Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
6-9, 3-6
Texas Tech
3-14, 1-7
Buffs Take Away A Victory Against Red Raiders
October 13, 2010 | Volleyball
LUBBOCK, Texas - With its back against the wall, the University of Colorado volleyball team overcame a 0-2 deficit to defeat Texas Tech 3-2 and win its first road match of the season on Wednesday night at the United Spirit Arena. Set scores were 24-26, 20-25, 25-15, 26-24, 28-26.
The Buffs snapped a four-match losing streak with the victory and improved to 6-9 overall, 3-6 in the Big 12. The Red Raiders fell to 3-14 overall, 1-7 in the conference.
"What a fantastic match tonight," coach Liz Kritza said. "Of course we are elated with the outcome, but this was a hard fought contest on both sides of the net. The final set was a stoic example of sheer determination and a complete team effort.
"At the onset of this match, we intended to put forth our maximum effort and to really get back to progressing towards our goal of being a championship level team. This hard earned victory tonight was a good step towards that goal and I am proud of the way this group of young players fought with all they had to get the outcome they desired."
Sophomore Kerra Schroeder recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 35 kills and 13 digs while hitting .324. Her 35 digs are the most by a Buff since 2006 when Amber Sutherland hammered 35 against Missouri. She becomes just the third Buff to record 35 or more kills in a match. Sarah Lodge is the only other CU player besides Sutherland to record 35 or more kills. (Lodge owns the record at 40.)
"Kerra's performance tonight was excellent," Kritza said. "She responded well to her team's need for her to carry a load at times and really led the way with being an aggressive, complete and mature player tonight."
As a team, the Buffs hit .324, recording 80 kills for the first time since 2007, which was also against TTU. Alyssa Valentine handed out a career-best 62 assists in the victory and added three kills of her own. Rosie Steinhaus had her best match of the season, recording 13 kills and hitting .400 with just one error on 30 attacks. Nikki Lindow added 11 kills and also had a great hitting percentage at .421. Richi Bigelow recorded double-digit kills with 10.
Texas Tech's Amanda Dowdy recorded a match-best 37 kills in the effort as the team notched 87 total kills. The Red Raiders hit .294 on the night.
The Buffs were also hot on the serving strip, recording seven aces. Elysse Richardson and Anicia Santos each served three and Schroeder added the remaining ace.
CU's defense was led by a pair of freshmen. Megan Beckwith reached 20 digs for the fourth time this season and Richardson added 13. Hannah Walker also recorded 10 digs in the win. Colorado posted 7.0 team blocks. Santos put up four, one solo and three assists and Lindow added one solo and two assists.
The Buffs took an 8-6 lead to start the first match. The Red Raiders struck back with a 7-0 run to take a 13-8 advantage in the set. Colorado did not give up and took nine of the next 15 points to get back within two points at 19-17. After another kill from Tech, the Buffs recorded five straight points to take a 22-20 lead. TTU tied it back up at 22, but then CU recorded the following two points to get to set point. The Red Raiders fought off the following two points and won the set by taking the final two, winning 26-24. The Buffs hit .310 with 17 kills, but TTU recorded a .349 hitting percentage with 20 kills.
Tech took the early lead in the second set, going up 8-3 and forcing CU to use a timeout. TTU took an eight-point lead at 12-4 before the Buffs went on a 5-0 run to get the score to 12-9. The two teams continued to battle, with the Red Raiders taking a 20-14 advantage. TTU increased its lead to 24-16. CU fought off four consecutive set points, bringing the score to 24-20, but was not able to complete the comeback as the Red Raiders took the final point of the set to finish it off 25-20.
Colorado came out to start the third set with the momentum on its side and took a 13-7 lead before TTU used a timeout. The Buffs added to their lead with a 7-4 run to take a 20-11 advantage. There seemed to be no stopping the Buffs in this frame as they closed it out 25-20. CU hit an impressive .583 with 16 kills and just two errors on 24 swings and held TTU to a .219 hitting percentage. The Red Raiders also helped CU by recording three service errors and five attack errors.
The Buffs once again took the lead to start the fourth set, taking an 8-5 lead before Tech tied it up at 9. The frame remained close and would have 13 more ties before CU won the set 26-24 after a pair of TTU attack errors. The Buffs hit .344 with 14 kills and posted two blocks. TTU hit .389 with 19 kills.
In the fifth set was by far the most exciting set and it was Tech that took the early lead, going up 6-4. After a quick CU timeout, the Buffs took the next two points to tie it up. The Red Raiders took four of the next five points to take a 10-7 lead, but again CU rallied back with three straight points to tie the set, this time at 10. The Buffs went up 14-12 but were not able to close the match as TTU fought those off. The battle went on and on as neither team was ready to give up. CU was finally able to close out the intense set at 28-26, thanks in part to Schroeder who recorded 13 of her 35 kills in the set. She hit .500 with just one error on 24 attacks in that set alone.
"One of our highlights was the turnaround we made offensively in the third through fifth sets," Kritza said. "The improvement was a key factor in not only the comeback after the tough start, but also what kept us in fighting until we came away with the win in the last set.
"Again this young squad pushed their way back in to the match after being down 2-0, and in that fifth set revealed our true character, which will be something that we can look back to as we push ahead in this tough conference season."
The Buffs are off this weekend, but return to the court on Wednesday, Oct. 20 against No. 13 Iowa State at the Coors Events Center. The match will start at 6:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at CUBuffs.com or by calling 303-492-8337.
And don't forget to check out the latest news and highlights with coach Liz Kritza on This Week in Colorado Volleyball, exclusively on BuffsTV at CUBuffs.com/volleyball. New shows air every Tuesday.
