Lytle: CSU volleyball team skips losing in growth

Tom Hilbert warned everyone.

The CSU volleyball team “could take some losses and still be a really good team,” the coach said.

Apparently his players don’t want to buy into that philosophy.

They’ll take the really good team part.

But losses?

Nope. Players on the Colorado State University volleyball team don’t like losing.

The Rams rolled through nonconference play with a 12-1 record and have moved up to No. 7 in the nation. Last year, CSU was 9-0 in nonconference action, but this year is much more impressive.

This team has amazed Hilbert at every turn.

Days before the season began, he said he had no idea what kind of a team he had. He said he’d never been that late into camp without having a solid understanding of his team’s strengths and weaknesses.

He also thought it was kind of exciting having a team that he could grow. But he didn’t see this much success coming right away.

The schedule was loaded with three top-25 teams, two of them top 10. Throw in the fact that the Rams are on the road for nearly all of September and you have a much tougher schedule than the cream-puff one of a year ago.

The Rams took down No. 9 Brigham Young University on the road and just knocked off No. 18 Arizona State on the road in a five-set thriller.

The tone for those matches was set early in the month, right after a 3-0 loss to No. 4 Wisconsin. CSU played fairly well in each set but was unable to close any of them out to gain the edge.

After the match, Hilbert was pleased with how his team played, thinking they had fared well. But the players weren’t pleased. Deedra Foss was fuming. She wouldn’t talk about moral victories and how losing can help. That fire burns through the entire team.

They took what they learned against Wisconsin to dominate BYU and beat Arizona State.

After struggling at the end of sets against the Badgers, the Rams are now an excellent end-game team.

This team is incredibly difficult to play against with an excellent defense. The offense is improving with Marlee Reynolds winning Mountain West Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 22. Throw in the thank-goodness-she-didn’t-redshirt Jasmine Hanna and the Rams have some strong hitters.

Conference play starts Thursday, Sept. 25, with a road match at Utah State.

The Rams were favorites to win a sixth-straight MW title at the start of the year. The gap between them and everyone else has grown. Winning that title is next on the list to check off.

But this team wants to be great. Greatness is born in the NCAA tournament. Forget using losing as a tool to learn.

This team wants none of it.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle.