Match Notes: CSU 3, CU 2

Colorado Buffaloes vs. Colorado State Rams

December 6, 2014 ♦ Fort Collins, Colo. ♦ Moby Arena
Match Notes

TEAM

Colorado opened its 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and this marks the second consecutive appearance.
The Buffs have now played eight NCAA Tournament matches at Moby Arena, the most of any venue, one ahead of the Coors Events Center.
With the loss, the Buffs…
- Are now 11-23 against Colorado State all-time and 4-15 against the Rams in Fort Collins.
- End their season with a 20-14 record, the first 20-win season since 2003 and 11th in program history.
- Are now 11-18 in the NCAA Tournament and 0-14 in road matches in the NCAA Tournament. The Buffs are 6-1 at home in the NCAA Tournament and 5-3 on neutral courts.
- Are now 3-5 in the NCAA Tournament at Moby Arena and 0-4 against the Rams. CU is 3-1 in matches in Moby not against CSU. The Buffs are now 7-16 at Moby Arena all-time.
- Are now 3-7 in second round NCAA Tournament matches.
- Are now 2-2 in the NCAA Tournament under Liz Kritza, 2-0 in neutral court matches and 0-2 in road matches.
- Are now 1-6 in five set matches in the NCAA Tournament, including an 0-3 mark against the Rams. The Buffs also lost Game 5 16-14 in the second round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament on December 1, 2001.
Both teams survived one match-point. CSU had match point in Game 4 at 24-23 and the Buffs had match point in Game 5 at 14-13.

TAYLOR SIMPSON

The senior went out in style, finishing the match with a career high 32 kills with an outstanding hitting percentage of .426 (just 6 errors on 61 swings). She added 11 digs and three blocks for a career-high 33.5 total points.
Her 32 kills is tied for the eighth most in CU history and is the third best mark in the rally scoring era.
Her 32 kills matches the CU record for kills by a senior in a match, joining Rachel Wacholder (vs. Baylor, 11/22/96).
She became just the ninth player in CU history to record 30 or more kills in a match and is just the fourth in the rally scoring era to accomplish the feat.
She set a new CU record for most matches in a season with 20-plus kills, with 10, bettering a record that was on the books for 19 years. The record of nine was held by both Karrie Downey (1994) and Rachel Wacholder (1995).
Her stats for the two NCAA Tournament matches are 53 kills, 10 errors, 110 attacks, .391 attack percentage to go with 21 digs, two double-doubles and four blocks.
She had double figures in kills in 32 of 33 matches played this year, a new CU record (old was 28 by Karrie Downey in 1993).
Her season numbers end with 591 kills, 175 errors, 1,395 attacks, .298 hitting percentage, 354 digs and 72 blocks.
She extended her season kill record to 591, bettering Sarah Lodge's previous school record (528) by 63 kills.
Her 1,395 attacks is the third-most in CU history and second in the rally scoring era.
She finished her career with 981 kills, 369 errors, 2,526 attacks, .242 hitting percentage, 632 digs and 140 blocks.
She finishes her career ranked No. 16 in career kills at CU with 981, with just two seasons played.

RACHEL HARGIS

The first year senior (first year playing volleyball after four years of playing for the women's basketball team) also finished her career on a high note with career highs in kills (6), attack percentage (.600) and blocks (5).
Her previous career high for kills was 2 on two occasions, and her 6 kills tonight was half of her season total of 12 entering the contest.
Her previous career high for blocks was 3 on three occasions.
Her previous career high for hitting percentage was .333 (1-0-3) against Robert Morris on 9/13/14.

NIERA ORTIZ RUIZ

The senior had her fourth-best hitting percentage of the season with 9 kills, 2 errors, 19 attacks for a .368 percentage.
She finished her senior season with 227 kills, 60 blocks and 31 digs.
She finished her career having played in 106 matches with 581 kills, 123 blocks and 96 digs.

ALEXIS AUSTIN

The junior finished with 12 kills, four digs and an ace against the Rams.
She reached double figures in kills for the 18th time in 27 matches this season, including nine of the last 10 and both NCAA Tournament tilts.
She now has 945 career kills and ranks No. 17 on the CU career chart. Next season she will need 55 kills to become the 15th player in CU history to enter the 1,000 career kill club.

NICOLE EDELMAN

The junior finished with 33 assists, eight digs and two aces.
It marks the 18th time this season she's had 25 or more assists.
She finished her junior year with 786 assists, 208 digs and 14 service aces.
She now has 3,049 career assists, 679 career digs and 54 career aces.
She surpassed the 3,000 assist mark, entering the match with 2,991 and now had 3,016. She became the seventh player in CU history to hit that mark and moved past Kaitlyn Burkett (3,001; 2006-09) into sixth place all-time.

GABBY SIMPSON

The freshman had 29 assists, 11 digs, 3 kills and 3 blocks against the Rams.
She has had double figures in assists in 27 matches this season and double figures in digs in six. The two NCAA Tournament matches mark the first time she had double figure digs in back-to-back matches.
She ended the season with double figures in assists in nine straight matches and 17 of her last 19.
She had 639 assists on the season and will enter her sophomore season No. 13 on the all-time assists chart.

CIERRA SIMPSON

The sophomore had 17 digs, one ace and six assists against the Rams.
She ends the season with 519 digs and is the only player in CU history with more than 500 digs in a season.
She went for double figures in digs in nine straight and 16 of the last 17 matches.
She now has 891 career digs and she ranks No. 16 in CU history. She needs 109 more to become the 14th player in CU history to enter the 1,000 dig club.

ANNA PFEFFERLE

The freshman had nine kills, hit .533 and had two aces and three blocks vs. the Rams.
She finished her first season with 138 blocks, a freshman record. She also moved into sole possession of ninth place for season blocks.
The nine kills is the third-most she had her freshman season while her .533 percentage was the second-best.

Colorado University Athletics

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