Pressure off CSU volleyball in Sweet 16 against Texas
MINNEAPOLIS – Free and easy.
With a pressure-packed weekend hosting two rounds of NCAA tournament play behind them, the 15-seed CSU volleyball team enters the tournament's Sweet 16 unburdened by outside expectations.
The 31-2 Rams were widely expected to top the University of Denver and the University of Colorado to get here. Now the Rams face No. 2 Texas (25-2) and almost everyone the Rams' locker room thinks CSU will make a quick exit when it faces the Longhorns at 3 p.m. Friday in Minneapolis.
And that's just fine with the players.
"We don't really have anything to lose," junior opposite hitter Adrianna Culbert said at the team's press conference Thursday in Minneapolis. "Why not go there and try and pull the upset? It's all about the experience. I think it's great and it gives us that underdog edge."
Texas will be the most physically dominant team CSU has faced this year, led by three-time Big 12 Player of the Year Haley Eckerman. The senior has 288 kills at 3.84 per set. She's not the only weapon, though. Khat Bill has 214 kills on the season, while six Longhorns players have more than 140 kills.
CSU knows it will be tough to upset the Longhorns. The thought process of the team all season has been to keep sets close and win at the end. No reason to change it now for a team that has dominated in end-game situations.
"Our goal, and we told the team this, is we want to get into the 20's with Texas in sets and we believe we can win," coach Tom Hilbert said. "That means you have to hang in and side-out up to that point and then try and take it at the end of the set."
The Rams are in a regional semifinal for the 10th time in program history and the fifth time under Hilbert, but they have never reached the tournament's Elite Eight.
"I want to advance past here immensely. I think you do it one point at a time and one set at a time," Hilbert said. "It's a matter of going on a little run at the right time. We have to stay composed and we have to play aggressive. We can't play tentative and can't play safe."
Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle from the Sweet 16 in Minnesota at twitter.com/Kevin_Lytle and at facebook.com/KevinSLytle.
CSU volleyball at the NCAA tournament
• Next up: CSU vs. Texas, 3 p.m. Friday at Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis
• Watch: ESPN3.com
• Twitter updates: @Kevin_Lytle
• Watch party: The Boot Grill, 130 W. Laurel St., Unit B, Fort Collins