Buffs Tie Rally Era Set Record
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Colorado women's volleyball picked up a pair of sweeps today against Florida International and Little Rock here Friday in the Arkansas Invitational to remain undefeated.
The Buffaloes (7-0) swept FIU (1-7) by a score of 25-22, 25-19, 25-18, then took down Little Rock (2-7) in straight sets 25-16, 25-19, 25-20. Colorado has now won 14-straight sets, tying the rally-scoring record for consecutive sets won with the 2018 squad.
Graduate transfer Lexi Hadrych put on a show in the late game, recording seven kills in the first 11 points of the match. She finished the match against Little Rock with 19 kills (6.33 kills/set) hitting .361 and finished the first day with 28 kills hitting .283. She was joined offensively by Maya Tabron who had 20 combined kills with a .277 hitting percentage.
Setter Taylor Simpson had the Buffs' offense rolling all day long with the team hitting a combined .278. Colorado recorded 14 or more kills in five of six sets today and had three sets hitting greater than .300. She also recorded her first career double-double against FIU with 10 digs and 31 assists. Simpson finished the day averaging 11.16 assists per set and three digs per set.
Two-time defensive player of the week Alexia Kuehl had a more offensive day today, posting 15 kills with a .441 hitting percentage. She added seven combined blocks, the same amount that Meegan Hart combined for. Hart combined for a dozen kills today.
The defense from the backrow was on full display early when four players recorded double-digit digs in the match against the Panthers. Katie Lougeay had 18 digs, averaging six per set, in the early match and finished with a combined 30 digs to average five per set in the first two matches. Brynna DeLuzio and Jill Schneggenburger each had 11 digs in the first match as well.
The Buffaloes had Saturday off before facing host school Arkansas for a 12 p.m. MT match. Head coach Jesse Mahoney will have his first attempt to reach 100 wins at Colorado Sunday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
FIU started things out with a 3-0 run to take a 6-4 lead. Both teams started out hitting poorly as neither team earned a positive hitting percentage until the score reached 7-7 with CU hitting .091 and FIU .000. The Buffs separated with a four-point run to 16-11 to force an FIU timeout. The lead held until The Panthers responded with a four-point run of their own to force a CU timeout up 21-20. The hitting efforts were tough on both ends with a combined 14 attack errors, only six of which were forced by blocks. Out of the break, the Panthers tied things up at 22, but an attack error and Hadrych kill set up set point at 24-22 and force a FIU timeout. Simpson closed it out with an ace on her next serve. Colorado hit .108 in the set led by Hadrych's four kills hitting .300.
Colorado broke open the early tie with a four-point run to 7-3 to force an early Panther timeout. The Buffs repeated the run behind a trio of points by Kuehl with a pair of kills and a block to 11-5 before giving up the run with a service error. CU put together a third four-point run at 15-6, then extended it to a five-point run before FIU called timeout. The Buffs set break was on full display as the team was hitting .526 in the second set thus far while holding FIU to -.038. Out of the timeout, the run extended to six off Tabron's fifth kill as she joined Hadrych and Schneggenburger at the mark. The Panthers finally put together a three-point run of their own before Kuehl picked up her fifth block of the match at 18-9. Schneggenburger continued to lead the way with six kills hitting .385 and eight digs. Set point came at 24-15, but FIU would not go away easily as they turned away four-straight set points before Tabron finally put an end to the set at 25-19.
Colorado stampeded out of the gate in set three with five-straight points. The Panthers responded with four-straight of their own. The teams traded points as the lead held, then at 13-10 Mahoney called timeout despite his team hitting .304 in the set. The Buffs put together another run of three to force a Panther timeout at 18-12. Simpson secured a double-double at the 20-14 mark with 28 assists and 10 digs, the first of her career. FIU closed the gap with a three-point run before Tabron cracked into double-digit kills with 10. CU pushed to 23-17 for the Panther's final timeout. Tabron put away kills number 12 to set up match point, then finished it off at 25-18 with her 13th kill. CU hit .311 in the set with 19 kills.
LITTLE ROCK
The two teams battled out quick before, but Lexi Hadrych was out fast with seven kills hitting .778 to put CU on a four-point run to 11-8 and force a LR timeout. The scoring run advanced to six before the Trojans could sideout. Colorado kept the peddle down, advancing to a 17-12 lead hitting .409 as a team. The Buffs strung together another three-point run to force the final timeout out of Little Rock. An attack error for the Trojans out of the break made the run four, then Lougeay put down an ace to set up set point at 24-16. Hadrych finished things off with a kill, her ninth of the set to hit .538.
Hadrych picked up her 10th kill early at 2-0. Colorado kept feeding her as she had half the attack attempts with 20 at 6-6. Little Rock took the lead on a three-point run, the first time the Buffs trailed in the tournament. The Buffaloes switched the lead at 12-10 with a three-point scoring run as Kuehl was five-for-five hitting. Another three-point run led to 15-12 and forced Little Rock into a timeout. Colorado pushed to a 21-15 lead with Hadrych already at 16 kills. Set point came at 24-18 off a Schneggenburger ace, the fifth for the team thus far. The Buffs ended the set with 18 kills hitting .375.
The teams traded leads to 9-9 with the Buffs hitting .077 in the set. Colorado was unable to gather the lead heading to 15-14 with Kuehl picking up her 11th kill hitting .625. Hadrych picked up her 19th kill of the match to pull CU within one at 18-17, then an attack error tied it up to force a LR timeout. Another attack error out of the break gave CU a lead on a three-point scoring run, then a third-straight error moved the run to four. LR put down an eighth block to tie up the match, leading the match 8-5 in blocks. Hart responded with a block to force the final Trojan timeout up 22-20. The Buffs closed the match on a five-point scoring run with a pair of blocks from Hart and a kill. CU held LR to just a -.032 hitting percentage in the final set.
QUOTES
HEAD COACH JESSE MAHONEY
On The Match Against FIU
"Happy to get our first win outside the CUEC. Finding a rhythm when we are on the road is important and we struggled to find it early but settled down as the match went on. We had some great performances- and defended especially well. Quick turnaround and back at it in 3 hours!"
On The Match Against Little Rock
"A little bit of a slow start to each one of the sets tonight - but I was happy with how we finished. We found a way late in each set to put some pressure on them from the service line and finish. Huge match from Lexi Hadrych - when she lines up and is driving to the ball she is tough to stop."