Outsides Lead Buffs Past Fordham
BRONX, N.Y. - The University of Colorado volleyball team swept Fordham University 25-17, 25-15, 25-13 on Saturday night at the Rose Hill Classic.
With the win the Buffs are now 4-3 overall while Fordham falls to 2-5.
"It was nice to have our team return to form and put together a complete match," coach Liz Kritza said. "Our offense ran much more smoothly tonight than during the entire tournament and the numbers we put up were impressive. The most important one obviously was pulling in the three-set win when we had been struggling the last two matches."
Colorado tallied 42 kills and hit .287 in the match. Kerra Schroeder and Emily Alexis recorded double-digit kills for the Buffs. Schroeder had 12 kills and Alexis added 11 kills. Alexis also had a good performance defensively, leading the Buffs with 13 digs while adding a block assist. Alyssa Valentine handed out 32 assists and added three kills, seven digs and three blocks.
"Credit doesn't just go to our outsides tonight, but also to our entire serve receive unit for really stepping it up today and getting us in system," Kritza said. "Tonight was a much needed performance on our part and allows us to progress and really get ready for the fourth match in three days.
"I liked what I saw defensively. We made some adjustments on the block and the pursuit we had on the defensive side of the ball was more like what we needed to see from this team."
CU only allowed the Rams to hit 22 kills in the entire match and held them to a .000 hitting percentage. The Buffs also had 41 digs, 10 more than Fordham's 31.
The Buffs took the first set 25-17, hitting .438 with 17 kills and three errors on 32 attacks. The Buffs were a little slow to start the set, taking an 11-8 lead but extended it to 16-10. The Rams came back with a 4-0 run to get within a pair of points, but that would be the closest they would get as CU held on to win the set by eight points.
Colorado seized control of the second set from the beginning, taking a 9-3 lead. The Buffs extended the advantage to 15-5 before Fordham went on a 4-0 run to try to get back in the frame. The Rams attempt at a comeback fell short as CU came back and added to its lead, eventually taking the set 25-15. CU hit .206 in the set and held Fordham to -.103 as the Rams collected five kills and eight errors on 29 swings. The Buffs had 14 kills and seven errors on 34 attacks.
The third set was all CU as the Buffs started 11-6. Colorado used a 9-3 run to go up 20-9 and easily finished the set 25-13. The Buffs hit .214 with 11 kills and five errors on 28 attacks and held the Rams to -.094 with six kills and nine errors on 32 swings.
Earlier in the day CU dropped a three-set match to the University of Albany (22-25, 21-25, 18-25). Schroeder led CU with 10 kills. Nikki Lindow added nine kills in the effort while hitting a team-high .500. Kelsey English also recorded eight kills for the Buffs. As a team CU recorded 36 kills and hit .145. Albany hit .231 with 44 kills. Defensively Megan Beckwith had 19 digs for the Buffs and Schroeder added 11. Colorado out-dug the Great Danes 53-44.
Albany went on to win all three of its matches at the Rose Hill Classic, winning the tournament in the process. The Great Danes are 3-6 on the season.
Colorado will play St. John's on Sunday at 10 a.m. (MT) to wrap up the tournament.
And don't forget to check out the latest news and highlights with coach Kritza on This Week in Col orado Volleyball, exclusively on BuffsTV at CUBuffs.com/volleyball. New shows air every Tuesday.