HONOLULU ? The University of Colorado dropped its final match of the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic 19-30, 21-30, 29-31 to the fifth-ranked University of Florida Gators at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu on Sunday afternoon. The Buffs finished the tournament with a 0-3 record.
Alex Buth, who was the only Buffalo named to the all-tournament team, led the Buffs with 11 kills and hit .400. She also added eight digs and a pair of blocks. Amber Sutherland added nine kills and a team best 14 digs. Mallori Gibson tallied six kills. Lauren Schafer, who saw action in one game, hit .750 with three kills on four errorless attempts. Freshman Kaitlyn Burkett made her Colorado debut in the third game, replacing Ashley Nu'u for the remainder of the match. She notched seven assists and two kills. Nu'u recorded 22 assists, five kills and four digs.
The Buffaloes once again had problems with errors. They committed nine in the first game and hit just .071. The second game had eight errors, although seven of those were off of Florida blocks. CU hit a little better at .128 in that frame. The third game saw Colorado's hitting percentage rise to .200. The Buffs only committed seven errors, a match-low.
For the match, Colorado hit .135, while Florida hit .358. CU recorded 41 kills, 44 digs, three aces and four blocks.
Colorado fell behind 2-7 to start the game but went on a 9-6 run to get back within two points. The Gators came back with a 7-3 run of their own, taking a 20-14 led. UF continued to hold strong and increased its lead in the game to 25-15. Colorado was unable to come back as Florida took the game 30-19 and hit .400 with 19 kills.
The Buffs got a better start in the second set and took their first lead of the game at 4-3. After increasing their lead to 6-4, the Gators fired back with five consecutive points to take a 9-6 advantage. Colorado got right back in the game and tied the score at 10. Florida got back out front and took a 24-18 lead which CU was unable to recover from as the Gators took the frame 30-21.
CU led the Gators to start the third game, but UF overtook the Buffs at 8-7. Colorado hung with Florida, only allowing the Gators to lead by three points. The Buffs got within one point at 25-26 with an ace from Kristen Karlik and forced Florida to use a timeout. CU took the lead at 27-26 with a pair of errors from Florida. UF took the next two points and the lead at 28-27, forcing Colorado to take its' own timeout. A kill from Buth tied it at 28, but a Florida kill brought UF to match point. Gibson hammered a kill, but UF took the game with a kill and a block to win 31-29.
The Buffaloes (1-3) return home to host the Colorado Invitational Sept. 7-9 at the Coors Events Center in Boulder. The Buffs will host Cincinnati, Central Connecticut State and Southern Mississippi in the three day tournament.
