By: Mike Brohard

FORT COLLINS, Colorado – Coaches say it all the time: No game is more important than the others.

Same Tom hilbert wouldn’t say that to his team this week, not with a straight face. On Thursday, his Colorado State volleyball team will travel to face Utah State in a game that could provide the Rams with everything they’ve been looking for since the Mountain West game began – a regular-season championship and the seeded in the season-ending tournament, where the winner will win the NCAA Championship Auto Auction.

“There’s no question about it. It’s for the championship, in my opinion,” said Hilbert. “The state of Utah knows it too.”

The Rams enter the game at 13-3 in conference, a game against Utah State and San Jose State, each at 12-4. Technically, the Rams can soak up a loss and share the tile with a victory on Saturday at Boise State, but this isn’t kindergarten, and no one is forced to share their toys.

The team therefore enters Thursday with a winning mentality that takes everything, and it will rely on its past experiences to cope with the magnitude of the moment.

“I think a lot of the good things about volleyball come from building mental images and using those during tough times,” center tackle Sasha Colombo noted. “We know Utah State and Boise State are away games and won’t be easy, so hopefully we can build on the good times we’ve had this season, especially the comebacks. Even this last game we did. “I didn’t start the second set well, but we managed to come back quickly. Something like that is really good for everyone to remember and develop. “

The Rams lost 7-0 to Fresno State in the second set, rallied and swept home. This is common, as Colorado State has won all nine conference games at the Moby Arena with sweeps. They are particularly good at home, but have had some setbacks on the road.

A reverse sweep of Wyoming just over a week ago and a few 3-1 losses. But they’ve also had a few hits, particularly the reverse sweep they pulled off at San Diego State.

All of these results – good and bad – according to Hilbert, put his team in a good position to handle the task at hand.

“We’ve had all kinds of things happened to us,” he said. “We’ve been in all kinds of situations now. We’ve played better at home, but we’ve had a few experiences on the road like San Diego State which have been really good memory banking experiences for us. ‘team, they know it’s important, they know the team is good and they know it’s going to be a completely different type of game than the first time we played them, so I think it will be a very good environment, and I think my team will do well. “

Defensive specialist Ruby kayser said it’s been so long, she doesn’t really remember Utah State’s game opener, a 3-0 sweep at the Moby Arena. But she knows what makes the team move, just like Hilbert.

What he knows is imperative is that the Rams have to serve well and pass well to win the game. When the team does those two things, they’ve been really good. At home, they’ve been stellar in those areas, but on the road, they’ve been caught in a net.

The Rams have played more home games than away this year, 14-11. But the vast majority of their aces come at home (just 38.5% on the road), and most of their service are far from Moby (53.6%). .

Kayser, with 21 aces over the year, said the Rams needed to use pre-game training sessions to find their rhythm on the service line.

“It’s really serious to take the serve and the pass that we get the day before the game,” she said. “It’s really easy to check and go through the moves. When we get there that day and serve and pass, really try to follow the ball well and serve the areas you are in. know you are being recruited to serve in the game. Something I personally try to focus on (associate head coach) Emily kohan always reminds us that when you get to a point where you’re uncomfortable serving you just focus on a very small point on a player so you focus on their right shoulder and really focus on that at the instead of looking at the whole look. When we’re at Moby you’re so used to it that you can kind of serve as you feel comfortable where you really need to focus on the road. “

This will be an ongoing trend as the Rams will no longer play at home this season. The conference tournament will be held in Las Vegas, and an NCAA tournament bid will take them elsewhere as well. To be at their best, they must serve well.

To some it may seem like pressure, but then again, this type of game is what they all hoped for when they got to college and joined Hilbert’s schedule. The great moments and the chance to seize them.

“I think we’re really excited. We’ve worked really hard to stay on top of the conference all year, and that it comes down to these last few games is really exciting,” Kayser said. “I think we put a lot of emphasis on being our best before the conference tournament, and I think we’ve done a really good job every week, I think we’re getting better at something. It’s a great feeling to see where we started and look at how we’re playing now. “

And with everything they wanted at stake.