Colorado
6-4
Weber State
3-7
Buffs Blank Weber State, Start Omni Invite 2-0
September 18, 2015 | Volleyball
BOULDER — The University of Colorado volleyball team swept Weber State (27-25, 25-16 25-18) on Friday night to start the Omni Invitational 2-0.
Sophomore Gabby Simpson recorded 16 kills in the win and attacked at a .370 clip with six errors on 27 attacks. She also added a pair of digs and a pair of blocks in the victory.
Freshman Naghede Abu tallied a career-high in the match with 10 kills. She hit .750 with just one error on 12 attacks, which tied the 13th best hitting efficiency in CU history. Abu was also a force at the net, posting four blocks, including the match's final block.
This is how the Buffs Sweep of Weber State ended. Huge block from Abu and @Nicoleedelman #GoBuffs https://t.co/x3O7t3knzv
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) September 19, 2015
“When you have a true freshman out on the floor that is weeks into her college career, some days she'll be great and some days not so great; but, with this kid it's either great or good,” head coach Liz Kritza said. “She's a very physical player. I'm really proud of her performance in this evening's match, because earlier today she struggled a bit.”
The Buffs had 44 kills in the match and hit .353 under the direction of senior Nicole Edelman, who handed out 35 assists. Senior Alexis Austin, sophomore Anna Pfefferle and junior Katelyn Cuff each had five kills in the win.
CU held the Wildcats to a .160 hitting percentage with 29 kills and 16 errors on 81 swings. Ciera Borho led WSU with eight kills and Samantha Staker and Megan Thompson each had seven kills.
Defensively Cuff led the Buffs with seven digs. Two other players besides Abu, Pfefferle and Edelman, recorded four blocks. The Buffs posted 9.0 blocks, while WSU had 5.0.
The Buffs are now 6-4 this season, while WSU fell to 3-7.
“It was a really tough but productive week of practice for us,” Edelman said. “So it's been nice to see results from that hard work. We're physical enough to play with anyone in the country, so when we're able to play smarter and lower our errors it makes our job easier.”
The first set was very close. It was tied up at 16-16 when the Wildcats put together a 4-0 run to take a 20-16 lead. The Buffs rallied back within one at 22-21, forcing WSU to take a timeout. The Wildcats took the next two points after the break and this time the Buffs needed to take a timeout and slow things down (24-21). Austin and Abu answered with a kill each after the timeout, bringing the score to 24-23.
After another WSU timeout, Abu and Edelman combined for a block to even the score. The Wildcats answered with a kill to get their third set point of the game, but Austin tied it back up with a kill. Abu and Austin combined for a block on the next point and the Buffs won the set on the following point with a kill from Abu (27-25).
“(In the last timeout of the set) I was explaining what needed to happen in the next series of three balls and giving them their plan that they had to go execute, and they did so credit to them,” Kritza said. “I told them when we changed sides to the second set that those sets can easily slip away. When you're down two, three points in the last five points of the set, volleyball is such a game of momentum that sometimes you can't recapture it. They did a really good job of listening and making sure that their defensive assignments were met. That's what that timeout was about. It was a quick, 'hey this is what needs to happen and we're taking this from them.' I don't really care that they're one point away from winning it; if we do this series of three things, then we'll win it. They were very disciplined and executed and that's a really good sign. We need to do that multiple times this season.”
In set two, the Wildcats had a 7-6 lead when the Buffs recorded a 9-0 run to take a demanding 15-7 advantage on Cierra Simpson's serve. WSU was no match for CU for the rest of the set, cruising to a 25-16 win.
CU had a 10-4 lead in the third set and was up 16-10 when MSU took a timeout. The Buffs kept attacking and after a pair of kills from Abu, CU held a 19-12 lead late in the match. The Wildcats made a late rally to get within five points (23-18), but it was not enough and the Buffs finished the set 25-16 with a block by Edelman and Abu.
Earlier in the day, the Buffs defeated Montana State 3-1 (25-18, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22). Gabby Simpson led the Buffs with a career-best 21 kills and hit .372 with five errors on 43 swings.
“Gabby [Simpson] has been working really hard,” Kritza said. “She's coming away as the kills leader for multiple matches and we're able to get her more balls, not just on the right pin but on the left and in the back row.”
“This week I really put in the extra work on my hitting because I want to be the primary hitter on the right side,” Gabby Simpson said. “I feel like the extra work this week really helped me out.”
Her sister, junior Cierra Simpson, registered her 1,000th career dig during the course of the match, becoming just the 14th player in CU history to record the milestone. She recorded a match-best 15 digs in the win.
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 Pfefferle's 10 block assists. Cuff was next on the team with six block assists and Austin and Abu each put up one block solo and four block assists.
The Buffs are back in action on Sunday, Sept. 18 with a pair of matches. They will host George Mason at 9 a.m. and Air Force at 7 p.m. The match against AFA will be televised on Pac-12 Network.
