BOULDER ? Sophomore Mallori Gibson recorded a career-high 14 kills as the University of Colorado defeated instate rival Denver 30-27, 30-23, 32-30 on Friday at the Coors Events Center.
“I'm real happy that we stayed poised,” Colorado Head Coach Pi'i Aiu said. “We came from behind in every game and it was pretty significantly every time, about four or five points in each game. We played pretty mature, chipping away at DU and scoring when we needed to score. I would like to not play from behind, but DU played a really good match. I'm glad we had them up here rather than at their place.
Colorado used several players as it defeated the Pioneers in three games. Gibson led the team with 14, scoring six of those in the first game. Junior Amber Sutherland added 13 and picked up eight digs. Alex Buth and Lara Bossow each tallied eight kills. Bossow, who lead the team in attack percentage last season, once again led the Buffs with a .583 percentage.
“I wasn't sure how it was going to go.” Gibson said. “I was going to try my hardest, but did my best. I felt pretty good.”
“She did a great job and we expected that of her,” Aiu said. “She had an injury last year that kept her from playing but she is certainly a physical player and we expected that from her.”
Colorado played three in the middle and it seems like Aiu is happy with the results.
“I think they did a good job,” Aiu explained. “Austin was obviously a little rusty. She had a great preseason. She did a great job in rehab and will play significant time this year. Both Lara and Lauren picked up where they were last year.”
“I was here all summer working out”, Zimmerman said. “We had a great season and we (Lauren Schaefer and Lara Bossow) were all pushing each other. We're all sharing time, which I think is really good. Our season is so long and there are so many games, a lot of the time we go five. I think it (playing three in the middle) will really help us in the long run.”
Zimmerman recorded a team-high 12 digs and added three kills and an ace.
Overall, Colorado led the Pioneers in ever category except blocks. CU notched 54 kills, 49 assists, four aces, 44 digs and 2.5 blocks while hitting .238. Denver recorded 12 blocks and hit .170 on the night.
The Buffs got off to a slow start and trailed 9-5 in the first game, but rallied back to close the gap at 11-12. Denver continued to hold its lead until Bossow tied the game up at 19 with a kill. Colorado retook the lead with an error by Kim Muller and extended it to 25-22, forcing a DU timeout. Denver came back and tied it up at 27, but a kill from Sutherland gave the Buffs the lead again. Another kill from Bossow brought the Buffs to game point and a Denver error sealed the game at 30-27 for Colorado.
Colorado trailed again to start the second frame, but came back to take the lead at 18-16 with a 7-0 run. The Buffs extend their lead to 21-17 and continued to dominate the game. CU earned its largest lead of the game with a 25-18 advantage. Buth serves an ace to make it 29-23 and the Buffs closed the game with a DU hitting error. Overall, CU hit .195 and held DU to .139.
The third game was more of the same with the Pioneers taking a lead and Colorado coming back to even it out at 14. Denver fought back and regained an 18-15 lead. A kill from Bossow and a pair of DU errors tied it back up at 18. A Gibson kill gave the Buffs the lead once again at 19-18. Once again the Pioneers tied it up, but a triple block by Buth, Gibson and Lauren Schaefer gave CU the lead back and brought the crowd to its feet. The two teams went back and forth until DU took two straight to make it 30-29. Bossow hammered one down to tie it again and Colorado won the match off of a pair of DU errors.
The Buffs will head to Hawai'i next weekend for the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic in Honolulu. CU will face three ranked opponents in No. 10 UCLA, No. 7 Hawai'i and No. 5 Florida Sept. 1-3.
--COLORADO VOLLEYBALL--
