Colorado Wrangles Wyoming, Sweeps Weekend Tournament

LARAMIE, Wyo. – The Colorado volleyball team (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) defeated Wyoming (2-1, 0-0 Mountain West) in three sets (25-20, 25-13, 25-22) at Arena-Auditorium on Sunday, Aug. 31.

The Colorado Buffaloes finished their final match of the Rumble in the Rockies tournament with a sweep. The Buffs battled hard against the Cowgirls, with sophomore middle blocker Maria Splawska earning a career-high nine blocks and junior pin attacker Ana Burilovic leading the match with 16 kills.

"It was a great opening weekend," head coach Jesse Mahoney said. "To go 9-0 in sets is hard to do regardless of who you're playing, especially if we're doing it on the road. The competition stepped up each match, and we stepped up our level each match as well. [...] We had a couple [of] players who were top point scores, but I thought everyone participated in the win. We had service runs by [Bolles], we had blocking runs by [Splawska], we had steady play by [Finley]. I thought [Dwinell] had some key blocks. It was a really good team win for us."

Colorado out-blocked (16-7), out-aced (3-0) and out-dug (53-51) the Cowgirls. The Buffs held Wyoming to .059 hitting in the second set and .138 in the match.

KEY PLAYERS:

Jr. PIN Ana Burilovic led the match with 16 kills, as well as three digs and two blocks.
So. MB Maria Splawska reached a career-high and led the match in blocks with nine. She also had one kill and one dig.
Sr. S Rian Finley led the match in assists with 34. She also had nine digs, four kills and one block.
Sr. DS/L Sarah Morton led the match in digs with 17. She also recorded four assists.
Jr. MB Cayla Payne had 11 kills, hitting .526, seven blocks and had one dig.
Jr. PIN Sydney Jordan recorded 12 digs, seven kills, two blocks and one ace.
Jr. PIN Lily Dwinell recorded seven kills, seven blocks and one dig.
Jr. DS/L Peyton Neal saw nine digs, two assists and one ace.
Jr. DS/L Avery Bolles scored one ace for the Buffs.
For the Cowgirls, Paige Lauterwasser recorded 14 digs, 11 kills and two blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Black and Gold saw a slow start to the set, but a four-point run with back-to-back blocks from Splawska and Dwinell put CU in the lead (10-9). Colorado saw six unanswered points, including an ace from Neal (17-12, CU). After back-and-forth points between the Buffs and the Cowgirls, Colorado started their final run of the set, causing Wyoming to call a timeout (21-17, CU). Five more unanswered points saw match point for CU, and after a short run from Wyoming, the Buffaloes took the first set (25-20).
The Buffaloes started the second set with a four-point run, including kills from Payne and Burilovic, and a dump from Finley (6-2, CU). Back-and-forth points between CU and Wyoming saw kills from Jordan and Burilovic, and blocks from Dwinell and Splawska (11-7, CU). Colorado went on another 6-0 run, causing Wyoming to call their first timeout of the set (16-8, CU). The Black and Gold started their final run of the match with a kill from Finley (19-11, CU). Wyoming tried to rally, but CU won the second set handily, 25-13.
Colorado started the third set with a kill from Dwinell, assisted by Finley (1-0, CU). Back-to-back kills from Burilovic kept CU in the lead (4-1). A solo block from Payne allowed the Black and Gold to double the score of the Cowgirls (14-7). The Buffaloes continued to find open spots, with Jordan, Payne and Burilovic leading the offense (19-13, CU). Wyoming made a final push, but a final block from Payne and a kill from Burilovic ended the third set, 25-22 (CU).

UP NEXT:

The Buffaloes travel to Irvine, Calif., next weekend for the UCI/adidas Invitational. Colorado plays Fresno State on Thursday, Sept. 4. First serve is set for 4:30 p.m. MT, and the match will be streamed on ESPN+.
MAHONEY ON THE UPCOMING TOURNAMENT: "We [have] to make sure we are recovered and feeling good going into the weekend."

MATCH NOTES:

CU is 16-9 all-time against Wyoming.
The Buffaloes got their third 3-0 victory of the season and are 3-0 in three-set matches.
Colorado had more kills (46-37), assists (40-33), blocks (16-7) and service aces (3-0) than Wyoming.
Burilovic led all three tournament matches in kills, as did Morton in digs.
This is the Buffs' first time sweeping the first three matches of the season since 2008.
With 16.0 blocks, this is the Buffs' highest total blocks since Nov. 3, 2023, against Oregon State.

For more information on the Colorado women's volleyball team, a complete schedule and results, please visit CUBuffs.com. Fans of the Buffs can follow the team on Instagram and on Twitter @CUBuffsVB.

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Team Stats

Ana Burilović

Cayla Payne

Sydney Jordan

Lily Dwinell

Players Mentioned

Avery Bolles

Lily Dwinell

Rian Finley

Sydney Jordan

Sarah Morton

Peyton Neal

Cayla Payne

Players Mentioned

Avery Bolles

Lily Dwinell

Rian Finley

Sydney Jordan

Sarah Morton

Peyton Neal

Cayla Payne