Colorado Falls Despite Career-Day For Campbell

SALT LAKE CITY – Colorado women's volleyball team dropped the final match of the season here 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-12, 25-22) to No.17-ranked Utah despite a career-high 18 kills for freshman Jahara Campbell.
 
The Buffaloes (15-14, 6-14 Pac-12) hit just .197 while Utah (21-8, 14-6 Pac-12) hit .271 behind Dani Drews' 28 kills and four aces.
 
Campbell had an extraordinary day, hitting 18 kills on a .256 hitting percentage. She was joined by Jill Schneggenburger who had a double-double with 10 kills hitting .304, 10 digs and five blocks. Maya Tabron finished with nine kills while Alexia Kuehl had seven and a team-best .375 hitting percentage.
 
Brynna DeLuzio made CU history today, recording 11 digs to finish the season with exactly 500 digs in the season. She becomes just the second CU player to accomplish the feat and the first to do so in under 30 matches played. DeLuzio finished the season with a school-record 4.67 digs per set, breaking Karrie Downey's record of 4.34 that stood for 27 years.
 
Up front for the defense, Meegan Hart put down seven blocks and was a part of all but two of CU's nine blocks. Tabron added nine digs while Jenna Ewert closed out her career with 44 assists and eight digs in the match.
 
Drews was the difference maker in the match, adding all four of Utah's service aces to her 28 kills. She also had seven digs and a pair of blocks to finish with 33 total points. Ameli Van Der Werff had 12 kills and a match-high .474 hitting percentage to go along with five blocks, while setter Stef Jankiewicz had 50 assists and a match-high 17 digs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE: The Buffs jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead with four kills from different athletes. Utah responded to take the lead at 7-6 and extended to 10-7 on a 9-3 run. Colorado found some ground and brought it within two at the media timeout, 15-13. Utah already recorded 13 kills thus far hitting .321 led by Drews' six kills hitting .400. Tabron led the Buffs with four kills and three digs. Utah rallied off three straight out of the media timeout to force a CU timeout at 18-13. The lead held as Colorado called the second timeout at 23-18. Set point came two plays later, finishing it off at 25-19. Drews recorded nine kills and an ace in the set as Campbell and Tabron each had four kills but Utah recorded 20 kills in the set.
 
SET TWO: The Buffs jumped out to a 7-4 lead as Campbell found her sixth kill hitting .385. Utah called an early timeout at 9-5 as the Utes were hitting .000 in the set. Colorado put together a three-point run to 15-9 that started with Campbell's seventh kill. The run extended to four with a Schneggenburger kill to force another Ute timeout at 16-9. Colorado was hitting .471 this set with 10 kills, while Utah hit just .087. An attack error out of the break brought the run to five before Utah earned a sideout. CU closed in on set point at 23-14 with Kuehl's sixth kill of the match. Utah put together a three-point run to 23-17, forcing a CU timeout. Colorado finally earned set point at 24-19 after allowing a five-point run. An attack error on Campbell was challenged by Mahoney and went successfully to win the set 25-19 with Campbell's ninth kill hitting .400.
 
SET THREE: Utah got out to a 4-1 lead and pushed it to 7-4 hitting .625 in the set. Colorado called an early timeout at 9-4. A second timeout came for Colorado after Utah went on a three-point run to 15-9 as Utah was hitting .476. Drews hit her 19th kill to force the timeout hitting .412 while Weatherington had 10 hitting .471. Campbell led Colorado with a dozen kills hitting .385. Utah earned a 20-11 lead while holding CU to a .100 hitting percentage. Set point came at 24-12 on a four-point run off Drew's fourth ace. They finished it off a play later on a five-point run at 25-12.
 
SET FOUR: Colorado went on a four-point run to 6-2 to start out early. The run went one more with Campbell's third kill of the set already before Utah called timeout. DeLuzio earned her 500th season dig out of the break to become the second player in CU history to accomplish the feat and first to do so in under 30 matches. Colorado held strong to the lead at 15-11. Utah closed the gap with a three-point run to force a CU timeout at 15-14. Utah tied it up after the break and took the lead on a five-point run. CU responded with a pair of points of Ute errors to retake the lead. A challenge came from Utah on the 17-16 point, successfully flipping the point. Down two, Colorado tied it back up at 18 before earning a third straight to reclaim the lead. Utah flipped the lead as Drews earned her 28th kill of the match. At 21-20, Colorado called its final timeout of the set. The teams traded kills, then a Kuehl attack error was challenged by CU unsuccessfully. Match point came on a block from Utah, then was finished off two plays later.
 
QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
It's tough ending the season with a loss however I am extremely proud of our team's effort today. Jahara led us in kills and played extremely well - we are excited for her future development in our program. Brynna capped off one of the best seasons by a libero I've been a part of as well - we are excited to have her back for a bonus year next fall. However, we will miss the contributions of Zoe, Taylor and Jenna to this program.