LOGAN, Utah – The Colorado State volleyball team defeated the Utah State Aggies to open conference play Thursday night on the road as the Rams took down the defending regular season champions in five sets, prevailing 3-2.
 
A veteran team in Colorado State entered conference play against a common foe, although the lineup on the other side of the net did not seem so familiar. The Utah State Aggies entered 2024 conference play as the defending champs, but only returned one starter from last year’s squad making it a true veteran versus newcomer type of game despite the historic rivalry.
 
Starting in true veteran form, the Rams took set one on the Aggies 25-15, setting the pace and the tone for the game ahead with four kills each to start the match from fifth-year seniors Kennedy Stanford and Naeemah Weathers.
 
The Aggies, however, were still rooted in that championship culture and were not ready to go down easy, especially on opening night of the conference season. After hitting a .000 in the first set, Utah State climbed back up to out-hit the Rams .278 to .107 in the second set. Developing a lead and never looking back, winning the set 25-22 to tie the match and one.
 
The third set saw yet another surge from Weathers in the front row with support from fellow middle blocker Karina Leber throughout the set. Weathers had six kills and two blocks alone in the third set while Leber added four kill out of the middle to lead the Rams to a 25-18 third set victory.
 
Momentum was in favor of the Rams going into the fourth set, but the home crowd wasn’t. Knowing they had their backs against the wall in the Wayne Estes Center, more commonly known as ‘Club Estes’, the Aggie faithful helped lift their team to a fourth set win that boasted seven lead changed and 11 tie scores. While the Rams out served Utah State in the fourth with five team aces in the set, a scrappy attacking percentage kept the Aggies in the match, winning set three in extra points, 27-25 to force a race to 15 fifth set.
 
Last season, the story for the Rams was 13 five-set matches, including a reverse sweep at home to Utah State. Its safe to say the bitter taste was still in a lot of mouths on this veteran squad as Colorado State flipped the script once again to outwit the Aggies in the fifth set 15-12 to kick off their conference season on a high note, taking the match 3-2.
 
Weathers ended the night with a season high 19 kills with Stanford close behind at 10, also adding on 16 digs and 31 serve receptions. The Rams as a team had one of their best blocking games of the season, totaling 34 block assists with Weathers in on 10 of them.
 
Also adding defensively to Colorado State was libero Kate Yoshimoto who ended the night with 16 digs while fifth-year setter Emery Herman led the team to a .340 match hitting percentage with 46 assists.
 
Colorado State will continue its opening weekend of Mountain West play by continuing on its road trip to Reno, Nevada to face the Nevada Wolf Pack Saturday at 1 p.m. mountain time.