BUFFS' HOME COURT ADVANTAGE BLOCKED BY NEBRASKA

Wednesday, September 22

Boulder, Colo.

7 p.m.

Colorado

Nebraska

September 22, 2004 | Volleyball

By: CUBuffs.com

BOULDER ? No. 25 Colorado hit just .092 and Nebraska had 16 team blocks as the No. 7 ranked Huskers defeated the Buffaloes 30-25, 30-25, 30-23 in a Big 12 Conference match Wednesday night at the Coors Events Conference Center.

Colorado, ranked for the first time since 2002, falls to 6-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12. Nebraska jumps to 8-1 overall and remains tied with Texas for the Big 12 lead at 3-0. CU is 3-3 in its last six meetings against ranked teams.

The Huskers tall front line, and their ability to block, accounted for many of CU's 31 hitting errors. Melissa Elmer, a 6-2 junior, led the way for the Huskers with eight block assists while 6-3 freshman Tracy Stalls had seven. Colorado had just 41 kills on 119 attempts with the 31 errors. Junior hitter Allie Griffin had a team highs with 13 kills, seven digs and four blocks, but hit just .188 (13k-7e-32att). Junior Maragda Santillana had seven kills and seven blocks.

“They're really big and it was hard to adjust to that, when in practice the biggest block we have six feet, but I think we showed a lot of heart by continuing to swing at the big block,” Griffin said.

Nebraska hit .323 for the match (48k-16e-99att) led by Sarah Pavan's 16 kills. Jennifer Saleaumua had 12 kills.

Despite hitting less than .100 for the first time this season, a trio of Buffs hit well with limited attacks. Junior middle Lynsey Mann came off the bench to hit .429 with a career high four kills on seven attacks with one error. Setter Ashley Nu'u had five kills and hit .400 to go along with 32 assists. Santillana hit .333, recording her seven kills with two errors and 15 attacks.