Buffs Head To Arizona For Final Road Weekend
BOULDER – Colorado women's volleyball team heads to Arizona this weekend for the final two-match road weekend of the season, taking on Arizona State Friday at 2 p.m. in Tempe before heading south to Tucson to take on Arizona at noon.
The Buffaloes (14-9, 5-9 Pac-12) are coming off a split against the LA schools at home that included the second-ever defeat of USC in school history.
Maya Tabron continues to produce for the Buffs on offense, posting 100 kills in her last six matches. She also has recorded four double-doubles in that time and eclipsed the 20-point mark four times. She is joined by Meegan Hart who has 171 kills and Jill Schneggenburger with 164. Jenna Ewert is averaging 9.9 assists per set from the setter position.
On the defensive side, Brynna DeLuzio continues to lead the Pac-12 in digs per set with 4.73. She also leads the team with 21 aces, followed closely by Savannah Perry with 19 and Schneggenburger with 17. Hart is top-10 in the conference in blocks per set, totaling 90 this season.
Colorado is currently ranked 48th in the nation in RPI rankings and 37th with conference leaders removed from the top-50. The team looks to keep their NCAA hopes alive this weekend and to get revenge on the Arizona schools from their earlier matchups.
Friday's afternoon matchup will be televised on the Pac-12 Network while Sunday's match will be on the Arizona Live Stream. The Buffs return home to host Stanford next Thursday and Cal the following Sunday. They finish out their home schedule against Washington the day before Thanksgiving before closing the regular season out the Saturday following Thanksgiving in Utah.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
Arizona State (13-12, 6-8 Pac-12) won an impressive five-straight conference matches against UCLA, Utah, Colorado, Cal and Stanford. Since that they dropped both matches on the road in Washington, including a sweep to the Huskies and a five-set loss in Pullman.
Iman Isanovic earned a Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honor at the end of October and leads the team with 403 kills, nearly four per set while hitting .235. She also has 29 aces this season to go along with Marta Levinska's 30. Levinska is second on the team with 281 kills. In the front row, Claire Jeter had 99 total blocks this season.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Arizona (14-11, 6-8 Pac-12) has had a roller coaster since defeating the Buffs. They were swept by Utah, then swept Stanford and Cal at home. On the swing through Washington the team was swept twice.
Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Jaelyn Hodge and Puk Stubbe all have 200 or more kills this season with Stubbe leading the way with a .241 hitting percentage and a Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor. The team also has three players with 26 or more aces. On the defensive side, five Wildcats have 100 or more digs led by Kamaile Hiapo with 324.