CU FALLS TO NO. 7 KANSAS STATE

Saturday, November 1

Boulder, Colo.

7:00 p.m.

Colorado

Kansas State

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

November 01, 2003 | Volleyball

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER ? The University of Colorado dropped its first home match of the season as No. 7 ranked Kansas State University defeated the Buffaloes 30-24, 20-30, 30-26, 30-22 Saturday night at the Coors Events Conference Center.

Colorado drops to 15-8 overall and is 7-6 in the Big 12 Conference. First-place Kansas State improves to 22-3 overall and 12-1 in league play. CU entered the night with an eight match winning streak at the CECC including seven this season.

Trailing 1-0, CU took advantage of six Kansas State hitting errors in the first 10 points of game two to build a 9-1 lead. The Buffs never looked back in game two, leading by as many as 15 (23-8) before finishing the game out at 30-20. CU held the Wildcats to a .000 hitting percentage in game two (14 kills-14 errors-46 attacks) while the Buffs hit .139 (10k-5e-36att).

Colorado blocked well in the match, finishing with team season-high 15 team blocks. Freshman Austin Zimmerman, sophomore Allie Griffin and senior Monique Gerlach each had five.

The difference in the final two games was that KSU improved its hitting while the Buffs fell off. The Wildcats hit .287 (37k-12e-87att) for the remainder of the match compared to just .138 for CU (31k-19e-87att).

“We made a few mistakes that were key and once the started pushing points it was hard to come back,” Griffin said.

Griffin and sophomore outside hitter Maragda Santillana each had 16 kills to lead the Buffs. Three players recorded double digits in digs. Junior Allison Barnes and Zimmerman each had 11 while freshman Amber Nu'u had 10.

“I thought we played well and fought hard, but we're going to have to play a little better to beat a team like that (Kansas State),” CU head coach Pi'i Aiu said.

Colorado will continue Big 12 action on Wednesday, Nov. 5, against Baylor University at 7 p.m. at the CECC.