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Colorado's Unbeaten Start Ended in Fort Collins
Colorado had won the same fixture 3-1 in Boulder the night before and were 9-0. Colorado State took Friday 25-21, 25-23, 25-15 in front of a sold-out Moby Arena, and Colorado are 9-1.
Colorado State beat No. 17 Colorado 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-15) at Moby Arena on Friday, in front of a sold-out crowd the school put above 8,000. Colorado had won the same fixture 3-1 (25-23, 27-25, 22-25, 25-21) in Boulder the night before.
Colorado are 9-1. The question about their start was always what the record was built on, and the answer arrived from an unranked team they had beaten twenty-four hours earlier.
The sweep does not tell you Colorado are bad any more than the nine wins told you they were good. Both were played against the schedule they had.
The Poll Had Colorado Behind a 1-3 Kansas
Colorado sat 23rd in the 7 September ballot on 236 points, behind a Kansas side that was 1-3 and 22nd on 272. Monday's ballot moved Colorado to 17th on 519 and left Kansas 22nd on 308.
That is a panel putting an unbeaten team below a team with one win in four, changing its mind on Monday, and watching the unbeaten team get swept four days after the correction.
One Ranked Win Is Carrying the Record
Colorado opened with CSUN, Central Arkansas and Denver at home, then Wichita State, New Mexico and Northern Colorado, then Oregon State in Los Angeles and Colorado State in Boulder. Not one of those eight was ranked.
Only one of the nine wins came against a ranked team. Colorado beat No. 16 USC 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-13, 26-24) at the Galen Center on 12 September, on a floor their recap says the programme had never won on.
Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney, in his athletic department's account of that night.
We're a veteran team that did a lot of good things last year, but it's good for us to see that hard work pay off, and understand that there's not a match this season that we're not going to be in a position to win.
Moby Arena Sold Out for the Second Night
Colorado State are 7-3, and all three losses came against ranked teams, to SMU, to North Carolina and to Colorado in Boulder on Thursday. Friday was the first ranked team they have beaten all season.
Sofia Zabjek had nine kills and five blocks for Colorado State, Kekua Richards seven kills and nine blocks, and Eve Wilson nine kills. Colorado had published no account of the match by Saturday morning, so there is no second stat line to set beside those.
Kekua Richards, the middle blocker, told that same account what a sold-out Friday in Fort Collins is worth.
It's the best game of the year. This is my fourth White Out. It's never failed to be the best game in the entire season.
Then Nothing Ranked Until October
Colorado host Utah on 25 September and Arizona on 27 September, and neither is ranked. The next ranked opponent on the schedule is No. 13 TCU, away, on 2 October.
Colorado go to Fort Worth with one ranked win and one sweep against them. We expect them to take a set there and lose.
