CSU comes back to beat San Diego State in five sets

The CSU volleyball team was on cruise control entering Thursday.

The No. 7 Rams had won 23 straight sets and had won 17 matches in a row since their only loss of the season.

Colorado State University finally was tested — big time — Thursday night.

The Rams went down 2-1 at San Diego State before coming back to win the fourth and fifth sets in convincing fashion.

The 25-15, 23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-5 victory moves CSU to 23-1 and 11-0 in Mountain West play. The Rams have won 27 matches in a row on the road.

“I feel like we entered the fourth game knowing we could win the match,” coach Tom Hilbert said. “When we won the fourth set, I don’t think there was a player on the bench who didn’t think we would win.”

In the decisive fifth set, CSU hit .667 and had an 8-0 run at one point. Hilbert said SDSU’s play when the Aztecs (10-11, 5-5 took a lead in the second and third sets was as good as they’ve played all season.

But as they’ve done all year, the Rams were composed and bounced back to stay unbeaten in MW play.

“I think we were fairly composed. It’s good to be tested,” Hilbert said. “We’re on the road. It was tough, but I’m glad we went through it and I’m happy for our players to win it.”

Kelsey Snider led CSU with 14 kills and Adrianna Culbert, Jasmine Hanna and Marlee Reynolds all chipped in 12.

The Rams face arguably their toughest MW road game at 8 p.m. Saturday when they face second-place UNLV.

No. 7 CSU 3, SDSU 2

CSU

25

23

20

25

15

SDSU

15

25

25

17

5

• Next up: No. 7 CSU at UNLV, 8 p.m. Saturday

• Twitter updates: @Kevin_Lytle