Buffs Fall to K-State

BOULDER —The University of Colorado volleyball team fell to Kansas State, 25-19, 19-25, 25-21, 25-17, on Wednesday night at the Coors Events Center.

The Buffs are now 6-13 overall and 1-9 in the Big 12 Conference, while the Wildcats improved to 8-11 overall and 2-7 in the Big 12.

 “Tonight’s match was a tough one for us, not only because of the disappointing loss, but because we were very inconsistent and felt like there were moments of very high level play and also moments where we were playing below our level,” Colorado Head Coach Liz Kritza said.

Rosie Steinhaus led Colorado with 15 kills and hit .244 in the effort. She also added seven digs and five total blocks. Becah Fogle recorded her fifth double-double of the year with 14 kills and 13 digs. Kerra Schroeder also recorded double-digits for the Buffs with 11 kills. In total, CU tallied 46 kills and 24 errors on 143 swings to hit .154.

Kelsey Chipman and JuliAnne Chisholm each recorded 16 kills for KSU and two others had 11 kills. The Wildcats hit .248 with 59 kills and 22 errors on 149 attacks.

“We were out matched tonight on the offensive side of the ball and did not generate enough scoring power overall, despite some very aggressive and strong efforts from (Rosie) Steinhaus and (Becah) Fogle,” Kritza said.

Colorado recorded a season-high 64 digs in the effort; three more than KSU. Katie Evanyo notched a season-high with 18. The Buffs also put up 8.0 team blocks (three block solos and 10 block assists). Steinhaus’ five was the team-high, but Schylur Edelman added four and Nikki Kinzer posted up three.

The Buffs got out to a 6-2 lead in the first set but KSU went on a 5-1 run to tie the frame at 7-7. The two teams exchanged points for a while until the Wildcats put together a 6-0 run to take a 17-11 advantage. CU took the next three points but then KSU took the following three points to keep the six points lead. The Wildcats finished the set at 25-19. CU hit .114 in the frame with 10 kills and six errors on 35 swings, while K-State hit .300 with 17 kills and five errors on 40 attacks.

Colorado took a 13-10 lead in the second set and stretched it out to a 17-12 advantage. The momentum seemed to be swinging in the Buffs’ direction and CU kept fighting off the Wildcats. The Buffs were the first to reach 20 points and had a six-point lead at 20-14. After taking a 23-15 lead, CU surrendered three straight points to the Wildcats, forcing Kritza to call a timeout. KSU took the next point to get back within four points, but CU posted a pair of blocks to close out the set at 25-19. This time the Buffs hit .265 with 12 kills and only three errors on 34 attacks. They held KSU to a .147 attack percentage with 12 kills and seven errors on 34 attacks.

The third set started out brilliantly for the Buffs as they took the first six points. K-State clawed its way back in the set and got within one point at 13-12. The two teams sided out until KSU took two in a row to tie it at 17. The Wildcats took the lead at 19-18 and increased it to 22-18. CU took three of the next four to get back within a pair of points, but was unable to complete the comeback and fell 25-21. K-State recorded a .224 hitting percentage, hammering 18 kills and seven kills on 49 swings. The Buffs hit .182 with 12 kills and four errors on 44 tries.

 “We lost that lead, and that’s something we need to capitalize on in the future,” Steinhaus said.

K-State took at 14-11 lead in the fourth set and extended it to 17-12. The Buffs got back within four points at 20-16 and looked to make a move but the comeback fell short as CU fell 25-17 after the Wildcats took five of the next six points. The Buffs hit a match-low .067. They recorded 12 kills but also had 10 errors on 30 swings. KSU on the other hand hit a match-high with 13 kills and only three errors on 27 tries. 

“This season has been a test of finding our way through the toughest conference in the country from top to bottom, and while we are learning and improving, we are still not nearly satisfied with our performance,” Kritza said. “That desire to climb the Big 12 ladder is fueling our fire to improve and work hard at learning to play high level volleyball.”

The Buffs travel to Austin, Texas to take on the No. 2 Texas Longhorns on Saturday, October 24, at 3 p.m. The Longhorns are 15-0 overall and are 10-0 in the Big 12.  They are coming off a three-set victory against Missouri on Wednesday night.

“We will get back to work and will remain focused on our continual improvement and begin preparations for yet another high caliber opponent in Texas this weekend,” Kritza said.

And don’t forget to check out the latest news and highlights with head coach Liz Kritza on the Buffalo Stampede: Volleyball Edition, exclusively on BuffsTV at CUBuffs.com/volleyball. New shows air every Tuesday.

COLORADO BUFFALOES

Head Coach Liz  Kritza

Tonight’s match was a tough one for us, not only because of the disappointing loss, but because we were very inconsistent and felt like there were moments of very high level play and also moments where we were playing below our level.

This season has been a test of finding our way through the toughest conference in the country from top to bottom, and while we are learning and improving, we are still not nearly satisfied with our performance. That desire to climb the Big XII ladder is fueling our fire to improve and work hard at learning to play high level volleyball

We were out matched tonight on the offensive side of the ball and did not generate enough scoring power overall, despite some very aggressive and strong efforts from Steinhaus and Fogle

We will get back to work and will remain focused on our continual improvement and begin preparations for yet another high caliber opponent in Texas this weekend.

Rosie Steinhaus

“I think we put up a really good fight, and we lost that lead, and that’s something we need to capitalize on in the future; especially when we have leads like that.  I think everyone stepped up in that second game, and we played really well in that game.”

“I think this is a game that we definitely could have won.  We didn’t execute as well as we could have in some areas, but in other areas our offense worked really well tonight.”

“I think their serving put some pressure on us.  That connects to your offense, so when they close the path a little bit, our hitting isn’t as aggressive.”

“You take one game at a time and you want to come out strong no matter what, so I don’t think the fourth game was all that deflating.”

“Everyone can feel that we’re definitely improving.  It’s exciting to see what we’re made of and how we’re improving in that sense.”

Kerra Schroeder

“I think that our consistency right now is up and down. We could have used that third game to work on that.  I think they were a lot more aggressive at going out and swinging hard at us.  We could have done a lot better tonight.”

“Our system is always going fast, and if we can’t get passes up to the setters, then we can’t get into our tempo and execute our sets.  I think that’s what we were missing a lot of.  

“We’ll just go back in the gym and keep working on our system.  It will be fun playing such a high level team like Texas.  It gives us a chance to show them and everybody in the Big 12 what we’re made of.”

“It gives us a sense of confidence each time we do better each game.  Even in practices, we’re executing a lot better.”