Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Kansas State
Buffs Lose Heartbreaker to Wildcats
November 12, 2008 | Volleyball
BOULDER ? The University of Colorado volleyball team lost a heartbreaking four-set match (25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 25-27) to No. 14 Kansas State at the Coors Events Center on Wednesday night.
“I'm disappointed with the result obviously,” head coach Pi'i Aiu said. “But we are competing better. We need to do better when it's not just big (ranked) teams. They have to be fired up for everybody. You only get so many games in a season and you get a thousand practices. They have to get excited for games.”
With the loss, the Buffs are now 12-12 overall and 6-9 in the Big 12 while K-State improved to 22-5 and 12-4.
“We lowered our level a little bit,” Alex Buth said. “We weren't consistent at all. The first game was awesome; we played really well. We were just a roller coaster team. We should have come out and won that fourth game and brought it to a fifth game; that really would have helped.”
Emilee Sisco and Lauren Schaefer each hammered 12 kills in the effort. Schaefer hit a match-high .647 with only one error on 17 swings. Schylur Edelman also recorded double-digit kills with 11 in the match.
As a team, CU notched 56 and attacked at a .236 clip. Kaitlyn Burkett dished out 43 of CU's 53 assists. Alex Buth added four and Amber Sutherland tossed out three.
The Buffs were great on defense. Buth led the team with 19 digs and Callie Webster picked up 15. Burkett added 13. In total the Buffs recorded 68 digs to KSU's 55.
CU also put up 9.5 team blocks. Edelman recorded one block solo and four block assists while Schaefer notched four block assists.
“If we can play like we did tonight, we will beat some teams,” Aiu said. “We have to compete a little more. We have to take the opportunities we get. We can't have safe plays. We have to think about killing every ball. There's got to be a sense of urgency and there should be. We have to get on a roll and hopefully Saturday is a good time to do that.”
The Buffs took the lead from the beginning of the first set and never let go. K-State tied the game at 10 but the Buffs took the next three points to put a little distance on the Wildcats. CU had set point at 24-18, but the Wildcats took the next five points and looked poised to prevent the Buffs from taking the set. After a quick timeout Buth sealed the set for CU with a kill. Both teams recorded 16 kills and six errors in the set but the Buffs hit .286 compared to the Wildcats' .238. (CU had 35 swings in the game and KSU had 42.)
K-State got out to a 19-13 lead in the second set, but the Buffs went on a 6-2 run to get back in the game. CU fought off one set point for KSU, but was unable to complete the comeback and fell 20-25. It was a tale of two-halves in the set as CU hit .357 in the first half (7k-2e-14att), but then just .047 (6k-5e-21att) the rest of the way.
“I really think the key is fighting every game out and we have to play more consistently,” Edelman said. “We let them get on runs; we lose two-three points in a row and that just kills us. We need to work on our mentality.”
CU had the lead in the third set at 14-13 until K-State went on a 6-1 run to go up 19-15. The Wildcats hit a scorching .412 in the set with 17 kills and just three errors. CU recorded 11 kills and hit .200 in the set.
The Buffs fell behind 12-17 in the fourth set but tied the set up at 24 with a block from Buth and Sisco. Aiu was issued a yellow card at 24-25 on a call which he felt the ball was not touched but was ruled otherwise. The Wildcats would take two of the next three to win the set and the match.
“We need to step up our game and play more consistently and we have to pick up wins every time that we go out,” Edelman said. “We have to be ready to win and ready to fight every night.”
The Buffs are 5-3 at home during the Big 12 schedule and one of those wins is against No. 3 Nebraska (the Huskers' only loss of the season). Their losses are to No. 4 Texas, Baylor and now No. 14 K-State.
“We play better against ranked teams, which is interesting,” Buth said. “We need to have that mentality every game; no matter if they are ranked or not.”
The Buffs will host Missouri on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. The Tigers (12-13, 6-9 Big 12) are tied for seventh in the Big 12 with CU and Texas A&M.
Big 12 Standing (as of Nov. 12 at 9 p.m.)
Team Big 12 Overall
Nebraska 15-1 24-1 .
Texas 13-2 20-3
Kansas State 12-4 22-5
Iowa State 8-8 16-11
Baylor 7-8 16-10
Oklahoma 7-10 11-14
Colorado 6-9 12- 12
Missouri 6-9 12-13
Texas A&M 6-9 11-14
Kansas 6-10 12-13
Texas Tech 0-16 5-22
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