CSU VOLLEYBALL

No. 7 CSU ready for toughest conference road trip

Kevin Lytle
kevinlytle@coloradoan.com

The CSU volleyball team is running a nearly perfect race.

The Rams are heading down the homestretch with a significant lead in the Mountain West, but there’s one big hurdle to clear.

Colorado State University can virtually secure a sixth straight Mountain West title with a successful road trip this week. But it won’t be as easy as most of their season.

No. 7 CSU (22-1, 10-0 Mountain West) plays 7 p.m. Thursday at San Diego State and 8 p.m. Saturday at UNLV.

“This is the hardest (road trip) in terms of the combination of matches. Both of these teams are pretty decent,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “San Diego State is talented, you just don’t want to wake them up.”

SDSU (10-10, 5-4 MW) has been inconsistent this season. But the Aztecs were the only team to beat the Rams in the regular season last year. CSU won the team’s first meeting this season 3-0 at Moby Arena in early October. The Rams have won 26 straight road matches entering this week.

Saturday’s match pits the Rams against the second-place team in the MW. UNLV (19-5, 7-2 MW) trails CSU by 2.5 games, meaning a Rams win creates a nearly insurmountable gap with six matches to go after this weekend, including four at home for CSU. A Rebels win could make the things interesting.

UNLV is one of two teams to take a set off CSU in MW play. The Rebels went to the intermission tied 1-1 at Moby Arena in early October before the Rams cruised in the final two sets.

Like CSU, the Rebels don’t have players at the top of many statistical categories, but they’re top-five in the MW in nearly every significant team statistic.

“They’re hard to game plan because of balance and they’re all gamers who play the game well,” Hilbert said. “They’re tricky. They’ll always pull some junk shot out. Every time we play them, there’s some new thing.”

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

Next up: No. 7 CSU at San Diego State, 7 p.m. Thursday

Twitter updates: @Kevin_Lytle

Mountain West standings

School

Overall

Conference

No. 7 CSU

22-1

10-0

UNLV

19-5

7-2

Wyoming

18-5

7-3

New Mexico

14-9

6-4

San Diego State

9-10

5-4

Boise State

12-10

5-5

Air Force

11-13

5-5

Utah State

9-11

5-5

Nevada

5-14

2-7

Fresno State

6-18

1-9

San Jose State

3-19

0-9