Buffs Defeated In Four Sets By No. 19 Stanford

BOULDER – Colorado women's volleyball lost a 3-1 (25-23, 25-16, 24-26, 25-21) match here Thursday night after Stanford had 11 blocks in a tight defensive battle.
 
The Buffaloes (14-12, 5-12 Pac-12) lost to the 19th-ranked Cardinals (15-10, 10-7 Pac-12) for the second time this season after getting outhit .305 to .204 in a match with 19 total blocks between the two teams.
 
Maya Tabron led the team in kills with 18 to go along with her eight digs. Alexia Kuehl joined Tabron as the only Buffs with double-digit kills as she had 10 in the match hitting .412.
 
Jahara Campbell and Meegan Hart each had nine kills as Hart hit an impressive .600. Hart and Jill Schneggenburger combined for a total of 11 block assists in a strong defensive performance. Jenna Ewert led Colorado in digs with 15 as Brynna DeLuzio had 14. Ewert also had a match-high 48 assists to add to her three kills in the match.
 
With her double-double performance, Ewert passed Alexa Smith for sole possession of 10th in CU history in career double-doubles at 44. She has a chance to catch and pass Rachel Wacholder's 46 for ninth overall.
 
For Stanford, Kendall Kipp and McKenna Vicini combined for 14 block assists tonight. Kipp had a team-high hitting percentage of .500 and a match-high 19 kills to go along with 15 digs. Caitie Baird and Sami Francis had strong offensive performances combining for 30 total kills.
 
The Buffaloes will stay home and take on Cal this Sunday at noon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: After going down 1-0, Colorado scored six unanswered points to take a 6-1 lead early on. As the Buffs led 8-4, they were outhitting Stanford .222 to -.231. The Cardinals decided to take their first timeout of the set as they trailed 10-5 after an attack error. Shortly after the break, Baird picked up her third kill to cut the Stanford deficit to just two at 13-11. Tabron extended the lead to five again for CU as she got her third kill to go up 18-13. The Cardinals went on a three-point scoring run to force a Colorado timeout at 18-16. Out of the timeout, Stanford tied everything up at 20 all. Baird's seventh kill forced a Buffs timeout at 21-20 as the Cardinals went on a four-point scoring run. The set was tied at 23 all before a block gave Stanford set point. After a successful game challenge, the Cardinals finished the set on a three-point scoring run. Baird had a total of nine kills as Stanford won the set 25-23.
 
SET TWO: Both teams were in a tough battle as everything was tied up at 4 all. Campbell's fourth kill put an end to Stanford's four-point scoring run as the Buffs trailed 8-5. The Cardinals put together another four-point scoring run while outhitting CU .571 to .000 to force a Colorado timeout at 12-5. After a long rally back and forth, Tabron racked up her sixth kill as the Buffs trailed 14-8. Stanford had a comfortable 18-10 lead which led to CU taking its second and final timeout of the set. Kipp's eighth kill while hitting .429 gave the Cardinals a 20-12 lead. Colorado cut the deficit to six at 22-16 after Schneggenburger's third kill of the match. A Buffs attack error set up a Stanford set point. Baird reached double-digit kills to take the set 25-16. 
 
SET THREE: The Cardinals jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead after Vicini picked up her fifth total block. Kipp got her ninth kill while hitting an impressive .389 to make it 8-5. A service ace from Torstenson cut the Colorado deficit to two at 10-8. Stanford then went on a three-point scoring run while outhitting CU .500 to .053 to force a Buffs timeout. Out of the timeout, Tabron reached double-digit kills to make it 13-9. Vicini and Kipp combined for their 12th total block assist as the Cardinals led 16-10. Hart's seventh kill while hitting .636 cut the deficit to just three at 18-15 just before she combined with Schneggenburger for a block which forced a Stanford timeout. The Cardinals took a 20-17 lead after Baird picked up her 13th kill of the match. Tabron's 12th total kill tied things up at 20 all. Colorado took its final timeout of the set after Kipp reached double-digit kills. After the break, Ewert's third kill tied it up once again at 22 all. Kuehl then got her fourth kill to give CU a 23-22 lead and force a Cardinals timeout. After a crazy rally, Stanford committed a bad set to give the Buffs set point. The Cardinals tied things up at 24 all following Kipp's 11th kill of the match. Colorado reached set point again after Tabron got her 13th kill. Kuehl's fifth total kill gave the Buffs the set 26-24 despite getting outhit .279 to .234.
 
SET FOUR: After a successful Colorado game challenge early on the Buffs trailed 3-2. Francis put an end to CU's three-point scoring run after her ninth kill tied everything at 4 all. Another successful game challenge gave Campbell her eighth kill and cut the Stanford lead to 8-7. Hart's ninth kill while hitting .600 tied it up at 9 all. The Cardinals gained some traction during a three-point scoring run to lead 15-11. Tabron's 17th kill ended Stanford's four-point scoring run. Campbell brought Colorado within three at 18-15 after picking up her ninth kill of the match. CU trailed by one heading into a Stanford timeout following Torstenson's second service ace. Francis got her 12th kill while hitting .375 to force a Buffs timeout at 21-18. An attack error forced Colorado to take its second and final timeout of the set as the Cardinals put together a four-point scoring run to go up 23-18. Stanford reached set point after Perry committed a service error. The Cardinals took their last timeout of the set after CU cut the deficit to two 24-22. Following a review after the timeout, the call was reversed and the Buffs committed a block error which gave Stanford the set 25-21. 
 
 
QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On The Match
It was a well-played match. Stanford's obviously very good, very physical. I was really proud of the way we played and the way we fought. I think if we hold on to win that first set, it looks like a little bit of a different match. Stanford steadied out and was able to catch us there at 23. We had a lot of really nice performances, both of our middles hit for really big numbers. We flipped them in the rotation and Alexia is getting a few more balls and doing a really nice job in transition and Meegan's doing a really nice job in front of the setter as well. For the rest of the season and as we go into the spring and next season, I think we're pretty good team in system. We've got to find a way to be a little bit better out of system. I thought Maya was fantastic tonight in system and you look at her numbers and she hits .083 because she's taken a lot of swings out of system and trying to score. That's something that's going to come as we get a little bit older and get a little bit more training time. We'll move on to the Cal on Sunday and then we have two great teams next week as well.
 
On Out Of System Play
It's something we work on in practice. We can't do it enough because that's a lot of jumps for our outsides, but it's something we need to get better at. Like I said, Jahara and Maya are working to do that. I thought Maya took a lot of really good swings and wasn't rewarded as much as I would like for some of those. She's only getting better. She played sparingly last year, was our second outside to start the season and now is getting the line share of swings. That's just a little bit of a different mentality that she's starting to embrace. I'm excited for the rest of the season and certainly excited for her to continue to keep growing.
 
Jill Schneggenburger
On Playing Right Side
I try to think of it as it's the same as the left except on the other side of the court. So I try not to overthink that this is a completely different position. It's nice that I get the familiarity of being in the back row.  I'm still playing back row, which is one of my favorites to play and just hitting on the right. I have one rotation hitting on the left, which is fun, but it's nothing really different.
 
On Her Power
The past few weeks, I've had a hard time connecting with Jenna and I think this game really built my confidence up and being able to connect with her. It's really nice to actually have some good hard-driven balls.
 
On Her Mentality
I kind of had a realization that I'm over being hard on myself and might as well just have fun. Next year is my last year so might as well make the most out of all the matches I get. That's kind of been my mentality in the past few matches.