Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
CALIFORNIA
Spikers Shock No. 11 California
September 02, 2007 | Volleyball
BOULDER — The University of Colorado volleyball team surprised the No. 11 University of California Bears with a sweep, 30-28, 30-25, 30-28, on Sunday, Sept. 2, on the final day of the Colorado Invitational at the Coors Events Center in Boulder. The loss was just the first for the Bears and served as the first three games they lost all year.
With the win, the Buffs improved to 3-2 on the year after falling to 0-2 to start the season in New Orleans. The Buffs won the Colorado Invitational by sweeping all three of its opponents for the second straight year. CU earned its second win against the Bears in the all-time series and is 2-0. Cal fell to 5-1 overall.
“In my mind the turn around came during the last week of practice,” head coach Pi'i Aiu said. “The kids started to turn around their level of play and work. They've done a terrific job and put in a great week of practice. This is what happens when you do those things.”
Cal was the first ranked opponent for CU this season. Last season, CU defeated No. 1 Nebraska, No. 17 Missouri and No. 19 New Mexico State.
“I think everyone starts to believe after a win like this,” Aiu said. “We have three seniors on our bench and all of the young kids know that we can play with these teams. It's real important for our psyche and heading into Big 12's in a week and a half and to head to CSU next week. I think CSU is a real good team. “
“This obviously feels really good, especially with our start this year,” junior Alex Buth said. “We were kind of down in the dumps, but we worked really hard this week in practice and worked on defense because that is what wins games.
“The feeling is the same as beating Nebraska last year, when you beat a top-15 team in the country, you are a good team and winning in three was even better. We did is so consistently and it was a great feeling.”
Buth was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and was joined on the team by teammates Lauren Schaefer and Kaitlyn Burkett. Cal was represented by Angie Pressey and Kat Reilly, while UCF's Schanell Neiderworder and UNCW's Megan Nash rounded out the team.
Schaefer hit a team-high .467 with eight kills. She also put up a pair of blocks. Burkett handed out 37 assists. She added five kills and eight digs. CU hit .228, just slightly better than Cal's .226.
Colorado also had the advantage in kills, blasting 50, eight more than the Bears. CU also recorded 41 digs compared to Cal's 38. The Bears did hold the advantage in blocks, however, with 16 team blocks compared to two for the Buffs.
Mallori Gibson led the Buffs with 11 kills and Emilee Sisco recorded a career-best nine kills. Callie Webster had another great performance at libero. She picked up 11 digs and added a pair of assists. Webster was also a consistent server and only committed one error at the line.
The games were all close and neither team held much of a led at any point the entire match.
The first game was full of rallies and neither team was able to get more than a four-point lead. There were seven lead changes and 19 ties. Both teams combined for 13 service aces. CU had the lead four times in the set and capitalized on their lead at 26-25. They strung together a 4-3 run to finish the game with a pair of errors by Cal and a kill from Gibson and Edelman.
“I thought they did a good job,” Aiu said. “Cal came out real disjointed (to start the match) and our team made the mistake of thinking that they were going to just give it away and a team like that doesn't give it away. We told them that and until you actually see a team like that step it up, you don't believe it. Cal stepped it up and we started matching them and I think we did a great job. I am so proud of them.”
CU started the second game with a kill from Buth and wouldn't give up the lead despite eight ties in the frame. The largest lead for CU came at 10-6 in the match. Sisco led the Buffs with seven kills in the set on 11 errorless swings to hit .636 in the game.
The third set started off again with CU in the front and the Buffs wouldn't ever have to come from behind. There were six ties, including a tie at 25, but the Buffs showed their grit and finished the game with the help of three Cal errors and kills from Burkett and Gibson.
The Buffs will be back in action Sept. 6-8 at the Hilton Classic at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo. They will face Colorado State at 7 p.m. on Thursday to start the tournament. CU will play Winthrop and Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 7 and 8, respectively, at 5 p.m.
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