Colorado State University’s women’s volleyball team secured a four-set win over Grand Canyon University at Moby Arena on Thursday night, with set scores of 22-25, 25-11, 25-22, and 25-15. The match was highlighted by strong performances from freshman Halle Jameson and middle blocker Eve Wilson.
Head coach Emily Kohan commented on the dynamic between her two standout players: “I don’t think Eve or Hallie cares how to get it done if somebody’s getting it done, right? And they help each other out because when they’re in the front row together, say our rotation three, if they’re clamping on Eve and it opens up Hallie, then that’s a win for both of them. Our best performances are when we’ve got multiple people doing really well, and I think they like to kind of pull the block for each other just as much as they get the kill.”
Jameson matched her career high with 19 kills while hitting .643 on 28 attempts. Wilson also recorded 19 kills, one shy of her season best, with a .581 hitting percentage. The Rams finished with a team hitting percentage of .444, which is their second-best mark in program history for a four-set match.
Jameson said she was aware of the numbers during the game: “I think I am aware, yeah. And we know that together we can do a really good job. I just think we work it out. We want to do the best we can. We come out every game wanting it to be our best game so that we can perform courageously. So, I think we’re aware of it.”
Setter Erin Dibec contributed significantly by distributing 46 assists during the match.
Grand Canyon entered the contest leading the Mountain West Conference in blocks and ranked among the top 20 nationally in that category. However, Colorado State limited them to just three blocks throughout the match—all occurring in the fourth set—and kept unforced hitting errors low at six across 117 attacks.
Wilson spoke about facing Grand Canyon’s defense: “I think especially rounding up and getting to the top of the tournament, we wanted to be playing clean volleyball. We’ve been able to connect really well. And then so, I think they had a good blocking team. We were aware of that and trying to maneuver around that and stay as sharp as possible. We just outhit them.”
The Rams improved their overall record to 19-8 and hold a conference record of 13-4 in Mountain West play.
Coach Kohan also addressed Jameson’s motivation regarding league awards: “She wants the team to win. She’s been a little — I don’t know if offended is the right word here — that she doesn’t get freshman of the week, and I think there’s a lot of weeks where that kid deserves freshman of the week,” Kohan said. “In my opinion, she deserves freshman of the year for this conference. The freshman on GCU has won that award quite a bit, and I think there’s a little bit of personal motivation to say that she is just as deserving for some of these weekly awards.”
Looking ahead to postseason play in Las Vegas for the Mountain West tournament—which will determine which team advances to NCAA competition—Wilson reflected on what lies ahead: “We’ve got to work on starting strong in that first set, but I think it’s good for us to like have adversity and push through, especially going into next week,” Wilson said. “I think this team is capable of a lot.”
