Michael Brian / Loveland Reporter-Herald)
FORT COLLINS — A coach's job is to convince his or her players of what they can accomplish. It's a difficult task if there is no prior evidence of the task presented.
Last week, Colorado State's volleyball team grew up. Without having won a five-set match all season or taken a match when down 2-0, the Rams (17-7 overall, 11-2 Mountain West) hit both targets in a successful week, toppling UNLV and New Mexico in three days, two marathon matches that really played out much differently.
As CSU coach Tom Hilbert noted, the UNLV win — very important in terms of the Mountain West standings — was a thrill-a-set grind.