Freshman Hanna excels as Colorado State sweeps DU

As he walked to the postgame press conference Tuesday night, Tom Hilbert was thinking of what might have been.

Or might not have been, in this case.

Hilbert said he had considered redshirting Jasmine Hanna before the season began. His decision not to do so is working out great for the CSU volleyball team.

Hanna, a freshman from Queen Creek, Arizona, led the Rams with 15 kills in a 26-24, 25-17, 25-11 sweep over the University of Denver in front of 1,731 fans at Moby Arena.

"I thought Jasmine was great," Hilbert said. "She has been one of the most impactful players on our team."

Hanna is quickly filling the hole Colorado State University thought it had at outside hitter with her improving play.

She led the No. 14 Rams (6-1) with 13 kills in a loss to No. 4 Wisconsin over the weekend and hit a stellar .393 on 28 total attacks in Tuesday's win.

Hanna and Hilbert both feel like she's growing quickly.

"He thinks I'm maturing as a player and I feel it, too," Hanna said. "I think I'm getting smarter as each match goes on. Sometimes set one is rough for me and I work through it."

Hanna was the leader for a balanced offense that hit .319 for the night against a DU (5-2) team that doesn't make many mistakes under former CSU assistant Jesse Mahoney.

Dri Culbert had 10 kills and hit .471. Kelsey Snider and Marlee Reynolds had nine kills.

The Rams started the match slow and made several errors late in the first set to allow DU to pull even at 24.

"We were making some plays that you can't let a team like that back in with," Hilbert said. "We had some really bonehead plays."

The Rams won the next two points to win the set and never looked back as they cruised in the second and third sets.

DU hit .026 in the final set and .130 for the match as Windsor High School graduate Jaime Colaizzi had a season-most 22 digs.

It was a nice bounce back win after being swept at home by No. 4 Wisconsin. The Pioneers (5-2) were the preseason favorite to win the Summit League.

CSU immediately heads into another showdown with a top 10 team when it faces No. 9 Brigham Young at 11 a.m. Friday in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Rams then play New Mexico State at 7 p.m. the same night.

"Any time we get to play tough competition it's just a game we look forward to," Culbert said of facing BYU. "We know they're a great team and we're going to be challenged."

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

CSU 3, DU 0

Next up: No. 14 CSU vs. No. 9 BYU, 11 a.m. Friday in Las Cruces, New Mexico; CSU at New Mexico State, 7 p.m Friday.

Twitter updates: @CSURamsGameday