ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert considered Thursday’s road match one of the toughest tests his team would face in Mountain West play this season, but the No. 6 Rams swept their way out of New Mexico, 25-17, 25-23, 25-22.
The win was the 14th straight for Colorado State and the 25th in a row on the road. The Rams continue their road swing Friday night at Air Force.
“They just don’t get rattled,” Hilbert said. “It’s crazy. They just don’t get rattled. I was talking to one of their fans after the match about our team, and I told them, when we get to 19-19, I feel we’re going to win every time.”
The Rams (19-1, 7-0 MW) did it with a strong defensive performance, limiting New Mexico (11-8, 4-3) to just .066 hitting, none of their hitters better than .167. That included preseason player of the year pick Chantale Riddle, who had nine kills to tie for her team’s lead.
Jaime Colaizzi led the way with 15 digs, and setter Deedra Foss had 10 to give her a double-double with her 38 assists.
“We held their hitting percentage really low, and in the first set, we blocked a few balls,” Hilbert said. “Chantale did not have a good game; she had a lot of unforced hitting errors at critical times. It was an interesting game because they weren’t able to get any kills and they had too many errors, and I think we frustrated them on defense.”
The hardest part of the night was the second set, where the Lobos produced seven of their 11 blocks and led 11-5 at one point. The Rams stormed back in short order, however, taking the lead for good at 17-16 and holding off the Lobos down the stretch. The third set was tight throughout, with CSU taking control late at 21-19, maintaining the lead through the end.
The Rams found some offense from both pins, as Marlee Reynolds led Colorado State with 13 kills and Adrianna Culbert added 12, 10 coming in the first two sets.
“Who I thought played a great match was Dri,” Hilbert said. “Deej picked really nice times to set her, and New Mexico was trying to double our middles. Dri had some really critical side outs, and she was very consistent all day.
“Marlee, I’ll take this kind of game any day.”
