2023-11-19 21:33:45
BOULDER – The Colorado women’s volleyball team (15-13, 7-10) defeated the Washington Huskies (15-14, 6-12) in three sets (26-24, 25-20, 25-17) on senior day here in the CU Events Center.
The Buffs’ offense dominated with Lexi Hadrych leading in kills. She earned 11 kills in 19 attempts with a .526 hitting percentage. Skyy Howard and Lily Dwinell also played important roles in today’s win as each earned eight kills. Alexia Kuehl led Colorado in blocks, posting five.
Avery Bolles earned three service aces, while Taylor Simpson recorded 40 assists.
As a team, CU hit a .304 hitting percentage, while the Huskies hit .149.
The Buffs will travel to California to compete against the University of California Berkeley, on November 22 at 2:00 p.m. MT.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: The teams traded points back and forth early on with an early tie of 4-4. The Buffs went on 3-0 scoring run to take the lead at 9-8, however, Washington responded with a 4-0 scoring run to take the advantage at 13-10. The two teams continued to be neck-in-neck, with a slight lead coming for CU at 20-19 off of a kill from Howard, her fourth of the match. Hadrych earned her sixth kill to tie things up at 23-23. Colorado held on to win set one at 26-24 off of a service ace from Bolles, her 44th ace of the season.
SET TWO: Dwinell’s third kill of the match gave Colorado an early advantage at 4-3. She then went on to earn her fifth kill to put the Buffs up by two at 13-11, forcing a timeout by Washigton. Colorado put Washington at a four point deficit late in the set at 23-19 off of an attack error by the Huskies, and Colorado maintained their lead to win set two 25-20.
SET THREE: Colorado jumped to an early lead of 5-1 to force a timeout by the Huskies. This didn’t slow the Buffs down as they continued their scoring run, increasing their lead to 7-1. Dwinell earned her eighth kill of the match while hitting .500 at 10-3. Hardych continued to lead the Buffs in kills with nine, bringing the score to 18-9 late in set three. Washington responded with a 3-0 scoring run to stay within four at 21-17, forcing a timeout by Colorado. The Buffs responded with a 4-0 scoring run to take set three 25-20 off another service ace from Bolles.
QUOTES:
Coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening statement –
“Exciting to get a win. There are only a few sweeps on the table to win in three. I was excited about that. Offensively, we hit .300 in each set, and we warmed up defensively as the match went on. In that third set, we were pretty dialed in. It’s great to have our lineup pre-Lexi’s injury back in and to see Lexi [Hadrych] back and hitting .500. And you want to win at home. You want to win on senior day. It was exciting to see all of our seniors contribute tonight. It was a great match, and our backs were still against the wall. We’re still fighting to get on the NCAA bubble. We’ve got to earn two wins on the road this week after congratulating yourselves upstairs a little bit. That’ll be our focus in the next couple of days.”
On emotions during senior day –
“We’re trying to play well, and you can’t be successful, being super high and super low all the time. At least for me, as a coach, I want to be steady and make sure that our staff is coaching the right way, and we want our players to be steady as they go through. It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy great plays, but we certainly can’t get down after poor plays, so today was great to win. I was excited about how we played. And the fact that we got better through the match was really important to me. I know what we have to do in our next two matches. And I know if we play at that level with that focus, we will be competitive.”
Morgan Riddle
On senior day –
“It feels pretty surreal. I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet because I didn’t cry, which was surprising. But it’s cool to have been here the last four years and have some great teammates and great coaching and all that kind of stuff, and I’m thankful for the opportunity I’ve been given to be here; it was just great. So you know, getting a sweep to win on senior day is the perfect way to have it, so it’s pretty, pretty amazing.”
On what changed in the 3rd set –
“Sometimes it’s hard when you get those big leads; you start to get a little comfortable. And I think at that point, we had that big leap. That’s what happened. We got a little comfortable and weren’t putting our foot on the gas. And then after that time out, we talked about how we needed to get our foot on the gas, we needed to finish strong, and I think that was the difference. Avery came out and served well; I want to say that she served well from the beginning and at the end. So I think keeping our foot on the gas was critical.”
On emotions during the game –
“I think once the senior stuff was over, I was dialed into playing and watching the other team and figuring out what we needed to do to win, and ultimately, that was the goal, and we accomplished that goal. So now I can think about the senior stuff and celebrate it for a little while, but not really during the game.”
Read Full Article
1700431265
#Buffs #Earn #Sweep #Senior #Day