No. 14 Colorado State volleyball team beats No. 9 BYU

The CSU volleyball team is growing up fast, as evidence by its 3-1 upset over No. 9 BYU on Friday, Sept. 12.

The Rams are relying on many young and inexperienced players and it showed at times in a three-set loss to No. 4 Wisconsin last week where every set was close, but the Badgers made the key plays to win.

It was a different story Friday in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the first match of the UTEP/New Mexico State Invitational.

The No. 14 Rams lost the first set, but went on to win 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 28-26.

"We were certainly the more mature team at the end of sets," said CSU coach Tom Hilbert, who notched his 11th win against a top-10 team while at CSU, four of those coming against BYU. "We had people stepping up, and I think BYU had people kind of getting scared. They had way more giveaways then we did. We test people's patience right now."

CSU had 60 digs to BYU's 49, led by Windsor High School graduate Jaime Colaizzi's 16.

Freshman Jasmine Hanna led the Rams with 16 kills. Kelsey Snider had 13 kills, Marlee Reynolds had 12 and Dri Culbert had 10.

"Jasmine was really good early. Marlee was really good late. It was one of Marlee's best matches," Hilbert said. "Acacia Andrews (nine kills) really grew up and learned a lot as a volleyball player. It was good for everybody."

Jennifer Hamson had 24 kills for BYU (5-2) and Hannah Robison had 19. The Cougars hit .438 in the first set but were held to .179 in the second and hit .275 for the match.

It was the first time CSU and BYU played since a 3-1 win for the Cougars in 2012. BYU holds a 46-27-1 record all-time against former conference foe CSU.

The Rams later beat tournament host New Mexico State 26-24, 28-26, 25-23 to improve to 8-1 on the season. Hanna and Reynolds led CSU with 13 kills apiece.