FORT COLLINS — Colorado State gets to stay out west for the NCAA Volleyball Tournament, but the No. 23 Rams will have a tough road as they landed in the region hosted by No. 3 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Rams (28-3) will face Michigan (21-11) in the first round Friday (5:30 p.m.). CSU has already beaten Michigan once this season, sweeping the Wolverines in three tight sets on Sept. 8 at Moby Arena. Michigan was ranked No. 16 at the time and has since fallen out of the rankings.

The Cardinal (26-3) face CSU Bakersfield (19-13), and the winners will play the next day for a trip to the Sweet 16.

It’s the 23rd consecutive NCAA trip for the Rams, and in coach Tom Hilbert’s 22nd season at the helm, this is the first time his team has had a rematch in the first round.

He and his team both know this one will play out differently.

“We swept them before. They’re going to come out with fire,” freshman Breana Runnels said. “We have to answer to that, play our game, don’t think about how we won the first game, just answer to this new concept, this new season.”

The Rams will be a different team, too. CSU played that match without middle blocker Kirstie Hillyer, with Sanja Cizmic (13 kills) and Runnels (12) leading the way.

Hilbert said none of that will matter, nor will the way the Wolverines played that night.

“I think it adds drama. I’ve been coaching long enough to know you play somebody once and beat them, then they have a preparation advantage the second time you play them,” he said. “We have to understand and figure we’re going to have to do things differently. They played very well. They had a couple of big wins at the end of their Big 10 season. They played a great schedule, a much tougher schedule than us.

“It’s still all about going and playing well on the night you go out and play. We can beat Michigan, we can beat Stanford. We’ve just got to play our absolute best on those nights.”

He knows his team is better, that his Rams have since improved in the areas of passing and serving. He also made a few lineup tweaks a few weeks back that he’s going to go back and look at the numbers and see if they’re playing out exactly the way he sees them.

He also knows Michigan is better and enters the draw with a pair of impressive conference wins down the stretch. The seniors have played at the Maples Pavilion before, which is comforting, and it’s an interesting matchup. Even for an old hand in the tourney, that first match always brings about a bit of nerves.

“I have confidence because we’re CSU volleyball, but Michigan’s a great team,” senior outside hitter Jasmine Hanna said. “They played in the big 10 this whole year, we played in the Mountain West, which are two different conferences. I know they’ve gotten better. I’m nervous to go and play them, but I’m confident in our abilities.

“We remember playing them, so we have an idea of the systems they’re running and who their go-to players are, but again, a lot has changed since September. It could be a totally new team out there.”

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard