Colorado
5-4
Montana State
2-6
Simpson Sisters Shine Against Montana State
September 18, 2015 | Volleyball
BOULDER — Sophomore Gabby Simpson had a career performance on Friday afternoon, hammering 21 kills, to lead the University of Colorado volleyball team past the Montana State Bobcats 3-1 (25-18, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22).
Simpson also hit .372 with only five errors on 43 swings.
Early in the second set of the match, junior Cierra Simpson recorded her eighth dig of the match, the 1,000th in her career. She became just the 14th player in CU history to reach the milestone. In total, she recorded 15 of CU's 45 digs. Senior Nicole Edelman picked up 11 digs.
Against Montana State, Cierra Simpson picked up her 1,000th career dig. #GoBuffs https://t.co/exnCXpjXnz
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) September 19, 2015
The Buffs hit .264 with Edelman handing out 44 assists. They hit a stunning .464 in the first set with 16 kills and three errors on 28 attacks.
CU posted a season-best 17.0 blocks in the match and were led by sophomore Anna Pfefferle's 10 block assists. Junior Katelyn Cuff was next on the team with six block assists and senior Alexis Austin and freshman Naghede Abu each put up one block solo and four block assists.
The win puts the Buffs at 5-4, while MSU fell to 2-6.
The Buffs cruised to a 7-2 lead in the first set, which included a 5-0 run, before MSU took its first timeout of the match. Austin tacked on another kill out of the break to give the Buffs a six-point advantage (8-2). The Bobcats were able to get within four points a short time later at 13-9, but CU answered with a 4-0 run to go back up 16-9. The Buffs were able to hold a sizable advantage for the rest of the set, finishing 25-18.
CU took the first five points to start the second frame, but MSU rallied to get within a point at 8-7. The Buffs again pulled away to a 14-10 lead, but this time the Bobcats came back to even the score at 16-16 and went ahead on the next point. MSU continued to own the lead for the rest of the match, winning 25-18.
The Bobcats took an 8-5 lead in the third set before CU strung together seven straight points for a 12-8 lead. The Buffs held the lead late in the set (17-13), at which point MSU took a timeout. At that point, CU went up 21-15, but MSU answered with a pair of points to force the Buffs to take a quick break (21-17). The Buffs took the following two points off an attack error by MSU and a kill from Gabby Simpson before MSU rattled off four straight to get within two (23-21). CU took another timeout,
The fourth set started with Gabby Simpson's 20th kill of the match, The Buffs went on to take a 12-9 lead, causing MSU to use its first timeout of the set. The Buffs added to their lead, taking a 16-11 advantage and forcing the Bobcats to call their final timeout of the set. They took the first three points out of the break and this time the Buffs were the ones taking at timeout at 16-14. The set would be tied up a few points later at 17-17. The two sides battled down the stretch and the score would be tied three more times before the Buffs took a 22-21 lead and didn't look back as they finished the set 25-22.
The Buffs are back in action tonight at 7 p.m. against Weber State.
