Smith Leads Buffs In Loss To No. 23 Oregon

Saturday, October 22

Boulder, Colo.

7:00 PM

Colorado

12-8, 4-6Pac-12

Oregon

14-5, 7-3Pac-12

Oregon

Colorado

Photo by: Pro-Motion Photography

October 22, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Alejandra Zepeda, Student Assistant SID

BOULDER — Sophomore Alexa Smith recorded 14 kills and 14 digs for her tenth double-double this season but it wasn't enough as Colorado fell 3-1 to No. 23 Oregon (25-14, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21) on Saturday night at Coors Event Center. With the loss the Buffs finished the first half of the Pac-12 schedule with a 4-6 record, 12-8 overall, while the Ducks are 7-3 in league play, 14-5 overall.

WHAT HAPPENED: Smith hit .382 to lead the Buffs with only one error on 32 attacks. She recorded a team best 16.0 points with an additional ace and two block assists.

Another Buff who had a good night was junior Gabby Simpson, who tallied her fifth triple-double of the season. Simpson had 11 kills, 20 assists and 13 dig in the effort. In total, this was her sixth career triple-double which ranks second in CU history behind Elizabeth Gower (10).

SET 1: Oregon took the lead early in the first set, taking a five-point advantage (7-2), which forced the Buffs into their first timeout. Though the Buffs tried to get back into the set, UO powered through, finishing 25-14.

SET 2: The Buffs and Ducks exchanged points early in the second set. CU's first time leading in the match came at the midway mark when they pulled two points clear from UO (10-8). From there the Buffs looked like a different team than the first set. This time the Buffs were fighting for the victory, holding off any rallying attempts from Oregon. CU took the second set 25-21 to even the match.

SET 3: Oregon jumped to an 11-5 lead early in the third set. The Buffs were able to rally within two points of the Ducks late in the set at 24-22, however UO won the next point to win the set (25-22).

SET 4: The Buffs took an early 6-2 lead in the fourth set before the Ducks responded. CU kept its momentum going while UO rallied to cut the Buffs' lead. After tying the score at 21 points each, Oregon pulled ahead and recorded four straight points to defeat the Buffs 25-21.

TEAM STATISTICS: The Buffs hit .153 with 50 kills and 24 errors on 170 attacks, while Oregon hit .247 with 62 kills and 22 errors on 162 attacks. CU recorded 47 assists to UO's 59. The Ducks out-dug the Buffs 81-63. CU had 5.0 blocks while UO posted 17.0. Both teams had three aces each.

NOTEABLE: The Buffs are now 12-8, 4-6 in the Pac-12… CU is 8-3 at home this season…Oregon is now 14-5, 6-3 in the Pac-12…Oregon leads the all-time series against CU 11-3…Gabby Simpson's five triple-doubles this season is second on CU's single season chart…Elizabeth Gower owns the single season record with six triple-doubles.

NEXT UP: Colorado will travel to Los Angeles to take on UCLA on October 28 and USC on October 29.

QUOTABLE:
Jesse Mahoney, head coach
On What Happened In The Match Against Oregon
"Well they were very good. They put a lot of pressure on offensively with the speed and the tempo of what they do. They run a lot of crossing patterns and make you defend the full 30 feet of the net. They were siding out very well. We ran into some lulls offensively. We hit the ball into the block. They had 17 blocks, which is concerning that we couldn't score from the middle or right side very well. Lex had a very nice match offensively, but outside of that we didn't have anyone who could generate points. I always felt that we were playing from behind."

On How The Team Is Going To Go Into The Next Few Matches Against Ranked Opponents
"Well, that's the world we live in. We're going to play great teams every night. We're aware of that. We came out very slow tonight, which was unfortunate that we didn't give ourselves the opportunity to compete in that first set. It was a fairly even match after that. We have to work on being ready to play and following our game plan, committing to it, and being able to adjust out of that. This week we'll work on some of our system stuff because we were exceptionally poor in that tonight and we'll be out of systems a lot against good teams because they create those situations.

Alexa Smith, Outside Hitter
On How Oregon Having 17 Blocks Affected The Team
"Obviously they're a good team. They're a good blocking team. They were more ahead of the play than we were and they saw what was coming. It was hard to work around that once we got into lulls."

On What The Team Can Take From Tonight To Help With A Strong Schedule Coming Up
"We started off slow and that kind of set the mood for the game. Obviously we turned it around and put our foot on the pedal but it was a little bit too late. I think going down the line that's something we need to learn from and start out stronger in these matches."

On Having Seven Kills In The Second Set
"The people who were in the front row of me were drawing the blocks away from me so that helped me a lot. The centers were getting on tempo so that was really helpful too."