Buffs Trample Pioneers in Seventh Sweep of Season

BOULDER – The Colorado volleyball team (9-0, 0-0 Big 12) defeated Denver (5-3, 0-0 Summit League) in three sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-15) at the CU Events Center on Sunday, Sept. 14.

The Colorado Buffaloes finished the final match in the Buffs Invitational with a sweep over the Denver Pioneers. Head Coach Jesse Mahoney, alongside associate head coach Lee Maes and assistant coach Evan Sanders Lobato, earned their 150th win with the Buffs, and Mahoney to 345 career head coaching wins, as Colorado moves to 9-0 this season.

"I've been here a while, getting older," head coach Jesse Mahoney stated. "This has been such a fantastic time in my life to be here at my alma mater and coaching these young women. Wins are fantastic, losses happen, but being a part of this program for as long as I have is really special.

Colorado out-hit (42-34), out-dug (42-35), out-assisted (38-31), out-blocked (11-8) and out-aced (4-1) the Pioneers. The Buffaloes held Denver to .094 hitting in the match, and -.037 in the third set. The Black and Gold hit .435 in the third set.

"We've had our share of sweeps this year, and that's really exciting," Mahoney stated. "That just means we're playing consistent volleyball. Denver was a really good opponent coming into that. They have some physical pieces, they run a nice offense, and they pushed us a couple of times, especially in set two. I thought our team, from a serving and defensive standpoint, was fantastic today, blocking as well. That's part of defense. We really got to them and then put it away in that third set."

KEY PLAYERS:

Jr. MB Cayla Payne led the match in blocks with eight, including two solo blocks. She also recorded 10 kills, hitting .600 (1e, 15att), and two digs.
PAYNE ON BLOCKING: "I think blocking is momentum, and it's just so exciting when you get a big block, especially ones that are good, straight down. I think it not only fuels me but fuels the rest of the team. We all trust each other, and that instills that trust."
Jr. PIN Sydney Jordan recorded 10 kills, nine digs, one ace, one block and one assist.
JORDAN ON PLAYING CLOSE SETS: "We just know that we're going to be okay. We know we're going to pass the ball, so we're much calmer. There's no frantic energy on the court. We're super mature right now with how we're handling things, and there's never a time where I feel freaked out that we're not going to pull it together."
Sr. S Rian Finley led the match in assists with 32. She also saw one kill, four blocks and two digs.
Sr. DS/L Sarah Morton tied the match-high with 11 digs, one ace and one assist.
Jr. PIN Ana Burilovic saw nine kills, seven digs, three blocks, two assists and one ace.
Jr. PIN Lily Dwinell recorded seven kills, hitting .389 (0e, 18att), two digs and one block.
Jr. DS/L Peyton Neal saw six digs, one ace and one assist.
So. MB Maria Splawska recorded two kills, hitting .500 (0e, 4att), and three blocks.
Fr. MB Olivia Grenadier recorded two kills and one dig.
Fr. S Audrey Asleson earned the Buffs one kill and one assist, and So. DS/L Katie Salonga saw two digs.
For the Pioneers, Jamia Johnson saw nine kills and Madison Winkler had 11 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Colorado started the last match of the Buffs Invitational going back and forth with the Pioneers (9-9). Kills from Splawska and Jordan put Colorado in the lead over Denver (11-9, CU). The Buffs went on a 5-0 run, including a Payne-Burilovic block (14-9, CU). A kill from Dwinell sent the match into the media timeout (15-11, CU). A Burilovic ace forced Denver to call its first timeout (18-12, CU). Payne and Grenadier continued the momentum from the middle, getting back-to-back kills (20-13, CU). A final kill from Payne saw the end of the first set (25-20, CU).
The Buffaloes went on an early 5-0 run (6-2, CU). A kill from Jordan saw the Buffs doubling the score of Denver (10-5, CU). The Pioneer momentum was stopped with a kill from Dwinell (15-11, CU). Coming back from the timeout, Colorado continued the 5-0 run with a Payne-Burilovic block and an ace from Neal (18-11, CU). A kill from Jordan, assisted by Finley, forced Denver to call a timeout (21-16, CU). A short run from DU saw a timeout from Colorado (21-19, CU). Denver called its second timeout of the set after a Splawska-Dwinell block (23-20, CU). Burilovic's final kill of the set saw Colorado taking the second set, 25-23 (CU).
The Black and Gold forced an early timeout from the Pioneers after going on a 4-0 run (5-1, CU). The Buffs went on another run, seeing an ace from Morton (10-3, CU). Colorado continued with a kill and an ace from Jordan (14-7, CU). 14-7, CU). Denver called a timeout following another Burilovic kill (17-10, CU). Colorado saw seven unanswered points from the Pioneers to extend their lead to 13 points (23-10, CU). Two final kills from Asleson and Jordan brought the Buffs to their seventh sweep of the season (25-15, CU).

UP NEXT

The Buffaloes will travel to Fort Collins, Colo. for the first match of the Battle of the Golden Spike series on Sept. 18-19. Colorado's first match against Colorado State will be on Sept. 18, and first serve is set for 6 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed on Mountain West Network, and fans can follow along via live stats links on CUBuffs.com.
JORDAN ON PLAYING COLORADO STATE: "It's really exciting that we're going into playing Colorado State next week 9-0. I know that it's going to be an amazing game, and that all it can do is build our confidence for [the] Big 12. I'm really excited for that, and I feel really good about where we are as a team."

MATCH NOTES:

The Buffs improve to 12-1 in the series with the Pioneers all-time, picking up their 12th-straight against DU.
This matches the best start the Buffs have had in program history. The last time the Buffs were 9-0 to start the season was in 2021, and the Buffs lost seven sets. This season, Colorado has only lost three sets.
The Buffaloes got their seventh 3-0 victory of the season and are 7-0 in three-set matches.
Colorado had more kills (42-34), assists (38-31), digs (42-35), blocks (11-8) and service aces (4-1) than Denver.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM:

Colorado, Cayla Payne (MVP)
Colorado, Sydney Jordan
Colorado, Ana Burilovic
Arkansas, Kiki Remensperger
Arkansas, Lakin Laurendine
Denver, Jamia Johnson
Toledo, Kelsey Smith

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

Sydney Jordan

Cayla Payne

Ana Burilović

Lily Dwinell

Players Mentioned

Audrey Asleson

Lily Dwinell

Rian Finley

Olivia Grenadier

Sydney Jordan

Sarah Morton

Peyton Neal

Cayla Payne

Katie Salonga

Players Mentioned

Audrey Asleson

Lily Dwinell

Rian Finley

Olivia Grenadier

Sydney Jordan

Sarah Morton

Peyton Neal

Cayla Payne

Katie Salonga