Buffs Suffer Sweep To No.13 UCLA
BOULDER – Colorado women's volleyball fell in a 3-0 match (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) by conference-leading UCLA, here Sunday afternoon to close out its matchups against the Los Angeles schools.
The Buffs (14-9, 5-9 Pac-12) were swept by the 13th-ranked Bruins (18-3, 11-2 Pac-12) in a match where CU committed 16 errors and were outhit .398 to .202. In the first two sets, UCLA hit .400 and .556 and in the third set Colorado hit .094 which seemed to be the difference today.
Maya Tabron was the only Buff to put up double-digit kills in the match as she totaled 10. Jenna Ewert led Colorado with 27 assists to go along with her three kills and four digs. Colorado's backrow struggled against UCLA's high-powered offense, leading to Brynna DeLuzio having a team-high eight digs and no one having more than two blocks.
The Bruins had three players who reached double-digit kills which accounted for 40 of the team's 49 total kills. Allison Jacobs ignited UCLA with 15 kills and seven digs while hitting .462. Mac May also had 15 kills to add to her six digs and two blocks. Anna Dodson had two blocks and 10 kills while hitting a match-high .643.
Colorado only had two service aces compared to UCLA's seven which helped the Bruins keep Colorado out of system throughout the match.
The Buffs will travel to Tempe to take on Arizona State on Friday, Oct. 12th, at 2 p.m. MT and then to Tucson to face Arizona on Sunday, Oct. 14th, at 12 p.m. MT.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: After being down 4-3, Colorado went on a four-point scoring run to take the lead at 7-3 and force a UCLA timeout. The Buffs were able to hold a steady lead until the Bruins tied things up at 14 all. Both teams were hitting .290 as Jacobs racked up her sixth kill to tie it up again at 16 all. The tie continued to 18 before UCLA went up two at 20-18 which led to a CU timeout. Out of the timeout, Jacobs got her eighth kill of the match while hitting .615 to give the Bruins a 21-18 lead. Colorado called its second and final timeout of the set while trailing 23-19. Jacobs' ninth kill gave UCLA set point just before May got her third kill to take the set 25-20.
SET TWO: Both teams traded kills early as the Buffs found themselves in a three-all tie. The Bruins held a consistent three-point lead before Colorado tied it up once again at 10 all. UCLA then went on a three-point scoring run to go up 13-10. Following Tabron's seventh and eighth kills, a successful game challenge brought CU within one at 16-15. The Buffs tried to stay in it by calling a timeout down three and another timeout while down four late in the set. UCLA won a game challenge to take a 21-16 lead over Colorado. Alupei's third kill set the Bruins up with a set point. Martin then got her 30th assist as Dodson finished the job off with her sixth kill to win the set 25-18.
SET THREE: Colorado started strong with a 5-2 lead following a three-point scoring run which forced an early UCLA timeout. May tied things up for the Bruins at six all with her eleventh kill while hitting .500. The tie continued to 10 all before Tabron reached double-digit kills to give the Buffs an 11-10 advantage. UCLA put together a four-point scoring run to take a 15-13 lead as CU called its first timeout of the set. After the timeout, May got her 15th kill to give the Bruins a 19-15 lead. Colorado called its second timeout of the set while trailing by five following an attack error. UCLA got match point after Dodson's ninth total kill. She then got another kill to reach double-digits while hitting .643 as the Bruins won the set 25-19.
QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On The Offensive Dominated Match
Certainly UCLA is a very good team and very good offensively. They have a lot of weapons. They were good in system and especially good out of the system. I felt like at times we played very well and each of the sets were competitive. We just couldn't maintain throughout a full set. Out of the system, we hit negative .200 so our transition game was really poor. They hit about .300 out of system, so their transition game was really good and 60% of every match is played out of system, so that's a large portion of the point differential. But, I do think that we have been playing better of late and I think that we played a really nice match on Friday. The challenge for us is to kind of let this match wash over us and get ready for Arizona schools because we still have goals for ourself and we have to have a good weekend next weekend.
On The Goals For The Rest Of The Season
We want to win every match obviously. That's ultimately the goal I think. We have to get better each week in order to make that happen. There's not a match left on our schedule that is not winnable. If we are healthy and we prepare well, and we're in a good mindset when we go out there, there's an opportunity for us to make the tournament. In order for us to do that we have to play really, really well. It'll take some more wins, but this team has been working their butts off all season and are playing as well as we have in the last couple of weeks. If we continue to grow that opportunity is there for us. We just have to go take it.
Brynna Deluzio
On Heading On The Road
I think as coach said, we did a good job on Friday executing our game plan and I just think making that a focus in practice and really sticking to that and knowing what's coming at us will be a big thing for us on the road.
Jenna Ewert
On Heading On The Road
I think like Jesse said, learning from this game, but also moving forward because we do have to execute in the weekends coming up to reach the goals that we set for ourselves.