FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The crowd was one which had the possibility of stealing the moment.
The energy coursing through Moby Arena, generated by the first sellout in Colorado State volleyball history with 8,396 in attendance, could have engulfed the players. They all knew it was coming, a White Out crowd with an epicenter of noise stemming from more than 3,000 students. The program – players, coaches and support staff alike pushed to reach the milestone.
Instead, they rose to the occasion, especially in two crucial sets – the second and the fourth – as the Rams took down phase one of the Golden Spike series with Colorado in a four-set thriller, the hosts prevailing 25-18, 25-19, 21-25 and 28-26.
"I mean, we had been prepping and we did a good job of promoting, so we knew we were going to have a big crowd. They told us before it's going to be sold-out game," outside hitter Kennedy Stanford said. "I think we were mentally prepared to use all the energy the crowd was bringing to really get up on them rather than shrink down. I think we did a great job of playing up to the moment."
Even still, being told it was going to be sold out and then seeing it in person required some adjustment. Hilbert was thrilled with the turnout, as the longtime coach has always wanted to see the arena pulsing with energy, packed to the rafters. When the community answered the call, his team answered the bell.
Stanford has been the model of consistency for the team this year. Now 7-3 on the season, she has produced double-digit kills in nine of them, and the one time she fell short, she finished with nine. Thursday night, she put down 16 on a rather steady night. The senior also produced her second double-double of the season by leading the team with 16 digs.
She also stood up to the challenge when Colorado changed their blocking rotation.
"Kennedy did an unbelievably good job, because she can hit into the cross court," CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. "She had one sort of little period where she got kind of timid and she was trying some of these line cutbacks, but the rest of the night she was super aggressive, hitting the ball well, seeing the game and I liked that."
On this night, she had a lot of help.
Reenter Malaya Jones, who had missed seven matches with an injury after playing the first two of the season. She was the counterpunch at the outside all night long, finishing with a steamroller type of intensity. Yes, they prefer having her in the lineup, and she produced the best match of her young career by leading the Rams with 19 kills as the team hit .285 on the night.
Karina Leber had eight kills, Anne Sullivan seven, and with each of them flowing at times, setter Ciera Pritchard produced her own double-double with 46 assists and 10 digs.
Enter Naeemah Weathers, who jumped into the starting lineup with Jacqi Van Liefde sidelined in the middle the past three matches. In just her sixth appearance of the season, the junior played the match of her life.
"She might have been the most key player," Hilbert said. "She has been somebody who has been very weak as a blocker, and in fact actually someone who other teams target. They aren't going to target her tomorrow night. I think she really grew up today as a blocker especially. She's always been a good attacker; you just have to know how to use her as an attacker, but boy, she grew up as a blocker today. It was great."
The Rams came out pretty well at the net, starting with three blocks in the first set. Not so much in the second set, with just one, but they picked up the pace again the final two sets, finishing with 14 to outpace the Buffs with 10. Weathers took a lead role, finishing with seven. Easily a career best to go with her career-best eight kills. And yes, the blocks stood out, and with each one, she became more energized.
"It's definitely something that frustrated me, but in practice blocking and single blocking and taking away angles is something that we've been putting a premium on," Weathers said. "So being able to take that, like that hard work in practice and translate it into a game is important to me."
The blocks came at big times, but the Rams, like the crowd, played loud when it had to. When the Buffs made a small threat in the second set, Colorado State answered with emphasis.
When the Buffs almost stole the fourth set, the Rams were even more impressive. The hosts held three match points, each fought off by Colorado, and the Buffs would work to their own match point. Instead, Colorado State fought back and closed out the set and night.
In practice, they call it the 22-23 drill, and Hilbert said they talk about those experiences when the lights are brightest.
"I think we've done this before in practice We've done this, we've lived this big moment, even if it is just practice," Stanford said. "We put that amount of intensity into it, so to be able to take that and say we can translate everything we do, that hard play we do in practice into this game, I think is something we showed very well, especially in the end of tight sets."
Hilbert was definitely pleased with the way his team performed. But the first item he wanted to address postgame was the crowd.
The community has served him well his entire career, and the turnout of the students was inspiring. To him and his team.
"I want to say how incredible it is to coach in a community like this. That was as good of an environment you're going to see anywhere in the United States for collegiate volleyball," he said. "People are having fun, and our marketing and external people worked very hard, our coaching staff worked very hard, and our players worked hard to go promote around town, and I'm just very pleased with the outcome from that standpoint."
Also, his team. On this night, as a host of people witness, his Rams grew up quite a bit.
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