The Colorado State women’s volleyball team has clinched the number one seed in the Mountain West and are on their way to the 2021 Women’s Volleyball Championship. The three-day event will take place from November 24 to 26, and the first match between
number three seed, San Jose State University, and number six seed, Boise State University, will kick off the tournament’s preliminary rounds on Wednesday, November 24, at 2 p.m., Mountain Time. Number four seed, University of Nevada, Los Vegas, and number five, New Mexico State University, will play the second game on Wednesday, November 24 as well.
Colorado State will be playing its first game at 5 p.m. Mountain Time on Thursday, November 25, against the winner of the number four, UNLV, and number five, New Mexico, game. Number two ranked Utah State University will play the earlier game against the winner of the San Jose State, Boise State game before the Colorado State game. All of these games will lead to Friday’s 2 p.m. championship match that will be decided by the winners of these two games.
Colorado State earned this number one seed by going 18-9 overall, while winning 14 of the 18 games they played in the conference. This .667 overall win percentage was good enough to push Colorado State into a position to clinch the division, which they did on Saturday, November 21, with a 3-to-1 win over number six Boise State.
Since 1999, this is Colorado State’s sixteenth regular season championship win as they claim the number one seed once again. Colorado State has won five Mountain West tournaments before: in 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006 and most recently in 2011.
UNLV, the most recent regular season champion in 2020, will host the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Cox Pavilion, the home court of UNLV. This will be the fourth time the tournament has been held here, so it will be a very familiar setting for the Colorado State team.
Some Colorado State players that you should look out for as you watch this tournament include Kennedy Stanford, the 5-10 outside hitter from Texas, who is currently leading Colorado State in points, with 351, and kills, with 312. Colorado State will also continue to rely on its main setter, Ciera Pritchard, who led the team with 968 total assists and service aces, with 39.
Otherwise, continue to watch Colorado State’s starting six, which will more than likely be the two players mentioned above along with Karina Leber, Jacqi Van Liefde, Sasha Colombo, Annie Sullivan and Alyssa Bert, Ruby Kayser and Alexa Roumeliotis, who will play interchangeably.
Some other players from around the tournament who will be important to watch are UNLV’s Mariena Hayden, who leads the Mountain West in kills, service aces and points as of Saturday. If it comes down to it, Colorado State will have to play impeccable defense on Utah
State’s Kennedi Boyd, who leads the Mountain West for hit percentage, and some perfectly executed offense will be needed to overtake Boise State’s Alyssa Wissinger, who leads the Mountain West in blocks.
This tournament should be a very exciting and competitive display of volleyball, as all teams fight for one goal: to be crowned the champions of the 2021 Mountain West Women’s Volleyball Tournament. We’ll see you for Colorado State’s game one at 5 p.m. Mountain Time on November 25, on 90.5 KCSU FM, or kcsufm.com.