Colorado
14-10, 6-6Pac-12
Oregon
11-10, 5-7Pac-12
Buffs Drop Five-Set Heartbreaker To Oregon
October 31, 2015 | Volleyball
BOULDER — On Saturday night, the University of Colorado volleyball team fell to the Oregon Ducks, 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 11-15).
CU fought hard, but was unable to overtake the Ducks. The Buffs now stand at 14-10 overall and 6-6 in the Pac-12.
"I think tonight we had some opportunities to go ahead, and we sat back and waited a little bit too long for it," said head coach Liz Kritza. "You look at the numbers, you look at the scores overall—it's a decent match, not a great match on our part, but a decent match. For us, that's not enough. We're not going to be satisfied with that."
The Ducks took the first set, 25-22, but the Buffs didn't let them win easily. There were a total of 14 ties in the set and four lead changes. The Buffs racked up 25 kills, with Gabby Simpson earning nine and Alexis Austin with eight.
CU started off strong in the second set, putting the score at 4-0 very quickly. An ace by Austin put the score at 8-2 and though the Ducks attempted to rally, they couldn't overtake the Buffs. A final block by Naghede Abu took the win for the Buffs, 25-22.
"It's going to be something that ends up being a learning experience, something that helps us prepare and refocus and get better for the next one," said Kritza. "There isn't an easy match, regardless of what the ranking says or whatever number is attached to the teams that we're about to play. Everybody in the Pac-12, at this point in the year, are dealing with the same things."
The first two points in the third set came from a CU service error and was followed by an Oregon net violation putting the score at 1-1. The two teams continued to tie 13 more times in the set, for a total of 14 ties. The Buffs and Ducks were neck-and-neck for the majority of the set with a total of seven lead changes, and ultimately, CU came out on top, 25-23.
The Buffs were unable to secure the match win in the fourth set and fell to Oregon, 25-19. However, Simpson racked up her kills to 13 and Austin to 14 for a team total of 43.
"There were a couple key points that we didn't win," said Nicole Edelman. "When you are up or down by a couple points and you don't win those super critical saves or blocking assignments, or the point not going our way, then it's hard to come back."
The fifth and final set started off with five ties before the Ducks pulled ahead and CU called for a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Buffs started out strong with a kill by Anna Pfefferle putting the score at 9-7, Ducks. After Oregon took two more points, the Buffs were forced to use their final timeout. Though they made a valiant effort and forced Oregon to use a timeout, CU couldn't pull past and fell 15-11.
"We knew they were a good team and we knew we could beat them in either three or four sets, something better than five," said Austin. "I feel like we were just 'Go, Go, Go, Go, Go', rather than taking a breath and being ahead of the games."
The team finished the match with 48 kills, with Austin earning 16 and Simpson tallying 15. Edelman excelled in assists, finishing the match with 42 of the team's 47.
CU is back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 8:30 p.m. to face NO. 8 UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif. They will stay in California for their Friday, Nov. 6 match against No. 1 USC and will return to Coor's Events Center on Thursday, Nov. 12 to play No. 14 Arizona State.
"When we go on the road we have some big matches and big teams that we have to take down," Kritza said. "We take a lot of pride in knowing that we are a team that has the ability."
