Buffaloes Head To Oregon
BOULDER — The University of Colorado women's volleyball team closes out the first half of Pac-12 conference play this weekend on the road at Oregon State Friday at 8 p.m. MT before facing No.20-ranked Oregon Sunday in Eugene at 1 p.m. MT.
The Buffaloes (13-5, 5-3 Pac-12) are sitting in a three-way tie for fourth in the conference with Oregon and Washington State. Colorado took down the Cougars last Friday and is looking to close out the first half of conference play with their first road sweep.
CU will also face its fourth ranked opponent this season, coming into Sunday with a 1-2 record against ranked teams, all at home. Colorado is currently 33rd in the NCAA in RPI ranking, well in place to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament thus far.
Maya Tabron is coming off of a stellar weekend where she put down more than 4.5 kills per set. By far her best hitting weekend as a Buffalo, Tabron had 37 kills against two tough opponents in Washington and Washington State, doing so with a highly efficient .329 hitting percentage.
Tabron has taken a large lead in kills for CU at 223, followed closely by Lexi Hadrych with 195 and Meegan Hart with 169. Hart is sixth in the NCAA in hitting percentage at .425 this season.
Colorado has moved to a 6-2 variation with Taylor Simpson and Brynna DeLuzio leading CU with a combined 10.87 assists per set this season. Simpson has also been a force at the service line with 17 aces this season, while DeLuzio is tied with Tabron for second on the team with 141 digs. Katie Lougeay leads the back row with 219 digs this season at libero while Alexia Kuehl and Meegan Hart are separated by just a single block at 84 and 83, respectfully.
Friday night's match will be on the Pac-12 Mountain Network with Sunday's live streamed by Oregon.
OREGON STATE
The Beavers (6-12, 1-7 Pac-12) have lost six-straight matches after defeating Cal in five sets at home during the opening weekend. In the stretch, the team has only won three sets, two against ASU and one against USC. Oregon State is hitting just .178 as a team this season and allowing a .236 hitting percentage. Mychael Vernon has a team-best 206 kills with a .215 hitting percentage.
OREGON
The Ducks (11-5, 5-3) are undefeated at home this season including sweeping Stanford. Their nonconference losses came to No.3 Minnesota and No.20 Penn State. Oregon went on a three-match losing streak to Washington State and Washington in five sets, followed by a four-set loss to USC before recovering in a five-set win over UCLA.
Oregon is hitting .291 this season and holding opponents to .194 hitting. They are led by the duo of Brooke Nuneviller and Mimi Colyer, both with more than 240 kills this season and hitting .260 or better. Nuneviller is also second on the team in digs at 216, trailing only libero Georgia Murphy. Middle Kiari Robey is averaging 1.3 blocks per set.