20 consecutive years. 20. Two decades! That is how long Colorado State University been taking trips to the NCAA Tournament. 18 of those have come under the leadership of coach Tom Hilbert. It’s an incredibly impressive resume, so when Hilbert says he’s confident his team can compete in the MW again; we should probably have a little faith that he is capable.
Although coach Hilbert doesn’t like to compare one year’s team to another, he did admit that, “We were a little bit higher and a little bit more physically dynamic last year but we still have good players that can hit the ball at a high level and so we just have to get it to them consistently.”
It’s understandable when remembering last year’s team made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Rams are a team that graduated three seniors last year.
Coach believes this team can do great things, but there are some things to figure out in this camp. He put it this way, “We have a few questions answered but we still have a lot of work to do, especially in the setting position. We’re good one day and not the next. We need to figure out some things, like what players can handle in terms of set location and tempo.”
All is not lost though; Hilbert has a unique perspective on the game. He sees it like this, “We have some holes to fill from last year…as a college coach, a college program changes, and every year you have to change with it.
“I really see it every year as a puzzle and we have to figure out what pieces to put where,” he continued.
Coach Hilbert has made some decisions about starting positions electing to go with Jasmine Hanna, Alex Reid, Adrianna Culbert and Alexandra Poletto. Hanna had 328 kills last year, good enough to land her in fifth place for kills by a freshman in CSU history. In conference play, Hanna Ranked sixth among all outside hitters averaging 2.9 kills per set. Alex Reid transferred to CSU this year from Long Beach State, where she managed to Rank third on the team in both kills (2.77) and digs (2.71) as a junior. Culbert put together a great season last year ranking fourth in the league for hitting (.348), 10th for digs (3.23) and 17th for kills (2.69). Poletto Finished the year averaging 1.72 kills per set on .363 hitting. She also lead the Rams with 1.17 blocks per set placing her season’s blocking total as the third-best by a freshman in CSU Rams history.
Which pieces of the puzzle do they represent? Three hitters and one blocker. Which means this team needs to decide on a setter and whether to go with a tall blocker or a shorter defensive specialist. There are three players over 6-foot who could be that blocker, as well as multiple talented defensive specialists.
It is still early in camp and there is plenty of time to put the pieces in place. For the time being, we are all just going to have to trust that coach Hilbert will make the right choices to set this team up for success.
He’s done it before, he’ll do it again.
Here’s the complete Hilbert interview:
