Colorado Suffers Sweep to No.16 UCLA
LOS ANGELES – Colorado volleyball suffered a 3-0 sweep (25-19, 25-15, 25-14) to No.16-ranked UCLA here Friday night behind a strong .406 hitting percentage from the Bruins.
The 24th-ranked Buffs (11-3, 2-3 Pac-12) hit just .157 compared to the Bruins (11-2, 4-1 Pac-12) who were led by All-American Mac May with 22 kills on a .405 hitting percentage.
Colorado played 14 student-athletes in the match, getting nearly everyone on the trip involved. Meegan Hart and Jill Schneggenburger led the team with seven kills each with Hart hitting .313. Jenna Ewert dished out 20 assists and had nine digs to go along with three kills. Ewert, Maya Tabron and Alexia Kuehl all had three kills while Jahara Campbell had four.
On defense, Brynna DeLuzio led the team with 11 digs while Kuehl and Campbell each had a pair of blocks.
The Buffs were outhit in the match 49 kills to 28 and six UCLA players hit for three or more kills and at least a .368 hitting percentage. Francesca Alupei had a match-high .625 hitting percentage while Zoe Fleck led all players with a dozen digs. Anna Dodson had five of the team's nine blocks. Setter Shelby Martin added 42 assists, three kills, six digs and three blocks while May added a pair of aces to her points total.
Colorado will look to rebound quickly as the team heads to USC Sunday at 2 p.m. MT to face the Trojans. CU has never defeated USC on the road.
SET ONE: The teams battled out of the start nearly even with UCLA taking a slight lead at 10-8. CU called the first timeout at 13-9 as the Buffs were hitting just .111 to UCLA's .227. CU put down three straight to pull within two at 16-14 before the Bruins could sideout. CU was issued a yellow card after water was spilled from their bench to warrant a delay of game. After the cleanup, UCLA went on a three-point run to force another CU timeout at 21-16. Campbell led the team with three kills while hitting .333 while May led all players with six kills hitting .308. Bella Simkus came in after the timeout at middle. Set point came with a six-point UCLA lead. May finished with seven kills while the Bruins hit .364 while CU hit .275 but committed four block errors.
SET TWO: The teams started out even until UCLA went on a four-point run to 11-7 to force a CU timeout. The Buffs kept subbing in new players with Kelley Levaggi getting a kill and Katie Lougeay seeing playing time in the backrow. Colorado called timeout again at 16-10 trying to contain UCLA which was hitting .385 in the set on a three-point run. The Bruins hit the 20-point mark up eight led by Mac's 11 kills compared to Schneggenburger's five while hitting .333. Taylor deProsse came in for her first action of the season as CU kept changing things out down 23-14. Set point came a play later, finishing it off at 25-15 with UCLA hitting .417 in the set led by May's 14 kills on .379 hitting.
SET THREE: CU called an early timeout at 7-3 with UCLA on a four-point run. The Bruins ran to a 14-7 lead as the team was hitting .420 in the match with May with 17 kills. A three-point run extended the lead to 17-8. The bleeding didn't stop as CU subbed in Taylor Simpson. The Bruins extended the lead to 23-11 and hit match point three plays later at 24-13. The lay was called a replay by the officials, getting to 23-13 because of music being played during the play. The second try at match point came at 24-14, finishing it off with May's 22nd kill of the night as UCLA hit .400 in the set to Colorado's .000.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
This is the first match we have played this season where I felt we played timidly. We let the first set get away from us with too many errors and once UCLA got momentum we didn't respond in sets 2 and 3. We will need to respond Sunday at USC.