Colorado Falls To Sun Devils On Career Night For DeLuzio

TEMPE – Colorado volleyball redshirt senior Brynna DeLuzio made history here Friday afternoon in a four-set loss (25-16, 20-25, 25-22, 27-25) to Arizona State with a career-high 31 digs.
 
The Buffaloes (14-10, 5-10 Pac-12) overcame a tough first set hitting to dominate the second set against ASU (14-12, 7-8 Pac-12) before losing a lead late in the fourth.
 
DeLuzio was spectacular from the start with 11 digs in the first set alone. She finished with 31 digs, a career-high by one, to become just the third Buffalo in CU history to have numerous 30-dig matches in the same season. She also became just the second Buff to ever record a double-double with assists and 30 or more digs, joining Jennifer Sherlock from 1990. DeLuzio finished the match with 10 assists, the 23rd double-double of her career.
 
The Buffs had four double-doubles in the match. Setter Jenna Ewert looked like she was going to have a triple-double after she led the team with six kills in the first set and had a double-double early in the second. She finished with six kills hitting .750 along with 32 assists, 17 digs and a pair of blocks. Maya Tabron led the team offensively with 13 kills to go along with 10 digs and three blocks, while Jill Schneggenburger recorded 11 kills and digs to go along with her three blocks while hitting .281.
 
Also for Colorado, Jahara Campbell returned home and had eight kills while hitting .226 with a career-high five blocks. Alexia Kuehl came on late for CU to finish with eight kills and a .667 hitting percentage with three blocks.
 
CU played well defensively with 13 team blocks led by Meegan Hart's six. Five Buffs recorded double-digits in digs with the four double-double performances and Morgan Riddle putting up 11 digs. Seven Buffs had a pair of blocks or more with Bella Simkus coming in and putting down a quick three in the first two sets.
 
Arizona State was led by Iman Isanovic who finished with a 30-point match with 26 kills hitting .286 on 70 swings, four aces and 14 digs. Marta Levinska had 19 kills hitting .272 with a team-high 20 digs while Geli Cyr had 12 kills with 17 digs. Libero Jamye Cox had 19 digs.
 
The match turned into kills versus kills and blocks as ASU had 65 kills and three blocks to CU's 49 kills and 13 blocks. CU also committed just 10 attack errors to ASU's 23, but the Sun Devils owned the service line with nine aces to Colorado's two.
 
The Buffaloes return to action Sunday at noon to face Arizona in Tucson.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: Colorado jumped out to a 3-1 lead before an ASU challenge reversed the call to even it up at a pair each. A second challenge came unsuccessfully for CU to take the lead. The teams were tied up at five-all despite CU having just one kill from Campbell. Isanovic put down consecutive aces in the middle of a four-point run to 14-9 before CU called timeout. Neither team was hitting well with ASU at .042 and CU at .000 with just two kills. A second timeout came at 19-12 as the Sun Devils had four service aces. Set point came at 24-15 with the Buffs having only five total kills. The set ended two plays later at 25-16 as Isanovic finished with nine kills hitting .350 with a pair of service aces. DeLuzio had a great first set with 11 digs.
 
SET TWO: ASU took the early lead 6-4 as ASU jumped out to a .600 hitting percentage. Zoe Neverdowski made her return in the backrow and Bella Simkus was subbed in early in the set as CU's hitting struggles continued at a .000 hitting percentage. CU earned its fifth block of the match at 9-6 with Simkus leading the team with three blocks. Colorado put down four straight with a pair of Campbell kills to tie things up at 12 and force an Arizona State timeout. Colorado came out with a Campbell kill, Ewert kill to bring her total to four and then a block to extend the run to seven. One more dump from Ewert forced a second timeout as the CU run extended to eight. Out of the second break, Ewert and Hart put down a block, then a ball handling error brought the run to 10-straight points at 18-12. The Buffs stampeded to the finish as the run finally ended at 12-straight with a kill at 20-13. Set point came at 24-17 as CU had six blocks in the set thus far and eight in the match. ASU made a slight comeback but the Buffs finished it at 25-20 with Ewert flirting with a triple-double with six kills on six swings, 11 assists and seven digs. Campbell finished the set with five kills hitting .294 as DeLuzio's dig total reached 16. The Buffs finished the set with six blocks to bring the match total to eight.
 
SET THREE: Both teams went out to a five-point tie when CU won a challenge to flip the point. The ties continued to 12 before ASU started a three-point run into the media timeout at 15-12. The run continued before CU close it to 17-14 with Ewert, Campbell, Tabron and Schneggenburger all with six kills. Ewert already had a double-double with 19 assists and 11 digs while DeLuzio eclipsed the 20-dig mark. Colorado tied things back up at 18 all and forced an Arizona State timeout with the Buffs hitting .333 with 12 kills led by Schneggenburger's eight kills hitting .250. They extended their lead to 20-18 on a five-point run. ASU tied things back up at 20-all, then turned the lead with their own three-point run to force a CU timeout. Colorado tied things back up at 22 when ASU challenged a touch on a Tabron kill. The call was reversed to give ASU a two-point lead. Set point came at 24-22 on a service error, then the Sun Devils finished it off the next play. DeLuzio finished the set with 26 total digs while Isanovic eclipsed 21 kills with 12 digs.
 
SET FOUR: Colorado took a 3-1 lead before ASU went on a three-point run to 4-3. ASU pushed the lead to 10-6 as the Buffs earned their 10th block of the match. Colorado challenged a net error successfully to extend a run to three down 10-9. DeLuzio earned her 30th dig of the match to become just the third Buff to ever have numerous 30-point matches in a single season as the media timeout came at 15-11. The Buffs closed the gap to 16-15. Colorado went on another three-point run to take the lead 17-16 and force an ASU timeout. The run pushed to five straight with a block and an ace to force another timeout at 19-16. Colorado led by five at 23-18 before ASU went on a three-point run to force a CU timeout at 23-21. The run extended to five as Arizona State tied it up at 23 all and forced another CU timeout. A service ace gave CU set point, then a kill from Levinska tied it up. A follow-up kill set up match point at 25-24 on a 6-1 run for ASU. Hart and Tabron put down a block to tie it up at 25 and force a Sun Devil timeout. The Sun Devil finished it off with a block to end it all 27-25.
 
QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On The Match
Frustrating match for us. We did a lot of things right and gave ourselves an opportunity but had too many service errors when it mattered. We certainly had some bright spots though and I thought Brynna was exceptional once again on defense.