Buffs Fall To No. 1 Nebraska

Saturday, October 6

Boulder, Colo.

6:30 p.m.

Colorado

Nebraska

October 06, 2007 | Volleyball

By: Linda Sprouse, Assistant SID

BOULDER – The University of Colorado volleyball team fell to the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday, Oct. 6 in front of 3,708 fans at the Coors Events Center. Games scores were 25-30, 18-30 and 20-30.

The 3,708 attendance figure is the second best in school history, but a good chuck was red and almost seemed like a home match for the visitor. The record is 4,111; which was set Nov. 11, 2006 when CU snapped a 17-match losing streak against the Huskers in five games.

“Nebraska is a great team and they have great tradition,” head coach Pi'i Aiu said. “It's a fact that we beat them last year and that makes their fans turn up in these kinds of numbers. It's a great program.”

Freshman middle blocker Schylur Edelman led the Buffaloes with 10 kills. She hit .227 and also put up five blocks, one solo and four assists.

“Nebraska is obviously a good team, but they are just another team,” Edelman said. “It's nothing that we should immortalize as something can never be beaten or accomplish doing. I think we came out tonight and played with intensity and played a good match.”

The Buffs hit .132 on the night with 36 kills, 21 errors and 114 attacks. Lauren Schaefer hit a team-best .333 with nine kills and Alex Buth recorded eight. Emilee Sisco added nine kills and a pair of block assists.

The Huskers hit .311 with 58 kills. 2005 AVCA National Player of the Year Christina Houghtelling led NU with 19 kills and hit .410. Sarah Pavan, the 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year, recorded 13 kills and hit .345.

CU recorded three more digs than Nebraska with 53. Callie Webster picked up a match-high 18 digs. Ashley VenHorst recorded 11 and Buth picked up nine.

Colorado has a lot of youth on the 2007 squad, but has several leaders on the team which will help lead the Buffs into the rest of the season in Webster, Buth and Schaefer as all three of them have been stepping up their games this season.

“I think Callie Webster is really doing a good job for us,” Aiu said. “I think she can start to be a little more vocal and is starting to be a little more vocal. Alex Buth has really tried to take on the mental leadership of this team and really wants to do that. She is doing a good job with her game and now she needs to infect other people with what she is doing.

“Lauren Schaefer has done a really good job and right now it (leadership) is by committee. Lauren has always been one of the more vocal kids on this team and she is playing pretty well and is close to being healthy for the first time this season.”

The Buffs collected 6.0 blocks, but only let NU record 12.0. CU has gotten better at reading the block, despite being shorter than most of the teams it faces.

Colorado looked like a different team from Wednesday night when it dropped a five-game match to Missouri. The Buffs came out with determination and showed the Huskers what they were capable of doing, but were unable to keep the intensity up in the match.

“I thought the turning point was in the first game,” Aiu said. “We were up and gave up about six points in one rotation. That let Nebraska right in it. We battled after that, but that is where the match turned and we just got a little bit tentative. We showed flashes where we were playing hard and playing well, but I think we were thinking too much about what Nebraska was trying to do and not enough about what we needed to do, which is the biggest difference between this year and last year.”

CU used a 7-1 run in the first game to take a 13-7 lead and forcing the Huskers to use a timeout. In that run, Sisco recorded three kills. The Buffs pulled out to an eight-point advantage, but the Huskers cut into it and forced a CU timeout at 17-12.

CU took the next two points off a Pavan service error but NU rattled off the next eight points to retake the lead. The Buffs didn't give up and tied up the game at 23. The Huskers used a 7-2 run to close out the game, including the last five straight points.

The Buffs will hit the road for a pair of matches next week. They will start on Wednesday, Oct. 10 in Lawrence, Kan., as they will face the Kansas Jayhawks. CU will then head to College Station, Texas on Saturday, Oct. 13 to face Texas A&M.

--COLORADO--