LARAMIE, Wyo. — Tom Hilbert spent practice time this week trying to push the buttons of his two middles, and it worked.
In a matchup of the top two hitting teams in the Mountain West — and in the top 10 nationally — Colorado State created a little separation as the No. 7 Rams swept the first Border War matchup of the year Tuesday night, 25-16, 25-21, 25-23.
“I’ve been talking all week about how good their middles are and they’re as good as our middles,” Hilbert said, his team now 17-1 on the season, 5-0 in Mountain West play. “It was my way of challenging our team, to get our middles on point and it worked because Kelsey (Snider) was not going to get outplayed.”
In fact, the CSU senior matched the production of Wyoming’s top three hitters — including middles Erin Kirby and Laura Beach) with a season-best 15 kills.
Wyoming, which was hitting at a .294 clip, finished at just .167 on the night in falling to 13-4 on the season, 2-3 in MW play. Colorado State slowed down Wyoming’s top guns, including Bridget Shanahan on the outside, as they finished with just 15 kills combined, one for Kirby.
“That was about serving, because they weren’t weren’t getting enough balls to those guys,” Hilbert said. “Shanahan, I thought we did a good job of managing her.”
It was the Rams’ 24th straight road victory in a row, the longest current steak in the nation, and their 17 wins leads the NCAA.
Freshman outside hitter Jasmine Hanna put down 14 kills, taking advantage of a matchup against a smaller blocker, including the match’s final point as the Rams top four hitters all hit better than .393 in the match as the conference’s best hitting team finished at .343.
Dri Culbert came close to a double-double, finishing with eight kills and digging up a team-best 15 balls. Jaime Colaizzi finished with 13 digs, while setter Deedra Foss had 11 to go with her 41 assists, giving her five double-doubles in eight career matches with Wyoming.
Colorado State cruised in the first set, but found itself down 12-3 at one point in the second. After a few timeouts, the Rams found their groove again, tying it at 15 and closing out the set victory by scoring the final five points. It was new way for the team to amaze Hilbert.
“We manage to win, and today, I thought we were very alert, really honed in on what we knew the game plan was,” he said. “Deedra’s set choice was excellent, and it was just a great match. I’m almost speechless.”
Contact Sports Editor Mike Brohard at 970-635-3633 or mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard
