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Starting a new streak

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Locked and Loaded

Locked and Loaded

Starting a new streak By EDDIE HeRZ

CSU looks to make the NCAA Tournament after missing it last season

The Colorado State volleyball team entered uncharted territory when forced to cope with an empty-handed fate as last spring’s abbreviated regular season concluded.

Sooner or later, most squads at least grow somewhat accustomed to sitting on the couch as the nation’s top teams compete in the NCAA Tournament. However, for CSU, witnessing the annual bracket unfold from an outsider’s perspective felt plain odd— justifiably so. And it wasn’t as if the Rams eventually awoke from a bad dream.

Instead, the program’s 25-season streak of receiving an invitation to Division I’s coveted festivities indeed reached an end in 2021. Nevertheless, no longer under the spell of initial befuddlement, the green and gold progress onward poised to embrace the foreign obstacle of re-emerging as an NCAA Tournament team.

“It’s a challenge as a coach in this program because everyone is used to it, head coach Tom Hilbert said. “But you know what? We shouldn’t be just used to it. How do 70 percent of the teams in the country remain motivated? They have to go out and earn it and improve. That’s what we’re doing. It’s a challenge. But it’s my job to teach them to be better every single day. I’ve accepted the challenge, and the players have to.”

Considering the recent 17-game campaign marked year one of a substantial rebuild—in which CSU replaced five starters—it isn’t as if the youthful Rams will seamlessly stroll into the promised land after a rare setback.

As the team’s 24th-year coach touched on, collective enhancements will certainly provide its difficulties. Still, above all reasons for belief, an encouraging run down the stretch of the shortened slate leaves the Rams hopeful in their ability to piece together a postseason puzzle next time around.

Specifically, CSU wrapped up the spring by proving victorious in four of its final five contests en route to finishing third in the Mountain West at 9-6.

“We had a completely new team,” junior middle attacker Sasha Colombo said. “At certain points of games, there were five freshmen on the court at once. So the big thing is we started creating chemistry and gaining more confidence together. Ending

Photo Courtesy of CSU Athletic Communications

Kennedy Stanford

on a positive note like that definitely helps prepare us for the upcoming season too.”

Notably, a portion of the aforementioned stretch gave the Rams an encouraging head start in preparing for what will undoubtedly amount to one of their trickiest tasks this coming fall—life without Breana Runnels.

Despite Runnels’ four-game, contact-tracing-induced absence, CSU rose to the occasion upon posting a 3-1 record with the outside hitter missing from action amid 2021’s closing stages. Constituting Hilbert’s only key departure, Runnels graduates as the program’s modern kills leader (1,404) and a four-time All-Mountain West honoree.

“We started being more consistent and balanced with attacking more than anything else, even when Breana wasn’t playing,” Hilbert described. “So I still feel pretty positive about how the season ended up. I think there’s no doubt we improved throughout that spring season. But that being said, we’re still very much a work in progress.”

Of course, balance in the kill department might occur somewhat naturally following Runnels’ exit, considering the redshirt senior regularly took over offensively while recording team-mosts in kills per set (4.05) and points per set (4.55) in her final campaign.

Consistency across the lineup? That could be more of a struggle. However, after enjoying late-season growth,

Alexa Roumeliotis

Sasha Colombo

Photo Courtesy of CSU Athletic Communications

CSU will miss Breana Runnels, the program’s all-time leader in kills

the Rams remain confident in their chances of steadily compensating offensively. At outside hitter, Hilbert retains both Jacqi Van Liefde and rising freshman Kennedy Stanford.

Liefde’s 2.42 kills per set ranked second on the team in the spring as Stanford’s 2.75 points per set were the squad’s most behind Runnels.

Meanwhile, at middleattacker, another flourishing freshman, Karina Leber, returns alongside Colombo following a campaign where she achieved a legitimate groove despite switching to a position she hadn’t played since growing up in Italy.

“Her ability to connect with Ciera (Zimmerman) was critical,” Hilbert said. “I didn’t want to play her in the middle all the time because she’s great on the right too. But we needed her to keep that middle attack organized. She ended up being effective and very efficient with her hitting. So that was a pretty impressive effort by her.”

Set to again influence high-percentage kill opportunities for teammates, CSU welcomes back all-league setter Zimmerman subsequent to the sophomore leading the conference in assists per set (9.70).

With a plethora of underclassmen and lessexperienced starters seemingly on the brink of attaining full fruition, the roster’s offensive potential is evident. Well, this should be the case if the squad spreads the love without Runnels.

Speaking of spreading the love, accomplishing Hilbert’s paramount defensive objective will require collaborative efforts

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Photo Courtesy of CSU Athletic Communications as well—blocking. CSU finished second-to-last in the Mountain West in blocks last season (1.75 per set), which particularly hindered the Rams’ capacity to prove triumphant during lengthy rallies.

“Everybody on the court and in the front row can improve on that,” Colombo said. “That’s a big goal for next season. We’re just gonna have to work really hard on perfecting that because we definitely need to be a better blocking team if we want to win more games and make the tournament again.”

Given all-league senior Alexa Roumeliotis’ established potency in the digging domain, blocking undeniably represents CSU’s defensive X-factor. Namely, the defensive specialist arrives fresh off a campaign where she accounted for 34 percent of the squad’s digs behind a MW-most 4.96 digs per set.

As one of the Rams’ three upperclassmen, Hilbert will also depend on Roumeliotis substantially from a leadership standpoint. Not to worry, the senior embraces her vital duties—exemplifying the roster’s top-to-bottom willingness to commence a new NCAA Tournament streak this fall.

“We owe her a great deal because she’s deciding to come back in a leadership role on a team that has to rebuild,” Hilbert said. “She’s going to go out as a teacher, a leader and a mentor. She is going to relish that role, and she’ll do well in it. But that’s not an easy position to be in. But I think that shows how much she wants the team to come back with a bang in her final year.”

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