Brooks: Future Starts Friday For Taylor Simpson, Buffs

BOULDER - Really, truly, Taylor Simpson is doing her best to follow her own common sense and her coach's mandate. One match at a time . . . don't look ahead . . . can't make the second step without taking the first.

But it's tough, man, is it tough.

Simpson and her University of Colorado volleyball teammates can envision themselves advancing to the NCAA Tournament's Regional competition next week in Minneapolis. But before that can happen, they have to win on Saturday in Colorado State's Moby Arena. And before they win on Saturday they have to win on Friday against Northern Colorado (4:30 p.m.).

UNC (22-9) will certainly have a say in determining CU (19-13) and Simpson's Saturday afternoon agenda, but if the Buffs advance they will play the winner of Friday's CSU (29-2) vs. Denver (27-6) match. The Rams, playing with a maniacal Moby crowd behind them, are the odds-on favorites this weekend to be packing their backpacks next weekend for a trip to Minnesota.

Admittedly, it's tough, very tough, for Simpson & Co. not to be anticipating a game on Saturday against the state's highest nationally ranked team. (CSU is No. 9, CU is No. 19). Said Simpson: "I wish it was the other way around (playing CSU first) . . . yeah, it's kind of tough."

First, though, comes the first of what Simpson hopes is six consecutive games. If there are six for the Buffs, they'll be playing for a national championship - a goal Simpson went public with last summer. "I talk to the coaches every day; we're talking about a Final Four and a national championship. I think this year that's something that's achievable," she told me in June.

The dream lives, with Simpson's play in a record-breaking senior season a big reason. She was recently honored as an All-Pac-12 Conference selection, was honored twice as the league's player of the week, and was the only two-time national weekly honoree by ESPNW. Every time the Buffs played in a tournament, Simpson was on the all-tourney team.

In the Pac-12, which had eight teams ranked in the latest AVCA top 25 poll, Simpson was fourth in kills per set (4.56) and points per set (5.09). Those numbers put her at 15th in the NCAA in both categories, with her 538 kills this season breaking the former school record by 10.

WHEN CU'S BEST-OF-THE-BEST volleyball players are being debated, Simpson has earned a prominent place in the conversation. She could be the best, period. "That's flattering," she said a couple of days ago seated on a couch outside the volleyball offices in the Coors Events Center. "That's special, especially being from Colorado. It's so cool to come here and play and have people think that highly of me. Obviously I wouldn't be able to do anything without my teammates . . . but it's really awesome."

Simpson, a 6-3 outside hitter from Colorado Springs, took a two-year Midwestern college tour (Nebraska, Missouri) before rerouting herself to CU. It obviously was good for the Buffs as well as the Simpson family. She joined sisters Cierra, now a sophomore, and Gabby, a freshman, to give coach Liz Kritza - for one season at least - one of the most prolific sister acts ever in college volleyball.

Playing with her sisters had been done briefly at Doherty High School, but not enough for Taylor to really comprehend and appreciate her siblings' talent.

"I really didn't know what to expect and it has been a wild ride," Taylor said. "It has been crazy, but it's been so much fun. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I've gotten to know my sisters better as players and I wasn't able to say that in high school very much. It's been really cool, but it's been a roller coaster, kind of crazy. The dynamic of three sisters . . . it had its bumps and bruises, it's been a little tough.

"But I think now at the end of the season everybody realizes that there is one common goal and every single one of us is on board with that. Coming into this week in practice the (intensity) level has completely skyrocketed. You can definitely see that. Everyone flipped the switch and is ready to play in the tournament. Everybody is driven and everybody is sticking together to see how far we can go. I wish I had another year to play with (her sisters), but I don't. So we need to go out with a bang this season."

The Buffs had hopes of banging their drum a little longer in last season's NCAA Tournament, advancing to Minnesota before losing to the home team in five sets (3-2). Simpson said that trip ignited a fire in the Buffs for the 2014-15 season, and it's burning fiercely as this weekend looms.

In truth, the weekend is an anomaly of sorts in college volleyball. It amounts to an in-state postseason tournament, something athletic directors at the four schools might try for years to schedule but never get it sorted out.

"It's really cool; I've never seen it happen before and I don't think anyone has," Simpson said. "It says a lot about the state of Colorado and how volleyball is just getting really crazy in Colorado. Good recruits are coming in, teams are getting better. It should be an exciting weekend, and probably the most exciting part about it is we're playing at home. We have to travel 45 minutes up the road and are playing, hopefully, two teams that we know."

THE BUFFS' 13 LOSSES ARE the most among the four teams in Fort Collins, but rationalizing that number isn't difficult considering the difficulty of the Pac-12. Projected to finish seventh, CU tied for fourth in the conference (11-9). And the Buffs' 19 overall wins this season are the school's most since 21 in 2003.

Kritza points to the leadership provided by Simpson and junior Nicole Edelman, the Buffs' co-captains, as being pivotal in the success. "They are two of the most competitive kids I have ever coached," Kritza said. "Really, when they got to this program, we were at the point where we were getting better. We were getting looks from higher level recruits, more highly touted recruit"But, it takes one or two players like that that come in to win a championship. They are the ones that will be on the floor. Coaches can't win them, we're not the ones out there competing."

Kritza said it helps greatly having one or two players on a team "who decide that this is the year, this is the time to do it. Quite honestly, Taylor Simpson has her sights set on this national championship run but she's already been called up to the National Team. Team USA has called her up for the third time and she'll go out and play professionally after this semester. She'll report to Anaheim for the national team training center."

Simpson isn't so much interested in her personal legacy at CU as much as she is what the Buffs might accomplish in her final run. "Mostly I'm just so happy that I got the opportunity to play for J.T. (Wenger), Liz and Ryal (Jagd) and come back and play in my home state," she said. "I wish I would have started here; who knows how that journey would have gone? But I got two years here and I'm just happy I got to do that and play with my sisters and meet a great group of girls and have my family come up to every game. That's been really special."

Special could really start on Friday. Krtiza has had her team practice at the CEC this week with amped up crowd noise, trying to replicate what the Buffs will hear on Friday and hopefully Saturday. Simpson played in Moby during her freshman season at Nebraska and remembers the experience like this: "Oh my gosh. It is a crazy crowd. I wouldn't expect anything different after we win on Friday night. Oh my gosh. And they're crazy fans, too. I wouldn't say they're the nicest, but they're loud and crazy. It's a big-time atmosphere, that's for sure."

But the Buffs believe they've had big-time preparation for this -- more "battle tested," in Simpson's words. "Our second match of the conference season this year was at Oregon and they had a huge crowd. It was like Freshman Night or something, so everybody came. But I think we're very well prepared for big crowds and we know how to play in front of big crowds. So we'll see how it goes."

If Friday goes well, Saturday and probably CSU await. Simpson and the Buffs can hardly wait, but they'll have to.

"It's been kind of hard keeping our focus on UNC because there is a big CSU team up on Saturday after we win on Friday," she said. "But UNC is just as good as the rest; they made it to the tournament, they won their conference, they have good players. We just have to take it one game at a time and hopefully that'll get us where we want to be."

The wait continues, but not for too much longer.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU