No. 17 Trojans Rally Past No. 25 Buffs

Saturday, November 11

Los Angeles, CA

2:00 PM

Colorado

19-8, 9-7Pac-12

USC

20-7, 12-4Pac-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Colorado	25	17	29	11	11	2
USC	20	25	27	25	15	3

November 11, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score PDF Box Score

By: Linda Sprouse, Associate SID

LOS ANGELES – The Colorado Buffaloes had a 2-1 lead in a top-25 match up against Southern California, but the Trojans rallied back to get the win on Saturday afternoon at the Galen Center. Set scores were 25-20, 17-25, 29-27, 11-25, 11-15.

No. 25 Colorado is now 19-8 overall (9-7 Pac-12), while No. 17 USC is 20-7 (12-4 Pac-12).

WHAT HAPPENED: Junior Frankie Shebby led the Buffs with a 21-kill performance while hitting .288. She also earned her 10^th double-double of the season with 12 digs, in addition to posting six blocks, one solo and five assists.

Alexa Smith was second on the team with 11 kills and led the Buffs with 13 digs for her 15^th double-double this year. Naghede Abu hit a team-best .412 with eight kills and one error on 17 swings and added a pair of blocks. Anna Pfefferle posted a match-best seven blocks and tallied four kills. Brynna DeLuzio also had a nice match with 41 assists and 11 digs.

Khalia Lanier recorded 21 kills for USC, while Brooke Botkin added another 14 kills.

SET 1: USC took a 5-2 lead to start the match. CU got within one at 9-8, but USC took the following point. At that point, the Buffs put together a 4-0 run to take a 12-10 lead, forcing USC to take a timeout. CU took the next two points out of the break, but the Trojans rallied back to tie the frame up again at 15-15. USC would be up 18-17 when the Buffs scored seven straight points to take a 24-18 advantage and went on to take the set 25-20.

SET 2: The second frame started off close before the Trojans went up 15-9 at the media timeout. CU took the first two points out of the break to cut the USC lead to four, but the Trojans pulled back ahead by six at 19-13, causing the Buffs to take a timeout. CU was unable to slow down USC's attack and fell 25-17.

SET 3: The third set also started very close. CU was within one point of USC (10-9) when the Trojans used a 4-2 run to take a 14-11 lead in the set. The Buffs scored the following two points to bring the score within one before USC took the next point (15-13) heading into the media timeout. Colorado rallied back to even the score at 18-18, but had to take a timeout after the Trojans scored the following two points (20-18). The Buffs evened the score four points later (21-21) and this time it was USC that needed a timeout. The Trojans took the first point, but CU answered with a kill and block solo from Shebby, forcing USC to take another break (23-22). Extra points would be needed to determine the set winner, as neither side wanted to let it go. CU was able to finally take the game with two straight kills from Smith and Abu (29-27).

SET 4: The Trojans took an 8-3 lead to start the fourth set, causing CU to spend a quick timeout. USC increased its lead to 11 (16-5), forcing the Buffs to take their final timeout. Unfortunately the Buffs were not able to get much going, and dropped the set 25-11.

SET 5: USC took a 4-2 advantage to start the final game, but CU pulled ahead 8-6 at the side change with four straight points. After the media timeout, USC took the next two points to even the set. The Trojans went up by two at 12-10, forcing CU to spend a timeout. USC took the next point for a three-point lead and went on to finish the match 15-11.

NOTES: CU is 5-3 in five-set matches…The Buffs are 5-7 against ranked opponents and are 10-2 in matches played on Saturdays.

TEAM STATISTICS: Southern California hit .257 in the win with 60 kills and 24 errors on 140 attacks. Colorado hit .184 with 50 kills and 25 errors on 136 swings. At the serving line, USC recorded nine aces to CU's two, while the Buffs had 17 service errors and USC had 16. USC led in digs (58-52), but CU had the advantage at the net (11.0-9.0).

NEXT UP: Colorado returns home to Boulder to host Arizona on Nov. 17 and Arizona State on Nov. 18.

QUOTES:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
General
"It's a tough result because we did so many things well in this match to put ourselves in a position to win in set five. We struggled from the service line with errors all match and it caught up with us at endgame in the last set. Frankie was a bright spot for us offensively. Now these last four matches take in a lot more weight as we look to the post-season."