The Colorado State volleyball team will take a 6-2 record and a four-match winning streak into this week’s home-and-home series with CU for the Golden Spike trophy.
Read more Colorado volleyball’s unbeaten start on the line against CSU Rams
CSU won all three of its matches last week, including a sweep of former Mountain West Conference rival Wyoming on Saturday.
“Last week was a big week for us,” CSU head coach Emily Kohan said. “We went 9-0 in sets and beat three really good teams. I thought we showed up really well, defended Moby Arena and we’re starting to find a stable lineup and vibe with some new people out there. So, it’s been a good start, albeit some painful losses to some really good teams.”
Both of CSU’s losses have come against ranked teams. The Rams lost to then-No. 11 SMU in four sets Aug. 29 and then-No. 19 North Carolina in five sets on Sept. 4.
This weekend, CSU will face its third ranked team this season in the No. 17 Buffs (8-0).
Since the start of the season, Kohan has been pleased with the progress her team has made leading up to the annual rivalry series with CU, especially with a tough nonconference schedule.
“I warned them at the beginning of the season that it’s an exhausting nonconference (schedule) because there is not one game that you can kind of take your foot off the pedal,” Kohan said. “We could have made a decision to play a much easier schedule and feel really good about ourselves, but we wanted to see where our holes are and what we needed to work through.”
Providing an early spark for the Rams this season has been libero Karsyn Fetzer, a sophomore from Platte Valley High School in nearby Kersey.
Fetzer hadn’t played libero until this season.
“It’s very different,” Fetzer said. “Coming from being a hitter my whole life, it’s obviously very different. The training that I’ve gotten is just incredible and has taught me so much. I think, just being more confident in myself and my teammates helping me and pushing me to be the best in practice, too.”
Kohan has been pleased with the way Fetzer has adapted to her new role in an important defensive position.
CSU’s tough nonconference schedule ends this weekend against CU. The Rams will begin Pac-12 conference play next Thursday at home against San Diego State.
CU is a familiar opponent for Kohan, whose teams have faced the Buffs 11 times during fall and spring play across her four-year tenure.
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Even though she knows the opponent she is about to face, the challenge of facing the same team on back-to-back nights as well as how the opponent has evolved and improved makes it a new opportunity with every matchup.
“The back-to-back thing is unique,” Kohan said. “It comes with a fast turnaround of if you win the first night, how do you be prepared for some really fast adjustments for what the other team is going to do and know them well?
“This is the 11th time between fall and spring that I have played their roster out there. We know the scouting report. It hasn’t changed much from both sides. So, it’s really unique to not only prep for a team you’ve played so much but then to do it again on back-to-back nights, and usually the team that loses that first night wants to make faster adjustments and get revenge on the second night.”
A year ago, the Rams swept the series with the Buffs, winning 3-0 in Fort Collins and 3-1 in Boulder the following night.
“They will show up and want some revenge from last year and want to try to keep that Golden Spike trophy,” Kohan said. “This is also our last attempt to play a ranked team until the postseason. One of the big goals we’ve set for a year now is we want to have some signature wins against some ranked teams.
“We played SMU really well, and SMU has beaten Texas and Kentucky, and they’ve gone on a run. And the North Carolina match on the road I think was really good for us to know that was not a fluke. We can play really good volleyball teams, top 20 teams, so here we are.”
Before the Rams turn the page to conference play, they would like nothing more than to sweep their rivals.
With one rivalry win under their belt against Wyoming, the players are looking forward to this weekend’s series.
“I think it’s really special,” Fetzer said. “We want to beat them, obviously, and last year we beat them two times and I think that’s what we’re trying to do (again). Seeing Moby (Arena) packed is going to be also very special.”
“They’re also (8-0) right now so I think last year they were kind of in the same spot and we were able to beat them twice,” senior middle blocker Eve Wilson added. “And then (the second game) being at home is just cool, and to be able to hopefully hoist that trophy in front of our packed home crowd.”
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