University of Colorado Athletics
Brooks: Buffs, Rams Set Saturday NCAA Tourney Date
December 06, 2014 | Volleyball, B.G. Brooks
FORT COLLINS - Aside from a third-set snooze, Friday afternoon went pretty much by the numbers for the University of Colorado volleyball team. The number that mattered: CU 3, Northern Colorado 1, and it was sufficient to send No. 19 CU into the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
On Thursday, the Buffs bused up I-25 believing if they dispatched the Bears, No. 9 Colorado State would await on Saturday. No surprise here: With no noticeable lapses, CSU pushed past Denver 3-0 in Friday's second match at Moby Arena, making CU's second-round forecast accurate.
How certain were the Buffs that a date with the Rams awaited? Well, in the practices leading up to their departure for Fort Fun, the Buffs worked amidst ear-splitting crowd noise, anticipating what might await in Moby on Saturday if the home team advanced.
You might make the argument that CU was preparing for any Saturday scenario, but had DU unhinged the volleyball world and eliminated the home gals, the decibels in Moby would have been only slightly higher than in Morgan Library. That won't be the case now.
"We know they get a huge crowd for volleyball," said CU senior outside hitter Taylor Simpson, who reached the 20-kill mark (21) for the ninth time this season, matching the school record. "It would be a really electric atmosphere, but it's nothing we haven't been through. I think we're ready for tomorrow."
The Buffs opened Friday's match in a heightened state of readiness, rolling to 25-19 and 25-15 wins in the first two sets before lapsing and losing 26-24 in set three. They refocused, regrouped and routed the Bears in set four, 25-15.
She had ample help from teammates such as Alexis Austin (16 kills, reaching double figures for the 17th time this season) and Nicole Edelman (25 assists, 11 digs), but Simpson was superb. She has reached double figures in kills in 31 of 32 matches this season, and in addition to Friday's 21 kills she contributed 10 digs, giving her 559 for the season and 949 in her career.
The Simpson sisters contributed 36 of the Buffs' 64 digs in the match, with freshman Gabby getting 14 and sophomore Cierra added 12 to go with Taylor's 10. Cierra's total gives her 502 for the season, making her the first player in school history to surpass the 500 mark.
Taylor Simpson said Friday's performance got her into an offensive rhythm and arms her with "a lot of confidence" entering Saturday's match. UNC coach Lyndsey Oates said there was little the Bears could do to slow Simpson.
"We wouldn't be sitting here right now if we slowed her down enough," Oates said. "But most of the Pac-12 didn't slow her down enough though. She's a phenomenal player. She had her way against our block, especially from the back row. I think maybe that was the little bit of unexpected that we weren't as prepared for her back row swings where she was hitting over our block."
With all due respect to UNC, whose third-set win was only the second in four NCAA Tournament appearances, Taylor Simpson agreed that CU's intensity was trickling south after its 2-0 start. The Bears led all four sets 1-0, but it was only in the third set that they managed to generate any momentum.
Taylor said after the first two sets "being all pumped up . . . we've have a tendency to come out in that third set in a little bit of a funk. We have to learn from that, and if we play CSU we have to know it can't happen."
That observation, of course, came before the Rams dusted off DU - and Simpson and the Buffs know now that any more funks on Saturday will be costlier than Friday's. CSU and CU have met three times in NCAA play, with the Rams winning all three matches.
But the Buffs believe this is a different season. The Pac-12, which put a record 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament, has steeled CU for matches like Saturday's. Said Simpson: "We have played the Washingtons, the Stanfords . . . it's tough to play those teams night in and night out. It's a credit to our schedule; it helped us pull out a win tonight."
Plus, said CU coach Liz Kritza, the quick turnarounds demanded in Pac-12 road play should be benefit the Buffs in weekends like this. "Playing the No. 2 team, then the next night playing another top 10 opponent will serve us well," Kritza said. "It was difficult . . . preparing for one team at a time is essential for success. Everybody wants to win a national championship, they want to play as long as they can but they have to do it one match at a time. Once you're finished and come off that court, the conversation can turn to someone else."
The Buffs also played in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, but lost in five sets in the second round at Minnesota to the host school. Playing within Colorado's borders with three other in-state schools made for a wondrous weekend, said Kritza, who is from Colorado Springs.
When she gazed into the Moby stands on Friday she spied former club teammates, as well as coaches and officials she has known forever. "This is really neat; this is as familial as it gets," she said. "It's great, such a unique atmosphere, such a unique event. I don't think it's ever happened."
The all-Colorado weekend, Kritza added, "is great for the sport. All of the young girls out there watching this, perhaps they'll be a little bit more inspired, perhaps they'll love the sport a little bit more and volleyball will grow even more because of it."
One of the young Coloradoans that has already taken notice of volleyball's exponential in-state growth is 6-3 setter Gabby Simpson. After initially committing to CSU, she re-thought things, signed with CU and joined her sisters.
Saturday's match, she said, "will be an interesting game for me."
Interesting, indeed, for all the Simpsons, all the Buffs, all the Rams.
The Buffs planned on being in this position all along, making the NCAA Tournament and this season having a prolonged stay. A win Saturday will send them to Minneapolis for a second straight postseason, but this time for regional play.
But they had to believe that their in-state nemesis - the Rams - would be waiting out there somewhere. Somewhere is Moby Arena. The wait is over, and Saturday could be one great in-state day of volleyball.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
