California in Colorado, CU Volleyball sees success and defeat
USC
By Nicolette Edwards
Many milestones took place at the CU Events Center on Nov. 5 as the Buffs faced off against the USC Trojans.
For the second time in school history, the Buffs won against the Trojans. In personal achievements, Meegan Hart got her 500th career kill and Maya Tabron got her 300th career kill.
Tabron put up an impressive 18 total kills while hitting .250 and had eight digs and two blocks, while Hart had a remarkable .818 hitting percentage with her nine kills.
Libero Brynna DeLuzio passed the Trojans’ attacks as she had the match-high of 18 digs and averaged 4.5 digs per set. More impressive defensive performances were put on by Alexia Kuehl, Jenna Ewert and Hart at the net with 10 block assists to keep USC to a .226 team hitting percentage.
Serving was one of Colorado’s strong suits with nine service aces and Savannah Perry put up the team-best with her four aces.
“I thought we served particularly well, not just with the aces, but we hit our spots right,” Head Coach Jesse Mahoney said. “Sometimes that leads to a certain type of offense from the other side. Hitting our spots and understanding the block call was really helpful tonight. (Savannah Perry) is a really good server. That’s why we bring her in as a serving specialist. It was good to see her have a lot of success. Frankly, I thought she defended well in her opportunities as well. Hopefully, that’s a good sign of things to come.”
After the Buffs won in the first set, the Trojans responded in the second as they were outhitting CU .474 to .231 and won set two 25-18. In set three however, the Buffs dominated the court with an early six-point scoring lead and eventually took a 10 point lead with Tabron and Hart’s successful attacks while defense held the Trojans to -.036 hitting percentage.
The Trojans readjusted and fought back-and-forth with the Buffs early in set four tying the set at nine all. Perry’s fourth service ace and Tabron 16th kill forced USC to call a timeout as CU led 17-13. Schneggenburger had two important kills late in the set putting CU up 23-18. Tabron got the Buffs to set point with her 18th kill and Hart captured the match with her ninth kill as CU won 25-20.
“It is really cool being part of the only two times (CU) beat USC,” DeLuzio said, “I thought we did a great job of executing the game plan. We did well and it turned out nice for us.”
Mahoney said, “We’ve gotten a little bit healthier over the last two weeks. No one wants to play us right now and no one wants to play us at home as well. We beat UCLA here last year, so we know we can do it and it’ll be a great match on Sunday.”
UCLA
The Colorado Buffaloes played against UCLA at home Sunday, Nov. 7th, and unfortunately lost 3-0. The Buffs committed 16 errors and were outhit .398 to .202. The difference came in the third set when the Buffs went from hitting .556 to .094. Throughout the game Colorado struggled against the Bruin’s high-powered offense. The Buffs only had two service aces while UCLA had seven which ended up helping the Bruins keep Colorado out of system throughout all three matches.
“Certainly UCLA is a very good team and very good offensively. They have a lot of weapons. They were good in system and especially good out of the system. I felt like at times we played very well and each of the sets were competitive. We just couldn’t maintain it throughout a full set. Out of the system, we hit negative .200 so our transition game was really poor.” Head Coach Jesse Mahoney said.
Mahoney goes on to point out that the Buffs hit about .300 percent off with their hitting game.This is where the point difference came from during the matches. Mahoney goes on to talk about setting goals for themselves and letting this match roll off their backs.
Tabron was the only Buff who ended up having double-digit kills throughout the game. She ended up with 10 kills by the end. Ewert led the Buffs with 27 assists, three kills and four digs. DeLuzio had a team-high of eight digs and kept the Buffs alive against the Bruins offense.
“We want to win every match obviously,” Mahoney said. “That’s ultimately the goal I think. We have to get better each week in order to make that happen. There’s not a match left on our schedule that is not winnable. If we are healthy and we prepare well, and we’re in a good mindset when we go out there, there’s an opportunity for us to make the tournament. In order for us to do that we have to play really, really well. It’ll take some more wins, but this team has been working their butts off all season and are playing as well as we have in the last couple of weeks. If we continue to grow that opportunity is there for us. We just have to go take it.”
The Colorado Buffs go on to play Arizona State in Tempe on Friday, Oct. 12th, at 2 pm. MT and then travel to Tucson Arizona to face off against Arizona on Sunday, Oct. 14th, at 12 pm. MT.
