FORT COLLINS — Prior to Thursday’s match at Moby Arena, Boise State’s volleyball team could be heard chanting, ‘I believe that we will win,’ over and over. It’s good for a team to have confidence.
What No. 6 Colorado State has is a tradition of winning, especially when it comes to playing Boise State. Though CSU coach Tom Hilbert nor his players were aware, the Rams had won nine straight matches against the Broncos without dropping a single set.
After Thursday, it’s now 30 straight sets won by the Rams with a 25-18, 30-28, 25-15 Mountain West victory that pushes CSU’s mark to 21-1 on the year, 9-0 in conference play. However, it wasn’t until the third set until the Rams really ran the table.
There were seven ties and five lead changes in the first as the Rams trailed early, and the second set was a battle, one where Boise State (12-9, 5-4) had set point at 28-27 before Colorado State ran off three straight, two off of BSU hitting errors.
That was the story of the night. CSU’s defense set up the offense, as the Rams not only took more swings, but better swings in piling up 51 kills while hitting .318 in the match.
“This game was about us really defending and serving well,” Hilbert said. “We missed more serves than they did; they hadn’t missed one in the first two sets. They missed two finally in the last set, but we were serving tougher, being more aggressive and creating some opportunities.
“We out-dug them and converted them into kills.”
The Rams had seven service errors in the match, but they also put up nine aces, led by three from Kaitlind Bestgen, who has a team-leading 25. When that happens, Adrianna Culbert said the defense is better able to set up on the block and in the back row.
“It keeps them out of system,” Culbert said. “We don’t have to worry about the spread of their offense as much. It makes it easier on the block, which is really nice. Then it’s easy for our defense, if our block is set up, it’s easy for our defense to play around them.”
Hilbert likes Boise State’s athleticism, and he thinks the Broncos are going to do nothing but improve as most of their talent is young. Maddy O’Donnell leads the conference in hitting percentage as a freshman (she hit .400 on the night with six kills) and freshman Sierra Nobley leads the MW in kills per set at 3.9, and she led her team with 11.
The Rams just had way more firepower in the match, with four players in double-digit kills, led by senior Marlee Reynolds with 14 from the outside. With her going so well, Hilbert changed rows to start the third set to get her more swings. She took 26 on the night and hit .423 overall.
It was her fourth consecutive match with 10 or more, feeling more comfortable in the flow of the offense and agreeing with Hilbert’s theory the team is getting fresher.
“Compared to the beginning of the season, I feel I am just seeing the court better and a little more comfortable with hitting different shots,” Reynolds said. “Like Tom said, our legs are kind of fresher now and I’m feeling really springy, like I’m getting up and able to hit it over the blocker, hit it high off their hands. That’s helped out a lot.”
Culbert, Jasmine Hanna and Kelsey Snider each had 10 kills as Deedra Foss finished with 40 assists. Hilbert could tell the Broncos were focused on Snider, and that, along with some early back-row kills from Culbert, helped create some seams for all of them.
“The first couple of times they didn’t really block me at all from the back row,” said Culbert, who had her fifth double-double of the season with 12 digs. “I think as the match went on, they started to get three blockers up, which helps because it’s something else the blockers have to deal with.”
Colorado State reached the halfway point of their conference slate undefeated and will host Utah State at noon Saturday for a Pink Out game. The Rams beat the Aggies in four on the road to open conference play.
Contact Sports Editor Mike Brohard at 970-635-3633 or mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard
