No. 23 Southern California Defeats No. 20 Buffs 3-1

BOULDER — In a huge Pac-12 match-up between two top-25 ranked teams, it was an all-out battle with 40 ties and 21 lead changes throughout the contest, but unfortunately the No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes found themselves on the wrong side, falling 3-1 (25-16, 32-34, 26-24, 25-16) to No. 23 Southern California on Friday night.

The loss dropped the Buffs to 9-4 overall, 1-2 in the Pac-12, while USC moved to 9-5 (1-2 Pac-12).

WHAT HAPPENED: Gabby Simpson recorded her third straight triple-double this season with 12 kills, 27 assists and 11 digs as the Buffs lost the tough battle. Joslyn Hayes led the team with 16 kills and hit .341. Naghede Abu had the best hitting percentage for CU at .381 with eight kills on 21 errorless attacks. She also led the team with six blocks, while Alexa Smith and Anna Pfefferle each added five blocks.

Cierra Simpson also had a good defensive showing, recording 18 kills, while Stephanie Shadley also had a double-digit digs performance with 10.

SET 1: The match started off very close with each team holding the lead in the early stages before USC took a 16-12 lead midway through the frame. The Trojans extended their lead to 22-14 and went on to take the set 25-16.

SET 2: The Buffs got out to a better start in the second set, taking an 8-5 advantage, but the Trojans came back to even the game up (9-9). The set would be tied 20 more ties before CU was able to take the set 34-32. USC had two set points early at 24-22, but the Buffs responded and evened the game up (24-24). CU had four set points before it was finally able to convert on a kill by Smith.

SET 3: CU started set three with a 9-7 lead and increased it to 12-8 before USC took a timeout. The Buffs kept attacking, forcing the Trojans to use their second timeout at 19-15. CU took the first point out of the break with a Gabby Simpson kill, but after that USC pulled together five straight points to even the game (20-20). The Buffs used a 4-2 run to get to set point (24-22), but the Trojans answered with a pair of points (24-24), forcing extra points for the second straight set. USC finished the set with two more consecutive kills, finishing 26-24.

SET 4: The fourth set started off close again with CU holding a 6-5 lead. The set was tied 9-9 when USC used an 8-1 run to go up 17-10. The Buffs did their best to rally, but unfortunately fell short in the set, 25-16.

THE PLATIUDE STAT: Since moving to the rally-scoring era, the Buffs have only had five sets go beyond 30 points, including the second set (34-32) in Friday night's match. Other sets in which scores over 30 points were achieved include:
W 36-34 vs. Cal, 2015
L 31-33 at Oregon, 2014
W 37-35 at Air Force, 2012
L 30-32 at Iowa State, 2008

STANDOUT PERFORMER: Gabby Simpson became the first Buff to record three straight triple-doubles in CU history. She had one on Sept. 21 against Utah, another on Sept. 25 against Arizona and one on Sept. 30 against USC.

TEAM STATISTICS: The Buffs hit .202 with 53 kills and 17 errors on 178 attacks in the win, while USC hit .279 with 77 kills and 27 errors on 179 attacks. CU recorded 51 assists to USC's 71. The Trojans out-dug CU 89-61 and the two teams each put up 12.0 team blocks.

NOTEABLE: The Buffs are now 9-4 on the season, 5-2 at home … The Buffs are 169-90 all-time when ranked in the AVCA Poll… USC has won all 13 meetings between the two schools dating back to 1988.

NEXT UP: Colorado hosts UCLA (11-2, 2-1 Pac-12) on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 12 p.m. at Coors Events Center.

QUOTABLE:
Jesse Mahoney, head coach
On What Went Wrong In Tonight's Match - "In the first set we didn't serve very well. When that team passes they're really athletic at every position. It was kind of a shooting gallery in the first set. The fourth set, we didn't pass once, we couldn't pass. Once we gave up that five point run that was the end of that set. Overarching, that team had 30 more digs than we did over four sets. We just did not defend the easy stuff well and we certainly didn't defend the hard stuff well. We need to do those things in order to be successful."

On Gabby Simpson's Performance - "Any time anyone asks me about Gabby [Simpson] I say she's a special player. She can do a lot of things at a really high level. Attacking wise it's good to see her have another great attacking match. Setting wise obviously she defended as well. These two players had great matches for us. Unfortunately it wasn't enough but we need them to continue playing at that level."

On USC's Talent - "They're really good. When you look across the net, they're athletic in every position. They're well coached. We felt like on our home floor, this year, the way we've been playing we had a good opportunity to win this match. We'll get back to the drawing board. We have UCLA coming in here on Sunday. Every team in this league is good. There are no nights off. We have to play at a high level sustained for 3, 4, 5 sets in order to win against anybody."

On Recovering From This Loss - "I think we understand what we do well and what we could do better at. We work on those things every day. There's no quick fix or easy thing. We'll get back in film tomorrow morning and do our normal prep for UCLA and then we need to follow the plan and execute. There's no magic pill that's going to change everything. We have to keep working."

Gabby Simpson

On What Went Wrong In Tonight's Match - "In set three we lacked focus in those last few points because we were up the majority of the game. We should have closed off. From the court's opinion, we lacked focus."

On Recovering From This Loss - "We need to have a short term memory because UCLA is a good team and we need to play them at the best level we can."

Joslyn Hayes

On What Went Wrong In Tonight's Match - "When you're up that far you definitely have to close out. USC's a phenomenal team and they fought back hard. When that happens it matters how you mentally stay focused in crunch time and we lacked that."

On Recovering From This Loss - "We need to acknowledge that we have all the right tools athletically and systematically. We're a phenomenal team but we just need to execute."

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COLORADO TICKET INFORMATION
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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.

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Team Stats

Joslyn Hayes

Gabby Simpson

Alexa Smith

Naghede Abu

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Joslyn Hayes

Anna Pfefferle

Stephanie Shadley

Cierra Simpson

Gabby Simpson

Alexa Smith