OPINION
SPORTS
Do we value laws more than morals?
MMA fighter looks toward title
President Trump
PAGE 8
Stack gets jacked PAGE 16 Volume 126, No. 57
A&C
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Odell + Silver Grill = Heaven
Cinnamon roll spiced ale returns PAGE 19
CSU volleyball “BOM Squad” is team’s unsung hero By Michael Roley @michael_roley
Being a member of the CSU volleyball team’s ‘BOM Squad’ is a thankless job. They go to practice every day but their main responsibility for a majority of the practice is to pretend to be someone else. They simulate other teams’ looks and they try to emulate the tendencies of opposing teams’ players while providing the most realistic look possible. They seldom get the credit they deserve and their opportunities to play in matches are often limited. But that does not mean the job is any less rewarding. For several of CSU’s players
Sophomore Mariah Green waits for an attack from UNLV during the fifth set of action on Nov. 3. PHOTO BY ELLIOTT JERGE COLLEGIAN
it is a role they have embraced whole-heartedly throughout the course of this season. “I’ve embraced it more because I realized that it’s a very important role to be able to step into those shoes and hit like them (opposing teams) and try to do the defense they’re doing,” said Jessica Jackson redshirt freshman and staple of the ‘BOM Squad’. “I think it’s a very important role to play.” Volleyball is also a unique deal when it comes to match preparation. It is not football where there are roughly 90 players on the team, some of whom are solely dedicated to playing scout team. ‘BOM Squad’ mainstays Jackson and redshirt soph-
omore Mariah Green have a lot on their plates. They are tasked with not only having to rep opponents’ stuff in practice, but also must be capable of stepping in and executing during a match if needed. Jackson has appeared in 10 sets this season while Green has played in 15. Although their court time is not extensive, the balance of this can be challenging. “It’s difficult but they do a good job with it and they know they have a duality in what they have to do,” coach Tom Hilbert said. “They also learn our team really well. That adds to their effectiveness because they know how to read our attackers, they know how to block our attackers.
That helps them and it helps create a really competitive environment in our gym.” Hilbert also raised another point while talking about their vitality to the team. Simply mimicking what an opponent does is not always enough, they need to make life tough on the starters. And when they do this, everybody benefits. “They understand how important it is for them to push our top squad and they take a great deal of pride in doing it,” Hilbert said. “It’s something they have to do every day and they know sometimes it’s thankless, but it’s very, very important.” At some point it is safe to say that almost all of CSU’s players
venture over to the other side of the net during practice to lend a hand in scout work. But the main cogs of the ‘BOM Squad’ are of course Jackson and Green, as well as freshman Breana Runnels, who is redshirting this season. Interestingly, jumping inand-out of roles is not as much of a challenge as it might seem like. In fact, emulating a different player every week is the fun part for Jackson. And the versatility of doing so just improves her individual game. “I think that’s the fun part of it because you get to do so many different things and learn so many different shots,” Jackson said. “It’s really important to step see UNSUNG on page 10 >>