BOULDER ?Colorado (15-9, 11-6 Big 12) handed top-ranked Nebraska (23-1, 15-1 Big 12) its first loss of the season 19-30, 30-28, 15-30, 30-27, 15-12 here on Saturday night in front of a record crowd of 4,111 at the Coors Events Center. This marks the first time CU has defeated a No. 1 ranked opponent in its 21 year history.
“This is a huge win,” Ashley Nu'u said. “I heard at the beginning of this match that one of the reporters on the other side was talking to Pi'I and said that Nebraska needed more competition. I think that we brought that tonight, and I think that it was just an incredible win because it hasn't happened in so long. We finally put a match together that was consistent for five games. We knew that we played at a high level consistently and that is what broke Nebraska.”
“When we look back on this, it will just be another victory this season,” head coach Pi'i Aiu said. “We still have to go out and win some matches. We have three more matches to play. We're trying to get a good seed into the NCAA tournament. The victory is just another win. In the history of CU, I think people are going to look back on this. It's a win against a number one.”
The Buffs took their first game off Nebraska since Nov. 26, 2003. The Buffs took the second game in that match, but fell in four games. Nebraska's loss to CU it just it's second conference loss in three season. The win is the sixth overall for CU and is the first win for the Buffs over NU since Oct. 28 1997.
Austin Zimmerman carried Colorado with nine kills and 10 blocks, four solo and six assists. The last time a Buff recorded 10 blocks or more was Lara Bossow against Kansas State on Sept. 15, 2004. Zimmerman also hit .269 and had the best hitting percentage for CU.
Nu'u directed CU to a .162 hitting percentage. She handed out 62 assists in the match and added three kills and eight digs.
“A large part of the victory was due to the passing,“ Nu'u said. “We had a game plan where if we had two hitters up I was going to go to the outside and if we had three hitters up I was going to go more to the middle and to Buth. I think we just played really well tonight.”
Colorado hammered 68 kills, just one less than the Huskers. Amber Sutherland led CU with 18 kills and 11 digs. Gibson recorded 16 kills and Alex Buth notched 14 in the win.
On defense, Kristen Karlik recorded a match-high 22 digs. Callie Webster and Buth each picked up 11. Nebraska had a slight edge, recorded 74 in the match.
Nebraska put up 23.5 blocks to 12.0 for CU. Behind Zimmerman's 10 blocks, Sutherland added four and Gibson added three. Tracy Stalls, a Colorado native for NU, had 12 block assists to lead the Huskers.
Nebraska held CU to a .070 hitting percentage in the first game. Alex Buth led the Buffs with four kills and hit .667. Gibson added three kills. The Huskers used an 8-0 run in the middle of the frame to take control of the game and went on to take it 30-19. The Huskers also dominated the third game, holding CU to a .028 attack percentage.
The Buffs won the second, fourth and fifth games, hitting .308 in the fifth to close the game. CU recorded 10 kills in the fifth, with just two errors and put up two blocks to seal the match.
“We've always played well with our backs against the wall,” Aiu said. “We talked to our team about that this week and against Nebraska we've always felt like our backs were to the wall. We got our butts kicked in two games, but those games don't count when you win three other ones to win the match.”
Colorado will be back in action next Saturday, Nov. 18 when the Buffs travel to Norman, Okla., for a match against the No. 15 Oklahoma Sooners. The match is set for a 6 p.m. start.
--COLORADO VOLLEYBALL--
