Introduce Colorado State volleyball coach Tim Hilbert to Texas football coach Mack Brown at a pity party and they could debate who was dealt the worst hand this weekend.
Texas beat Oklahoma in October but Oklahoma represents the Big 12 South in the conference football championship game. Colorado State handed Florida one of its three losses this season, but the Rams must travel to Gainesville, Fla., for the opening weekend of the NCAA volleyball tournament.
If No. 22 CSU (22-6) can defeat Florida International (28-6) today at 3 p.m. MST, the Rams advance to play Saturday the winner of the Florida-Florida A&M game. No. 11 Florida is the No. 15 seed (only the top 16 teams are seeded in volleyball) and coming off an 18th straight SEC title. Florida A&M is 14-12.
Lose either day and CSU’s season is over. Win both and CSU returns to its Moby Arena floor to host one of four regionals next weekend.
“That would be hard to be in Fort Collins knowing four other teams are playing in our gym,” said senior Ashley Fornstrom, the two-time Mountain West setter of the year and MWC assists record-holder.
Seniors Fornstrom, three-time all-MWC middle blocker Mekana Barnes and outside hitter Jaime Strauss are going to their fourth NCAA Tournament. With 14 straight trips to the NCAA, Hilbert is the most consistently successful coach at CSU.
There was a time CSU regularly hosted the first weekend, but, as Hilbert explained, the NCAA tries to reduce travel and there weren’t any other qualifiers within 400 miles of CSU.
He’s not guaranteeing the Rams will make it to Saturday against Florida, a team CSU swept in straight sets on Sept. 13, but he said “it’s a winnable match.”
The Rams were ranked as high as No. 12 this season but took a wrong turn late, losing their final three matches, including a 3-2 decision at BYU.
“That fifth set was definitely a heartbreaker, especially after we were down two sets and then we were up in the tiebreaker,” Fornstrom said of the BYU match.
Fornstrom’s NCAA experience will help. She remembers her freshman year when Washington came to Fort Collins, beat CSU, then went on to win the NCAA title.
Which just proves the road to the NCAA title doesn’t have to start at home.
AROUND TOWN
Very familiar foes.
It can be tough even for die-hard hockey fans to get too excited for an early December intradivision matchup, such as Sunday’s Avs-Canucks game at the Pepsi Center.
The NHL’s wacky schedule, improved on recently, still is weighted toward division games. Alex Ovechkin and the Eastern Conference Washington Capitals, for instance, won’t visit Denver this season.
But even with Colorado and Vancouver playing each other six times this season, Sunday’s game could have major early implications. The Canucks have traded the Northwest lead with Minnesota through two months. The Avs, trailing the Wild by seven points entering Thursday’s games, could make up ground.
Sunday’s 6 p.m. game between the Avs and Canucks also airs on Altitude. Denver Post file photo
STAY ON THE COUCH
Weighty problem for Pacquiao.
Long in the works and hyped for most of this year, the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao fight finally happens Saturday in Las Vegas, airing at 7 p.m. on HBO pay-per-view.
And one thing is clear: The boxing world has learned its lesson. Pacquiao, who many consider the world’s best fighter pound for pound, will take on the older, some say fading, De La Hoya. But Pacquiao is a heavy underdog. Why?
Remember back a few months to the 43-year-old Bernard Hopkins’ pounding of Kelly Pavlik, a 26-year-old thought to be the better fighter? Problem was, Pavlik was fighting up a weight class. And he paid for it.
“They say Oscar is old, washed out, but they have already forgotten what happened in my fight against Kelly Pavlik,” Hopkins told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday.
Pacquiao, 29, moved up two classes to face the bigger De La Hoya, 35. Trouble awaits.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Day of remembrance.
The Day of Infamy 8K snowshoe race — Sunday at Sunlight Mountain near Glenwood Springs — started in 1991 as a way to honor the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It has since also become a way to raise money for mountain animal shelters. Now in its 17th year, the Day of Infamy race will go on open snow and single-track trails through Babbish Gulch starting at 10 a.m. Snowshoes provided. (dayofinfamysnowshoerace.org).
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Time for Peek to peak?
Pueblo’s Josh Peek, who emerged from the pack last year to rise toward the top of the PRCA tour, is no longer a surprise.
Nobody should have been shocked to see his name at No. 2 on the PRCA all-around standings entering Thursday’s start of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. He trails eight-time world champion Trevor Brazile of Decatur, Texas. Brazile has earned more than $100,000 more this season — a significant lead.
But Peek shot his way up to No. 2 last year. What’s not to say he can’t shock the tour and rise to No. 1 this time around?
The National Finals air on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic every day, now through the final round on Dec. 13.
Check for info.
