Marlee Reynolds leads CSU volleyball to 10th straight win

Just cruisin'.

Playing at home or on the road, it doesn't matter. The seventh-ranked CSU volleyball team has found an unstoppable rhythm, beating UNLV to the tune of 25-15, 23-25, 25-16, 25-14 on Thursday, Oct. 2, at Moby Arena.

Colorado State University has reeled off 10 consecutive victories; won 30 of its last 35 sets; and against UNLV (13-4, 1-1 MW), the 11th-best defensive team in the nation, fired a clip of .354. On average, opponents hit .130 on UNLV.

The Rams (15-1, 3-0) look well on their way to claiming a sixth consecutive Mountain West title.

"This is going to sound like I'm being negative, but I want to say that the second set UNLV is probably more of who they've been, statistically. They were at 11 percent error for the season so far and they just sprayed them today," CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. "Part of that was that we blocked the ball well.

"I don't want to fall into a trap. We're not going to dominate that team like we did (when CSU goes to UNLV)."

CSU started and finished the night with ease, but it did hit a speed bump in the second set, dropping it 23-25 and trailing by as many as seven in the frame. But behind the effort of senior outside hitter Marlee Reynolds, the Rams turned the night around.

CSU won the final two sets by an average of 10 points and hit better than .323 in each. Hilbert said the only adjustment he made between set Nos. 2 and 3 was changing where in the rotation Reynolds played, allowing her to dominate the court from the left side of the net.

Reynolds had a career-best 21 kills against the Rebels and was the only Ram to break double-digits in that stat category to accompany 50 percent hitting and a pair of block assists.

"Almost every time I was setting the ball to Marlee, she was getting a kill, and if that's what's going to work, you keep going to that person," setter Deedra Foss said.

Riding the 10-match winning streak, CSU is eagerly awaiting the next game with vengeance on its mind when San Diego State visits Saturday, Oct. 4. The Aztecs were the only team to beat CSU during the regular season in 2013 and prevented the Rams from hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament, instead being forced to travel to Los Angeles for the postseason.

San Diego State (5-7, 1-1) erased a 0-2 deficit at Moby Arena last year, literally bringing the Rams to tears. A chance to finally get over that is welcomed.

"Revenge. That's the only way to put it," Reynolds said. "Honestly, I kind of forgot about it a little because I like to just move forward, but we've been talking about it some and it will be sweet to beat them where they beat us last year."

Follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.

No. 7 CSU 3, UNLV 1

At Moby Arena

• Next up: San Diego State at No. 7 CSU, 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, at Moby Arena.

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