FORT COLLINS — The moment was so sweet, Alexandra Poletto can’t even really recall the play which set off the frenzy for Colorado State.
It was her block with Adrianna Culbert on an Alexis Austin swing that produced the 16th and final point of a five-set NCAA Tournament marathon between two top-25 in-state rivals who hadn’t faced off in four years.
It was a night of offense, where both No. 9 Colorado State (31-2) and No. 19 Colorado (20-14) swung away at will, both of them hitting better than .300 through most of the match, a night that would send one to the Sweet 16 next weekend in Minneapolis.
And it was a defensive play that resulted in the Rams mobbing each other on the floor with a 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 16-14 victory at Moby Arena.
“Honestly, it’s kind of a blur,” the freshman middle blocker said. “All I remember is seeing the ball go down. I don’t know who it was, one of their players trying to dig it. From there … I don’t know. The excitement just takes over. I don’t remember to be honest, because I was so excited.”
It was a moment that led senior Marlee Reynolds to tears. It capped off a weekend where the Rams ended two seasons of NCAA Tournament frustration, first-round losses that were out of the norm for the program.
She came up with what coach Tom Hilbert called her greatest match in her career, producing 18 kills on 44 swings with just two errors.
“It’s just incredible. It’s just a blessing,” she said. “That fifth set, I was just looking around and I was like … I’m sorry if I start crying, it was just awesome. Just seeing Moby packed like that, they are the reason we won this game. They were behind us 110 percent and it was just incredible.”
The whole night was, because neither team could really break away. Down 2-0, Colorado tried in the third set, building up 14-5 lead at one point, but before long, CSU had it tied at 23. It was a pair of kills from Austin, who had 12 on the night, that gave them life.
The play of Taylor Simpson gave the Buffs hope, regardless of the circumstance. She finished with a career-best 32 kills, and despite the fact the Rams knew the Buffs’ offense was lopsided to her skills (she took 61 of 171 swings), it just didn’t matter.
“She was able to do a lot of things when we knew what she was doing,” Hilbert said. “It wasn’t like it was faking us out. I was frustrated to be quite honest a lot of times with our blocking. I thought we should have got more stuff blocks, but we didn’t because she’s a great player.”
The Rams countered with balance. Reynolds led five Rams in double-digit kills, with Jasmine Hanna finishing with 13. Culbert had 12, Poletto 11 and Kelsey Snider had 10. Culbert also added 18 digs to lead the team, while Poletto led the team with six blocks.
But it was Reynolds who was solid and steady all the way through.
“I think it’s just something that flowed tonight,” she said. “I just kind of went out there, I was pretty relaxed and played with freedom. I knew we had nothing to lose, so you might as well take some cracks the ball and see what happens. And good things happened.”
Still, each and every set came down to how teams played at the end of sets, and after each had won a pair, both had their chances to advance.
Colorado entered the tournament saying their Pac-12 schedule had made them battle-tested, but Simpson had to give credit where it was due.
“Their outside hitters were almost unstoppable for us. I don’t think that we really expected them to be hitting as well as they did,” she said. “That was kind of a problem for us. CSU is a great team. I think that we may have overlooked them a little bit, but best of luck to them in the regional.”
Hilbert noted correctly his team survived in part because Colorado had more unforced errors. His team hit .329, while the Buffs slipped to .292. They also had 14 service errors in the match with six aces, while CSU had seven aces against nine errors.
It wasn’t mistakes that gave CSU the win, but their ability to make plays when it mattered.
CSU setter Deedra Foss, who finished with 58 assists, had a service error that gave Colorado a chance to end some nasty streaks. The Buffs had lost 12 previous NCAA matches on an opponent’s home floor, three of those to CSU. But Poletto came up with a kill, and with Cassidy Denny serving, helped produced the biggest block of the season.
“We had no answer for Taylor Simpson, and yet we still were able to survive,” Hilbert said. “That’s just because we kept on grinding and keeping it close and win at the end. That’s one of my favorite sayings: Keep it close, win at the end. We’ve done that in all the big matches we’ve played.”
The Rams, in moving to 3-0 in five-set matches this season, reach their 10th Sweet 16 in program history. This will be their first appearance in that round since 2009, facing second-seeded Texas on Friday.
But the way it was played and how the crowd was into every twist and turn, Hilbert was not shy about putting it at the top of his storied run with the school.
“This is the happiest and the greatest match I’ve been apart of since I’ve been coaching here 18 years,” he said. “It was just a great moment for CSU, for volleyball in the state of Colorado.”
Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard
