Austin, Benner, and Murphy Named Athletes of the Week

BOULDER - Alexis Austin (volleyball) led the Buffs to a pair of wins over ranked opponents No. 21 Arizona State and No. 19 Arizona earn co-honors with Kaitlyn Benner (women's cross country). Benner led the No. 2 CU women to their third straight regional title on Friday, while Pierce Murphy (men's cross country) led the top-ranked CU men to their second straight NCAA Mountain Region Championship win to earn the men's Athlete of the Week title.

Austin recorded 22 kills and hit .385 in the five-set victory over Arizona State and followed it up with a 15 kill performance versus Arizona. She hit .438 against the Wildcats with just one error on 32 attacks and posted three blocks, two solo, and one assist, in the sweep. Austin was served to 26 times and did not commit a single error.

For the weekend, she averaged 5.00 points per set with 4.62 kills and 0.50 blocks per set.

Benner finished second overall in 20:55.86 on Friday at the NCAA Mountain Regional. The Buffs defeated top-ranked New Mexico by one point (49-50).

This was the second straight meet that Benner led the Buffs. With the team win, CU automatically advanced to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 21. This is the third time this year Benner has won Athlete of the Week honors.

Murphy finished seventh overall on Friday. He completed the 10k course in 30:06.14, just a split second in front of teammate Morgan Pearson (30:06.36) who placed eighth.

The team defeated No. 11 UTEP by 10 points (67-77), and earned a spot at the national championship on Saturday.

Like Benner, this is Murphy's third time being named Athlete of the Week.

Also nominated for this week's honors: Tina Bokhua (tennis), Alexis Robinson (women's basketball), Derek McCartney (football), and George King (men's basketball).

Bokhua went 4-2 between doubles and singles matches over the weekend at the San Diego State Invitational. In singles competition, she went 2-1 with wins over Galina Bykova (Fresno State) and Arisha Ladhani (UC Irvine), advancing to the finals where she fell in two tight sets to Tamitha Nguyen from San Diego State. In doubles action, Bokhua paired with freshman Annabelle Andrinopoulos to go 2-1, winning the consolation title.

Freshman Robinson of the women's basketball team had an impressive collegiate debut on Saturday as she helped the Buffs defeat Loyola Marymount, 92-81 in their season opener. The guard from Ashland, Ky. came off the bench and had a complete game, recording 13 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block and only 1 turnover in 25 minutes of play. Robinson went a perfect 3 for 3 from behind the arc and was only one of three players to drain at least three 3-pointers in the contest. Colorado improved to 37-5 all-time in season openers and 40-2 all-time in home openers.

McCartney had eight tackles, seven solo, in CU's 27-24 loss to Southern California. Those included a quarterback sack, one other tackle for loss, a third down stop and a quarterback hurry in playing 63 snaps from scrimmage.

King came off the bench against No. 7 ranked Iowa State to score a career-high 14 points. It was his first action since 2013-14 as he redshirted last year. He also registered career highs in 3 pointers made and attempted and also overall field goals made and attempted (4-of-9).