Colorado University Athletics
Simpson, Paul Pick Up CU Athlete of the Week Honors
September 16, 2014 | General, Men's Golf, Volleyball
BOULDER-- The University of Colorado senior outside hitter Taylor Simpson (volleyball) and sophomore Jeremy Paul (golf) earned CU Athlete of the Week honors Tuesday for their play during the week of September 8-14.
Simpson led the Buffs to the Omni Invitational title with 5.64 kills per set, which earned her the MVP award. She started the weekend against ISU with 17 kills and hit .302 with just four errors on 43 attacks. In the match against RMU, she didn't record a single error with 16 kills on 24 attacks to hit .667 a career-high. She also served three aces in the match, tying a career-high. She saved the best for the last match, hammering 29 kills in the four-set win over Butler. She also hit .355 with seven errors on 62 attacks. The 29 kills tied the best mark in the Pac-12 this season and is the most by a Pac-12 player in a four-set match. During the weekend, she was targeted 30 times by the opposing team to receive serve and she never committed a reception error. She averaged an outstanding 5.64 kills per set and hit an impressive .395 in those three matches.
Paul led the Buffaloes to a seventh place finish in the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational. He tied for eighth place with a 72-71-74:217 (7-over par) on the 7,260-yard, par-70 Olympia Fields Country Club layout, the same course that hosted the 2003 U.S. Open and had similar course conditions and pin placements for this tournament. His 37 pars for the weekend tied for sixth most in the 75-man field, and he tied for the team lead in birdies with six. He also tied for fourth in par-4 scoring, as he played the 36 of that variety at just 6-over par. The tournament featured 10 schools ranked in the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) preseason Top 25; the Buffaloes defeated five of those teams: co-No. 1 Alabama, #11 Oklahoma, #19 Texas A&M, #21 Arkansas and #23 Virginia Tech.
This was the second award of the season for Simpson and the first for Paul.
Also nominated for this week's honor: Tori Cooper (soccer), Sefo Liufau (football), and Alexis Keating (golf).
Cooper, senior, played a significant role in the Buffaloes' win over in-state rival Denver on Friday. The match was scoreless until the second half when Cooper scored her first goal as a Buff. In the 49th minute, Cooper received the ball off a corner kick by teammate Kahlia Hogg. The senior from Torrance, Calif. was in prime position at the back post to tap the ball in and give CU the 1-0 advantage. She also helped support a defense that only allowed four shots and one goal to a Pioneer team that was averaging 8.5 shots per match entering Friday's contest. Colorado went on to win 2-1 after a successful penalty kick conversion by senior Darcy Jerman in the final minute of the match.
Liufau, sophomore, completed 31-of-46 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns (while accounting for 17 first downs) in CU's 38-24 loss to No. 16 Arizona State.
Keating, junior, led the Buffs to a third place team finish in their opening tournament of the 2014-15 season at the Colonel Wollenberg Ptarmigan Ram Classic in Fort Collins, Colo. The Washington native carded CU's lowest three-round total with a 213, or 3-under par and finished tied for third place overall. Keating had five birdies over the two-day tournament and was only one of nine players in the field to record a sub-par final round.
