Kansas Tops Colorado in Three
BOULDER— The University of Colorado volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) to Kansas on Wednesday night at the Coors Events Center.
The loss moves the Buffs to a 6-17 overall record and 1-13 in the Big 12. Kansas improved to 13-10 overall and 5-8 in the Big 12.
“Tonight’s match was a good lesson for this inexperienced group that execution of a gameplan is directly correlated to the final result,” Colorado Head Coach Liz Kritza said. “We were streaky in executing our offensive gameplan tonight and thus got outscored by 10 points, and struggled at times with our defensive gameplan and were out-dug as well.
“There are no moral victories, only measurement in wins and losses, even for a team in their first year of rebuilding a program. So the bar is not dropping for us and we will remain focus on continually improving and playing the highest possible level of volleyball than we can. “
Becah Fogle was the only Buff to record double-digit kills in the effort. She came up with 13 kills and added eight digs and a pair of block assists. Fogle also recorded a .211 hitting percentage. Rosie Steinhaus notched eight kills and nine digs for the Buffs. Nikki Kinzer was the top attacker on the night with a .714 hitting percentage. She recorded five kills on seven errorless attacks.
Kerra Schroeder recorded just five kills in the effort, but led the Buffs with 10 digs. Schylur Edelman had six kills and posted a match-high six blocks (two solos and four assists). The Buffs out-blocked the Jayhawks 7.0-6.0.
“This team continues to have the desire to play at a high level, which is why I believe they will still hit the turning point and come up with a strong finish to this season,” Kritza said.
Kansas took a 15-13 lead in the first set and extended it to a five-point advantage at 20-15. Edelman helped the Buffs get back in the set by playing a part in the next four points for CU. She recorded a pair of kills and an ace, as well as a block assist to get the score to 22-19. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to propel CU to a set victory as KU finished out the frame 25-22. KU outhit the Buffs .267-.200. The Jayhawks recorded 19 kills and seven errors on 45 attacks while the Buffs had 13 kills on five errors with 40 swings.
Colorado got out to an 18-14 advantage in the second set but were not able to hold on to the lead as KU put together a 7-0 run to take a 21-18 lead. The Buffs took three of the next four points to get back within one point (22-21), which forced KU to use a timeout. Out of the timeout, Edelman and Fogle put up a block to even the score at 22. The Jayhawks took the next two points, but the Buffs fought off one set point with a kill from Edelman before falling 25-23.
In the third set, the Buffs took a 12-10 lead until the Jayhawks went on a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead (16-12). KU added another run of 4-2 to go up 20-14. Colorado chipped away at the lead but ultimately wasn’t able to comeback, as KU finished the set 25-16. The Buffs did record a match-high .275 hitting percentage, although Kansas hit .500.
“We have spent the majority of the season teaching players technique and implementing system, now we must progress only to train to increase performance,” Kritza said. “That means we need to understand the impact of unforced errors, be disciplined enough to execute gameplans, and intelligent enough to make adjustments within the match. This is how volleyball is played and coached at the highest levels and the way that we expect to do it here at Colorado.”
The Buffs will have a chance to make these adjustments soon as they are back in action on Saturday, November 7, against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. The match is set for a 3 p.m. start (MST). Colorado defeated TTU at home on October 14 in four sets. The Red Raiders are currently winless in the Big 12 and have just two victories on the season.
“We’re excited for Saturday,” Steinhaus said. “It should be a really good game and we’re excited for the chance to play Texas Tech again.”
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 www.cubuffs.com/volleyball. New shows air every Tuesday.
-COLORADO-
COLORADO HEAD COACH LIZ KRITZA
“Tonight’s match was a good lesson for this inexperienced group that execution of a gameplan is directly correlated to the final result,” head coach Liz Kritza said. “We were streaky in executing our offensive gameplan tonight and thus got outscored by 10 points, and struggled at times with our defensive gameplan and were out-dug as well. “
“This team continues to have the desire to play at a high level, which is why I believe they will still hit the turning point and come up with a strong finish to this season. “
“There are no moral victories, only measurement in wins and losses, even for a team in their first year of rebuilding a program. So the bar is not dropping for us and we will remain focus on continually improving and playing the highest possible level of volleyball than we can. “
“We have spent the majority of the season teaching players technique and implementing system, now we must progress only to train to increase performance,” Kritza said. “That means we need to understand the impact of unforced errors, be disciplined enough to execute gameplans, and intelligent enough to make adjustments within the match. This is how volleyball is played and coached at the highest levels and the way that we expect to do it here at Colorado.”
Rosie Steinhaus
“We’re trying to clean up our game and work on reducing our unforced errors. We’re excited for Saturday. It should be a really good game and we’re excited for the chance to play Texas Tech again.”
“I think it was what we talked about before; controlling our unforced errors. We’ve been working on that in practice, but we didn’t execute it as well as we would have liked. I think that was the main problem. Our hearts were in it, but it just didn’t go our way.”
“It’s huge. It’s going to be a great opportunity to show not only Texas Tech, but other teams that we can earn respect, and we can play like a good team.”
Becah Fogle
“Like Rosie said, we’re just trying to clean up our errors. And for the rest of the season we’re going to fight out hearts out.”
“I love it. I love to be able to help my team out as much as I can and help us win.”