Andrew Huse / Staff Photographer

The past few years have been rather monotonous for the San Diego State volleyball team.

A mediocre conference record, an overall record hovering at .500 and an early exit from the Mountain West Conference postseason tournament seem all too familiar.

But this season, SDSU has broken off from the norm.

Coming off its biggest win of the year against UNLV, a game in which the Aztecs won by the slimmest of margins to break a seven-game losing streak to the Rebels, SDSU travels to Fort Collins, Colo., to take on perennial MWC powerhouse Colorado State at Moby Arena.

Although the Aztecs are off to their best start since 2001 at 10-4 (2-1 MWC), SDSU will face the toughest challenge of the year at 6 p.m., Thursday.

“(CSU) is always tough,” head coach Mark Warner said. “Especially at their place.”

Tough may be an understatement. The Aztecs are currently riding a 10-game losing streak to the Rams dating back to the 2002 season. CSU currently has an overall record of 8-4 (3-1 MWC) and is coming off an upset at No. 17 BYU.

CSU also gave SDSU its final loss of the season last year as the Rams knocked the Aztecs out of the MWC tournament in the second round.

The cards are stacked against SDSU, but this year’s squad is a very different team than last season’s.

“This (year’s) team is about as determined and resilient as I could ask,” Warner said. “For Colorado State, we know it’s just one game, and any given game can go either way.”

The Aztecs have been involved in close matchups against tough opponents in their last few games, nearly pulling off a couple of upsets.

Less than two weeks ago, SDSU took then-No. 15 BYU to five frames and were within eight shots of sweeping them out of Peterson Gym.

In the following game, the Aztecs traveled across town to face No. 12 USD and played some of their best volleyball of the year despite falling just short of forcing a fifth frame.

To pull off the upset this time, SDSU will once again look to its biggest playmakers. Senior libero Aime Cordeiro, who just became the Aztecs’ all-time leader in digs, is having a career year and has become a driving force behind SDSU’s defense.

Freshman Lauren Salisbury has anchored the offense, coming off a game in which she set a career record with 25 kills.

The Aztecs may be playing well on both sides of the ball, but with CSU continuing its MWC authority, SDSU may need that “any given Thursday” attitude to pull out the victory.