BUFFS TAKE COLORADO INVITE TITLE, DOWN HEELS IN FOUR

Saturday, September 11

Boulder, Colo.

7 p.m.

Colorado

North Carolina

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

September 11, 2004 | Volleyball

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER ? Junior Maragda Santillana had a career-high 27 kills, leading Colorado to a 30-22, 30-32, 30-23, 30-22 win over North Carolina Saturday night at the Coors Events Conference Center, giving the Buffaloes the team title at the 2004 Colorado Invitational.

The Buffaloes, 5-2 overall, claim their own tournament title for the fourth-straight year with a perfect 3-0 record. San Diego was second (2-1) followed by Pittsburgh (1-2) and North Carolina (0-3).

Santillana, who reached the 20-kill plateau for the second time in four matches, passed her old personal best of 24 achieved in a five-game match last season against Kansas. She had seven kills in game on alone 10 attacks and no errors (.700) to give CU a 30-22 win.

"It definitely feels good to win," Santillana said. "If I have a good game it doesn't matter unless the whole team plays well."

UNC fought back to take game two at 32-30. The Tarheels hit .243 in the second frame (15k-6e-37att) while CU hit just .149 (19k-12e-47att).

The Buffs' offense regrouped by hitting .301 over the final two games (38k-10e-93att). Three other Buffs joined Santillana with double-digits in kills. Junior Nicole Carr had 14 kills and a team season-high 19 digs. Junior Allie Griffin had 13 kills while sophomore Austin Zimmerman had 10.

I was a little disappointed with how we played, but our kids pushed through." CU head coach Pi'i Aiu said. "Sometimes you have to learn to take ugly wins."

Senior Allison Barnes came off the bench to record a double-double finishing with 37 assists and 13 digs. Freshman defensive specialist Therese Vi?al played three games at libero, responding with a personal best 12 digs.

Griffin was named tournament Most Valuable Player averaging 3.75 kills, 1.75 digs and 0.93 blocks over the three matches. Santillana and sophomore Ashley Nu'u were both named to the All-Tournament team. Ryan Maspero and Kristen Carlson of San Diego, Gini Ullery of Pittsburgh and Molly Pyles of North Carolina rounded out the All-Tournament team.

"It feels great to be named MVP, but I don't think I deserve it because everyone played so well," Griffin said. "But I'm honored anyway."

CU will open its 2004 Big 12 Conference schedule on Wednesday, Sept. 15, against defending league champion Kansas State at 7 p.m. in the Coors Events Center.

Earlier on Saturday, San Diego swept North Carolina (30-24, 30-16, 30-26) and Pittsburgh (30-20, 30-22, 30-25) to move to 4-2 overall. Kristen Hurst had 10 kills and 13 digs against UNC in the opener while Kristen Carlson led USD with 15 kills and hit .400 against Pittsburgh.