Buffs Fall In Four to Slovenian National Team
BOULDER - The University of Colorado volleyball team dropped an exhibition match 3-1 (13-25, 25-21, 17-25, 20-25) to the Slovenian National Team at the Omni Hotels Colorado Volleyball Classic on Friday night.
"Exhibition matches are rare in volleyball, you can try things that you normally wouldn't in a regular match," coach Liz Kritza said. "Obviously we wanted to win; mostly I wanted to see what some of our younger players could do. It helps me go through the list and show, 'Yes that works or don't try that again.'
"This team is on this tour where they're playing match up after match up after match up. That's what we brought them here to do."
Kerra Schroeder and Nikki Lindow each recorded 11 kills to lead CU. Lindow hit .474 with just two errors on 19 attacks. Emily Alexis added eight kills for CU and Anicia Santos had five.
Defensively Megan Beckwith picked up 16 digs for the Buffs and Schroeder added another 11 digs. English, Lindow and Santos each posted three blocks for CU.
Slovenia got out to a hot start in the first set, taking a 13-5 lead and would finish the set 25-13. The Slovenians held the Buffs to a .000 hitting percentage with seven kills and seven errors on 26 attacks while hitting .300 (13 kills and four errors on 30 swings).
The Buffs took their first lead of the second set at 20-19, thanks in part to a four-point run. CU added another two points to take a 22-19 lead and was able to finish the frame off with a 3-2 run. Lindow recorded seven kills and hit .875 in the set to lead CU. The Buffs hit .407 with 12 kills and just one error on 27 tries and held Slovenia to .297 (17 kills and six errors on 37 attacks).
"Nikki was the difference maker (in the second set), we moved a lot of our middles around, and Nikki really showed that this is her position," Kritza said. "Last week she played on the outside for us and we moved her to the middle and this was her litmus test. She's a physical player, she's athletic and she's got a big jump on her, and she just needs to keep building her skills."
Slovenia took the lead in the third set, going up 10-5. The Buffs tried to battle back into the frame but was unable to hold onto their serve, falling 25-17 in the set. CU hit .296 (13 kills and five errors on 27 attacks) and Slovenia hit .320 with 11 kill and three errors on 25 swings.
Colorado got out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth set, but Slovenia rallied back to tie the set at 11-11. The two teams continued to battle, tying the score five more times before Slovenia took a two-point lead at 19-17. Slovenia would hang on for the 25-20 set win. The Buffs hit .065 in the set with 10 kills and eight errors on 31 attacks while Slovenia hit .150 with 12 kills and six errors on 40 attacks.
The Buffs (2-1) will host Albany on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 2 p.m. The Great Danes are playing Colorado State and Nebraska on Saturday in Fort Collins, Colo.
"Albany is a good team," Kritza said. "They played a good match last night against the Slovenian team and have a tough day tomorrow in Fort Collins."
And don't forget to check out the latest news and highlights with coach Kritza on This Week in Colorado Volleyball, exclusively on BuffsTV at CUBuffs.com/volleyball. New shows air every Tuesday.