No. 18 Buffs End Drought Against Colorado State

BOULDER — For the first time since 2002, the 18th-ranked Colorado volleyball team defeated instate rival Colorado State 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21).

The win on Saturday night at the Coors Events Center snaps a seven-match, 14-year losing streak to the Rams.

WHAT HAPPENED: Sophomore Alexa Smith recorded 21 kills and hit .391 to help the Buffs take down the Rams in the final match of the Omni Invitational. Junior Stephanie Shadley added 13 kills in the win. Both also contributed a lot of defense as well; Smith had 13 digs and Shadley added another 10 digs.

Junior Joslyn Hayes had a strong performance with 10 kills, including the match winner, while posting four blocks. Sophomore Naghede Abu led the Buffs with five blocks and added eight kills of her own.

SET 1: The Buffs had a 7-2 lead in the first set before CSU called its first timeout. The Rams came back to even the frame at 10-10, but CU responded with kills from Gabby Simpson and Shadley (12-10). The Buffs increased their lead to six at 20-14, but the Rams cut it to just one point at 22-21 a short time later, forcing CU to use a timeout. Out of the break, Hayes hammered a kill and Smith added another of her own to put CU up 24-21. CSU fought off the first set point, but another kill by Smith finished the set for CU (25-22).

SET 2: Colorado took the first five points of the set and had a 10-point lead (13-3) when CSU needed to take its second timeout of the game. The Rams used a 3-0 run to cut CU's lead to seven (13-6), but again the Buffs answered with a kill from Smith. The two teams kept battling back and forth and despite CSU's best effort, the Buffs took the set 25-20.

SET 3: The Rams started the third set with 10-7 lead, but the Buffs came back to even the score at 13-13 thanks to a 4-0 run. The Buffs went ahead at 16-15 after a block by Abu and Hayes, but the Rams responded with a 4-0 run of their own, taking a 19-16 advantage. CU was not done and tied the set back up at 20-20. The Buffs went ahead on the next point after an ace by Cierra Simpson, but CSU came back to finish the game with a 5-2 run (25-23).

SET 4: The fourth set was close to start before the Buffs took a 10-5 lead. The two sides battled, but CU was able to increase its advantage to seven points at 17-10. CSU took its final timeout of the set at 19-12, and was able to use a 7-3 run to close the gap to four points (22-19). The Buffs used a quick timeout of their own then, which was just what they needed as they wrapped up the set 25-21.

TEAM STATISTICS: The Buffs hit .247 with 63 kills and 25 errors on 154 attacks in the win, while CSU hit .228 with 53 kills and 20 errors on 145 attacks. CU recorded 61 assists compared to CSU's 47 and also had the advantage in digs (60-49). CU also served up seven aces to CSU's two. The Rams posted 15.0 blocks, while the Buffs were limited to 8.0.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
Colorado – Naghede Abu and Cierra Simpson
Colorado State – Katie Oleksak and Sanja Cizmic
Chicago State – Megan Klavitter
New Orleans – Jordan Yauch
MVP – Alexa Smith (Colorado)

NOTEABLE: The Buffs are now 8-2 on the season…First year head coach Jesse Mahoney has not suffered a loss at the Coors Events Center as the Buffs are 5-0 at home thus far this season…Colorado State is 6-5 this season after going 2-1 at the Omni Invitational…CSU leads the all-time series between the two schools 23-12…The series between the two schools is now 8-8 all-time in Boulder…Prior to tonight's win, the last win for the Buffs against CSU was in 2002, which also took place in Boulder…That was also a four-set win.

NEXT UP: Colorado will open up Pac-12 Conference play on Wednesday, Sept. 21, against Utah. The match is set for a 7 p.m. start and will be televised on Pac-12 Network.

QUOTABLE:
Jesse Mahoney, head coach
ON HIS HISTORY WITH CSU
"Well I like to win every match regardless of who's on the other side. It's gratifying to see these players get rewarded for how hard they've worked the last month or so and beating a really good team. There's a lot of physicality there. That's the best blocking team we've seen this season. Obviously I spent seven years up there [in Fort Collins] so I have an affinity of the program and the people in it. Coach Hilbert is a great coach who's going to really good things with that team once they get a little bit older. This season they're playing a lot of young kids. I don't sound that excited but I'm happy to win the match."

ON PRESEASON NON CONFERENCE PLAY
"This part of our season is over. During the preseason we tested ourselves playing a lot of really high level opponents. The Pac-12 is going to have nine or 10 teams that are as good as or better than the last several opponents that we faced in the preseason. We need to get healthy and focused. There's always things we need to clean up technically and tactically. We're on the right path so we're not going to change a lot of things that we do. We're just going to keep working at it and try to get better every day."

ON CSU'S BLOCKING
"Their two middles are really good, they had 15 blocks on us in four sets. They really took our middle attack out of the match. We set Alexa [Smith] and Stephanie [Shadley] towards the ends; they were able to score against their right side blockers. That was the change that we made. We struggled for long portions of this match to side out but we were able to do it in tight situations towards the end."

Stephanie Shadley, outside hitter
ON GOING FOUR SETS
"We came together after that third set and we said, we know what to do, there's nothing else to say. We know what we are supposed to do and we did it."

Alexa Smith, outside hitter
ON THE WIN
"It always feels good to win a game, but especially against an instate team. Especially since we haven't beaten this team since 2002, they were saying before this game, and especially since the last time we played them it was a tough loss. So it was so much more fun to win it for the girls that were in that position and for Jesse, who was coaching there before. It just meant a lot more, I think."

ON GOING TO FOUR SETS
"I think in the third set we had a mental lapse here and there, and that affected us at the end of the game because we were playing catch up. Once we went into that fourth game, we said we're not going to five, we're going to win it now. So, that was kind of the mindset going into that."

ON STARTING PAC-12 PLAY
"I think we just need to be mentally prepared more than anything. It is a quick turnaround, so on just going right away on Monday and having a good practice, on Monday and Tuesday, going into it with the mindset that this is the beginning of the pac-12, this is the beginning of a fresh start and the season pretty much."

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COLORADO TICKET INFORMATION
Single match tickets for most contests start at just $5 for general admission and $8 for reserved seating. Kids 12 and under are still free.

Season tickets are also available and start at just $25 for general admission, while reserved seats are $40. Fans can purchase single match and season tickets online at CUBuffs.com or by calling 303-49-BUFFS.

And don't forget about the Women's Sports Pass. For just $125, the Women's sports pass gives you general admission seating for all volleyball, soccer and women's basketball home games.

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Team Stats

Alexa Smith

Stephanie Shadley

Joslyn Hayes

Naghede Abu

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Joslyn Hayes

Stephanie Shadley

Cierra Simpson

Gabby Simpson

Alexa Smith

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Joslyn Hayes

Stephanie Shadley

Cierra Simpson

Gabby Simpson

Alexa Smith