Mechelle Voepel 9y

espnW Volleyball Player Of The Week: Colorado State's Adrianna Culbert

NCAA Women's Volleyball

Colorado State's volleyball team had a terrific season last year, going 28-2 and winning a fifth consecutive Mountain West conference championship.

And the Rams haven't slowed down any this season, either. At 18-1, they have elevated to No. 6 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, their highest ranking since 2001.

The Rams do a nice job of spreading out their attack with three players who have almost identical kill totals this season: Kelsey Snider (189), Marlee Reynolds (188) and Jasmine Hanna (184).

Then there's the do-everything presence of Adrianna Culbert, who is our espnW national player of the week. The 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter from Michigan is fourth on the team in kills (123), second in digs (188) and tied for third in blocks (39). In all, Culbert has scored 152.5 points this season for the Rams, who again are firmly in the driver's seat in the Mountain West. Colorado State is 6-0 in league play.

The Rams' only loss this season is to Big Ten power Wisconsin, which was national runner-up last year and is currently ranked just ahead of Colorado State at No. 5.

You could pick a week and have a different Ram as the star. Last week was really Culbert's time to shine as a pretty lethal attacker. In sweeps of Wyoming and Fresno State, she had a combined 18 kills and 23 digs, hitting .500 in the first match and .625 in the second.

The Rams are on the road this week, taking on New Mexico on Thursday and Air Force on Friday. The Lobos currently are second in the league at 4-2. If they want to catch up with Colorado State, they need this upset.

But guess what? Culbert and the Rams have been especially good in true road matches, as they have won 24 in a row dating back to October 2012.

Colorado State did lose once away from home last year, in a neutral-court match to start the NCAA tournament. That five-set loss to Cal State Northridge was at USC's Galen Center and certainly wasn't the 2013 ending the Rams were hoping to get.

But as they've shown this season, they're right back in the mix near the top of the rankings again.

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