No. 18 Buffs Ready To Renew Rivalry Against Colorado State

BOULDER — For 18 seasons (1987-2005), the Colorado and Colorado State volleyball teams faced each other at least once, if not twice, a season. But over the last decade, the two teams have battled only four times.

That is about to change Saturday, with 18th-ranked Colorado hosting CSU in the final match of the Omni Invitational at 7:30 p.m. at the Coors Events Center. In 2017, CU will travel to Fort Collins, Colo. to play CSU in one of its home tournaments.

"I'd absolutely want to see us play them more going forward," CU head coach Jesse Mahoney said on Tuesday. "We want to play good teams, and if there's a good team in our backyard we're going to play them for sure. I think it's important for the state to have two top 25 volleyball programs play each other, and it's good for volleyball in our state. When I took this job last December, Tom (Hilbert, CSU coach) and I talked really quickly about a continual home and home and that's the plan right now. They're coming here this year, and we'll go there next year. Barring some unforeseen things I think that will continue."

The last time to two teams faced each other was a memorable match in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in Fort Collins. No. 9 CSU took the first two sets, but the No. 19 Buffs rallied to win the following two sets and force a fifth and deciding set. CU had match point (14-13), but was unable to convert and CSU rallied to win the match 16-14 and move on to the NCAA Sweet 16 in Minneapolis, Minn.

"They [the CU team] still remember that NCAA Tournament match that came down to the end, and we beat them this spring and our kids were really excited about that even though that game didn't matter," Mahoney said. "I do think that they're looking forward to it [playing CSU], there's no doubt about that. There's a lot of cross connections with players and coaches, so there's all that kind of stuff."

Four of the last five matches against CSU have been played in Fort Collins, two of those in the NCAA Tournament (2005, 2014). The last time CU and CSU played in the regular season was in 2010 and the last time the two played in Boulder was in 2008, another regular season match-up.

Overall, CSU owns a 23-11 record against the Buffs, but in Boulder, that advantage is only 8-7. The Buffs are looking to put a stop to the Rams' seven straight wins in the series, and what better place to do it than in Boulder, where the Buffs last won a match between the two in-state rivals in 2002.

Besides bragging rights for the state, Saturday's match-up will feature two of the top blocking teams in the NCAA. Colorado ranks 10th, averaging 3.05 blocks per set, while CSU is 12th with 3.02 blocks per set.

Individually CU sophomore Naghede Abu leads the way with 1.55 blocks per set (15th in the NCAA) and teammate junior Joslyn Hayes adds 1.31 (53rd the NCAA). The Rams also have a pair of blockers rated high nationally. Alexandria Poletto is 21st overall (1.44 bps) and Kirstie Hillyer is 28th (1.41 bps).

"They've got a 6'6 middle blocker and a 6'4 middle blocker," Mahoney said. "They still run the same blocking scheme that I helped them create there, so they will know what we're doing and we will know what they're doing. So, we just need to do it a little bit better than them."

It's easy to see the Coors Events Center will be the place to be on Saturday night.

No. 18 Buffs Ready To Renew Rivalry Against Colorado State

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Joslyn Hayes

Related Videos