Buffs Complete Season Sweep Of No. 15 Oregon Ducks

Friday, October 27

Eugene, OR

8:00 PM

Colorado

16-6, 6-5Pac-12

Oregon

14-6, 7-5Pac-12

Colorado

Oregon

The Buffs celebrate after defeating No. 15 Oregon in Eugene.

Photo by: Gary Breedlove

October 27, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score Jesse Mahoney's Post Match Interview

By: Linda Sprouse, Associate SID

EUGENE, Ore. — The Colorado Buffaloes completed the season sweep of No. 15 Oregon on Friday night with a 3-2 victory at Matthew Knight Arena.

The Buffs started the match strong, taking the first two set 25-17, 25-19. But the Ducks rallied back with two set wins of their own (25-17, 25-9) to force the fifth and deciding set. Colorado was able to regroup and finish the match with a 15-10 set win, which included the final six points.

The win puts the Buffs at 16-6 overall and 6-5 in Pac-12 play, while the Ducks are now 14-6 overall (7-5 Pac-12).

WHAT HAPPENED: A trio of Buffs tallied 10 or more kills in the win. Frankie Shebby led CU with 14 kills and Anna Pfefferle recorded a season-best 13 kills while hitting a match-best .478 with just two errors on 23 attacks. Alexa Smith added 11 kills as well as 14 digs for her 12^th double-double of the season.

Pfefferle also had a strong performance at the net, posting six blocks. Joslyn Hayes added another four blocks and Naghede Abu recorded three. Gabby Carta-Samuels led both teams with 17 digs.

Jolie Rasmussen led the Ducks with 14 kills and added nine digs and four blocks. Ronika Stone had 13 kills and hit .455, while Lauren Page posted seven blocks.

SET 1: Colorado used a 5-0 run to take a 5-2 lead to start the set, forcing Oregon to take an early timeout. CU increased its lead to six (13-7), which made the Ducks spend their second timeout. The Buffs did not slow down and hit .441 with 17 kills in the set as they went on to take it 25-17.

In that set, the Buffs recorded two big blocking milestones. CU's first block in the set made Pfefferle the CU rally-scoring era career blocks leader. Abu's first block in the match was the 400^th in her career; she is just the sixth Buff to ever reach that mark.

SET 2: The second set started off much closer. The Ducks took a 4-1 lead to start, but CU started its comeback on the following point. The Buffs were down 10-8 when they were able to string together a 4-0 run, making UO take a timeout (12-10). CU tacked on another two points out of the break before the Ducks could sideout (14-10). UO couldn't figure out a way to slow the Buffs down and had to take their final timeout of the set at 17-12. CU took the following point off a block by Abu and Brynna DeLuzio to give the Buffs a six-point cushion. CU would go on to take the set 25-19.

SET 3: Oregon got out to a quick start in the third game. The Buffs took their first timeout of the match when UO extended its lead to four-points (11-7). CU was able to cut UO's lead to just two at 16-14, but then the Ducks used a 3-0 run to go up by five (19-14), causing the Buffs to use another timeout. Unfortunately CU was not able to close the gap and fell 25-17.

SET 4: The Ducks recorded the first five points in the set and increased the lead to seven (12-5) before the Buffs called their first timeout of the game. Out of the break, Oregon used a 5-2 run to take a 10-point lead in the set, forcing the Buffs to take their final timeout. CU could not stop the Ducks' offense and fell 25-9.

SET 5: CU regrouped and recorded a 4-2 lead to start the frame, but the set would soon be even at 5-5. The Ducks would have the 8-7 advantage at the side change, but a kill from Smith evened it back up at 8-8. It was even again at 9-9 and 10-10 before the Buffs were able to take a two-point lead at 12-10, causing UO to take a timeout. The Ducks took their last timeout on the following point, a kill from Smith, which put CU up by three. The Buffs finished the match with two straight points (15-10).

NOTES: CU is 9-4 this season away from Coors and is 4-5 against ranked opponents…CU is 2-6 all-time in Eugene, but is 2-1 in the last three meetings at Matthew Knight Arena…Both of CU's wins in Eugene have come in five sets…This is the first time CU has swept the season series against the Ducks…CU has won four of its last five matches…CU is 5-2 in five-set matches.

TEAM STATISTICS: Oregon led the match with a .297 hitting percentage. The Ducks recorded 62 kills and 18 errors on 148 attacks. The Buffs hit .234 with 57 kills and 23 errors on 145 swings. Oregon also led the match in aces (6-3) and blocks (15.5-9.5). CU had the edge in digs at 58-52.

NEXT UP: The Buffs head to Corvallis, Ore. to square off against Oregon State on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. OSU has won five straight matches and are 16-7 (6-5 Pac-12).

QUOTES:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
Thoughts on the match
"It was a really strange match. We controlled the first two sets fairly easily, almost too easily because we went into the third set and lost a little bit of our discipline before getting blown out in set four. To the players' credit, they were able to refocus and play a very high level set in set five. We scored the last six point of the match and are coming out of here with a win."

Thoughts on the team playing as a whole
"I thought everyone contributed tonight. In the first two sets our middles were on fire. In sets three and four we struggled a bit, but in set five, Frankie took some big swings. Pfeff put up some nice blocks and Lex made some amazing digs at the end. Brynna ran another great offense for us. It was a great match all the way around."

On what happened in the third and fourth sets
"Oregon is really good. They made some adjustments and I don't think we played as focused as we could have in set three. In set four, the wheels came off. I made some subs to give our starters an opportunity to refocus and be ready for set five."