Colorado
4-1,0-0
Charlotte
3-1,0-0
Colorado Continues Its Winning Streak
September 02, 2023 | Volleyball
CU has swept their last five opponents.
BOULDER - The Colorado women's volleyball team secured the Colorado Classic with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) victory over Charlotte here Saturday night at the CU Events Center. The Buffaloes have now won five straight matches without losing a single set which they haven't done since 1993.Â
Colorado (5-1) didn't play its starters and dominated from start to finish against the 49ers (3-2) as it outhit Charlotte .430 to .160. The Buffs also had 10 blocks on the defensive front compared to Charlotte's two.Â
Ana Burilović was a force on both ends tonight, racking up 12 total kills, eight digs and one block. She also put together a hitting percentage of .375. Sydney Jordan had a great performance as well as she totaled nine kills with an impressive .474 hitting percentage.
Colorado looked like it was in control for the majority of the night with booming kills set up nicely by setter Rian Finley. Her 29 total assists helped CU to get 38 kills in the match.
Since after the first match of the season, the Buffaloes have looked unstoppable, winning 15 straight sets. Colorado women's volleyball will look to continue that winning streak when it heads to Wichita, Kan. to play in the Wichita State Invitational.Â
The Buffaloes have matches against the Kansas Jayhawks Friday, Sept. 8th at 2 p.m. MT and the Wichita State Shockers Saturday, Sept. 9th at 6 p.m. MT.Â
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET ONE:
After a close beginning to the set, Colorado took an 11-7 lead after going on a four-point scoring run. CU then scored the next three points to take a 14-7 lead and force a Charlotte timeout. After the break, the Buffs continued to have it their way as Burilović and Cayla Payne combined for a block to go up 21-11. The 49ers took their second and final timeout of the set after the block. Colorado reached set point shortly after when Charlotte committed a setting error. The Buffs took set one 25-15 after Bella Simkus' third kill of the match.Â
SET TWO:
Both teams found themselves in a close set as Colorado led 7-6 early on. CU started to pull away, scoring three unanswered to go up 13-7 and force a Charlotte timeout. The Buffs continued to roll, taking a six-point advantage at 19-13. A strong kill from Burilović followed by a service ace by Finley gave Colorado the set 25-16.Â
SET THREE:
After suffering five straight points, the Buffs came back with five straight of their own to take a 10-7 lead and force a Charlotte timeout. The 49ers made things close;Â however Colorado fended them off to go up by four later in the set. A successful game challenge gave the Buffs a 21-16 lead down the stretch. Shortly after, CU reached match point at 24-19 with another successful challenge. Burilović buried one for her 12th kill to win the set 25-20 for Colorado.
Quotes:
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement
"Charlotte is a very solid team. We had some players who were working really hard in the practice gym, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to play. I'm really proud of what they made of that opportunity. We hit .430 and held them to .160; we only had four attack errors. That's pretty special. I felt like we got better as the match went on. There's going to be times this season where we need anyone to fill a role for us, and the more opportunity and more comfortable that players can get in a match, the better for our whole team. So, I'm really proud of the performance and looking forward to a day off."
On Utilizing Challenges & Trusting His Players' Calls
"Players know what happened in a play better than anybody else. So if they tell me something happened, I generally agree with them. And then a couple of times I could see it myself even though I didn't have my glasses on" Coach Mahoney won four challenges throughout the course of the match, with three coming in the third set, including match point.Â
Libero Emilea Stepaniuk
On Winning Their Last Five Matches In Three Sets
"This weekend has been a really quick turnaround. We've been back-to-back-to-back, so that means coming in in the morning and watching film, going through our scout practice and scouting out these teams. I think what has been really important is being dialed in on those practice and using what we learned in film to take it out on the court and apply it to get a good idea of what we're going to see on the other side during the actual match."
Middle blocker Bella Simkus
On Connecting Well With Setter Rian Finley
"Rian and I have worked together for years now, which is really helpful and having that connection already is fantastic. She and I were able to communicate on the court and off the court about what we needed from each other, and that's what helped us get there." Simkus hit .556 in the match with five kills, nine attempts, and zero errors.
