BOISE, ID — Like most nights for Colorado State — and especially against Boise State — superior firepower came into play.
The No. 9 Rams started a three-game road swing on Thursday night with a sweep of the host Broncos. Though not a single Ram hit double-digits in kills, the team hit .440 on the night with just five hitting errors, moving to 20-0 to match the program’s best start to a season.
“They’re not giving in at all,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “If tonight’s an indication of how we’re going to do the second half of conference, I’m really pleased.”
The win was the eighth straight sweep of Boise State (10-12, 4-8 Mountain West) by the Rams, who posted set scores of 25-19, 25-20, 25-13. They will attempt to break the tie with the 2000 team at Utah State on Saturday (7:30 p.m.).
Colorado State leads the Mountain West in hitting percentage, and they showed why Thursday with a balanced attack. Marlee Reynolds led the Rams (11-0 in MW play) with nine kills, while middles Sam Peters and Kelsey Snider finished with eight each. Dri Culbert added six kills and led the team with 10 digs, while setter Deedra Foss finished the night with 34 assists and two aces.
“And we did it consistently throughout the match,” Hilbert said. “They played well in the second set, but we played better. It was really, really a good effort by us, and they kind of lost composure in the third set because they couldn’t crack us.
“How about the fact we had one unforced hitting error. We hit one ball out of bounds, and that was in the third set. That’s insanely good to do that on the road. That’s so good I don’t even want to tell my team.”
Hilbert really liked the way Reynolds played in the match, coming up with key kills throughout the match. Her best came in the second, a high, out-of-system set she put down straight down on the line.
Michelle Lawrence, who had missed three straight matches, entered late, but Kaila Thomas played well in her place, putting down four kills without an error.
The Rams limited Boise State to just .101 hitting on the night, including a negative .097 in the third set as Colorado State finished the night with eight team blocks, getting four each from Reynolds and Peters.
The 20 wins ties for the second-longest win streak in program history, the 19th consecutive season CSU has won 20. The Rams have also won 27 consecutive regular-season contests, remaining as one of only two unbeaten teams in the nation. The 13 straight road wins extends the program record.
The Broncos, who posted 25 hitting errors, were led by Aly Duffin’s eight kills.
