set. The Lobos blocked well the first three sets, and Chantale Riddle was bothersome the entire match, finishing with a match-best 19 kills.
Riddle, who had six blocks and 12 digs, was great on defense, too, and Hilbert feels her ability to block got into Marlee Reynolds’ head a bit, as the CSU junior had just eight kills against nine errors.
But part of Hilbert’s confidence is he knows his team is competitive and they adjust well on the court.
That’s where the players draw confidence, too.
“I know a lot of it is we know we’ve been there before, and so just keep staying consistent at the things we’re good at and try to fix the things that we’re not,” middle Kelsey Snider said. “If we’re struggling — I know I was struggling in the first set — so I knew I had to pick my game up and had to start hitting higher and more athletic like I know how to do.”
Through two sets, Hilbert had tried three players on the left side, but they had combined for seven kills and 12 hitting errors. What was keeping the Rams afloat offensively was the production of Snider and Sam Peters in the middle, most notably on slides, which Hilbert said was possible because of the team’s passing.
Still, they needed some help outside, and freshman Michelle Lawrence supplied it. She had five kills in the third set and had seven straight before another error, finishing with 11 kills in the match.
“I thought one of the big differences was Michelle stepped up after not having a great first set,” Hilbert said. “You’ve got to have something going on on the outside, and she was able to get kills, especially in the third set. She came out really hitting some nice cut shots and doing some good things.”
Lawrence was blocked early and often, leading to most of her hitting errors. She was pulled in favor of Kaila Thomas in the first set, but gathered herself on the sideline and made a difference the rest of the night.
“I just try not to lose composure and just to stay constant in my mindset, which obviously means I need to pick up my game,” she said. “Just staying calm and relaxed, and then on top of that, having other teammates encourage me and tell me that I’ll be OK helps a lot.”
Setter Deedra Foss finished the match with 45 assists and 11 digs, one of a trio of Rams to hit double-digits in the category (Jaime Colaizzi had 16, Dri Culbert 14).
The Rams return to the court Friday against an Air Force team they have beaten 40 straight matches.
Mike Brohard can be reached at 635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and @mbrohard
