Team Stats
ORE
COLO
Kills
59
64
Errors
18
27
Attempts
151
157
Hitting %
.272
.236
Points
69.0
75.0
Assists
53
61
Aces
3
3
Blocks
7.0
8.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Players Mentioned
Photo by: Tim Benko, Benko Photographics
Buffs Fall to No.14 Oregon in Four
October 12, 2018 | Volleyball
BOULDER – Despite a dominant third set the University of Colorado women's volleyball team fell to the 14th-ranked Oregon Ducks Friday evening in a four-set match (19-25, 30-32, 25-14, 16-25) at home during their annual pink game.
The Buffs put together a nearly flawless third set after dropping a close 32-30 second set to Oregon. The team had 15 kills with only a pair of errors to hit an astonishing .464. The passing was also on point with the team successfully siding out the ball on 13 of 15 attempts for a .86 percentage. The troubles for Colorado in the match came in the first and fourth sets when the team hit less than .100 in both with nearly as many attacking errors (19) as there were kills (25).
Despite the struggles in the first and last set the Buffs posted decent offensive numbers. Anyse Smith came on strong in the middle sets for CU with five kills in the second and six in the third. She led the team with 18 kills and had a .256 percentage. Senior middle Naghede Abu was nearly unstoppable in the first two sets with 13 kills and a .524 hitting percentage. Abu finished with 17 kills and a .419 hitting percentage
Also for the Buffs, senior Alexa Smith tallied 13 kills while Justine Spann added nine.
The Buffs passing and setting game continues to evolve throughout the season, which was on full display tonight. The setters Brynna DeLuzio and Jenna Ewert both combined for 58 assists, nearly 15 per set. They helped lead the Buffs to 24 kills in the second set and 15 in the first and third.
On the defense end libero Rachel Whipple had a career-night with 25 digs. The junior was all over the court, especially in the final set when she put up nine digs. Spann was second on the team with 11 digs. In the front row Abu tallied a pair of solo blocks and three block assists. Alexa Smith added a solo blocks of her own and a pair of block assists.
The Ducks setter August Raskie was one of the key differences in the match. The senior posted a triple-double against CU with 10 kills on 14 errorless attempts for a .714 hitting percentage. She also had 41 assists and 11 digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET 1: The Buffs started out the match with a quick 2-1 lead, which led to a run of three for Oregon. The teams notched back up the match at four all as Oregon was hitting .500 early. The Ducks pushed the lead to 10-5 with another run of four points before CU could sideout. CU began a small run to bring it within a pair at 12-10. Naghede Abu led the charge with four kills on four swings. The Buffs reeled it back into a one-point set after a block from Anyse Smith and Danielle Price at 14-13. Colorado first tied it back up at 15 all, but a service error and attack error gave it back to the Ducks. Coach Mahoney challenged the error but didn't succeed, then Oregon put down a pair of points to force a CU timeout at 19-15. The Buffs finally ended the six-point run at 21-16. The Ducks reached set-point at 24-18, and finished it off at 25-19. CU finished the set hitting just .098 with 11 attack errors.
SET 2: The Ducks came out with a quick 4-1 lead. The Buffs battled back to a 7-6 lead but were denied the tie from the second called block error of the set. The teams traded points to a 13-10 Ducks lead. Abu continued to charge with nine kills and a .727 hitting percentage. Lauren Dorrell put down her fourth kill to tie up the set, then an Abu block took the lead for the first time. The Buffs continued to charge, taking a 19-17 lead late behind Abu hitting 10 kills and .750. The Ducks finally tied it back up at 20 all after putting a pair of blocks down against Anyse Smith. CU took a 22-20 lead, but a three-point run gave Oregon the lead back and force a CU timeout. The Ducks hit set-point at 24-23, but a kill by Alexa Smith notched the set and promised extra points. On the following rally the Buffs took a lead for their first set-point. Out of an Oregon timeout the Ducks scored a pair to retake set-point advantage, but Alexa Smith tied it up again with her seventh kill. The Ducks continued to take set-point for numerous points before the Buffs had a pair of kills from Abu and Spann to take set-point at 29-28. The Ducks survived numerous more set-points from the Buffs, but at 30-29 the Ducks scrambled and looked to commit a set error, so Coach Mahoney challenged. That was unsuccessful, leading to a tied set at 30 all. The Ducks scored a pair later to steal the set 32-30.
SET 3: The Buffs rallied off four points to take a quick 4-0 lead to open the third set. The Buffs continued to lead through 9-5. CU pushed even farther to a 11-5 lead to force Oregon to call its second and final timeout of the set. The Buffs domination couldn't be halted as the team jumped out farther to a 16-8 lead. The Buffs reached the 20-point mark with an eight-point lead and continued to roll. CU was hitting .400 while the Ducks were at .074. Colorado reached set-point at 24-14 and finished off the set on the next point. CU finished hitting .464 in the set while holding the Ducks to a .097 hitting percentage.
SET 4: Things started out back-and-forth to a 6-6 tie with one team wanting to force a fifth-set and one trying to escape with a win. After a challenge by Oregon, the Ducks rallied off five points, including four-straight CU attack errors, and forced a CU timeout at 12-8. The Ducks continued to push to 16-10, forcing CU into another timeout. The Buffs were able to string together three points to make it 17-13, but the Ducks stopped the rally and pushed farther to a 20-13 score. Oregon was on a run to finish the match, reaching match-point at 24-16. Oregon took the victory of the next play.
QUOTABLES:
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On the match
"Oregon is a really good team. I think that outside of Stanford, they are probably one of the best teams in the league. They have been playing really well offensively and doing a lot of really good things. They have a really nice setter. I thought that we were very uneven. We played a really poor first and fourth sets. The line shares of our errors were in those two sets. We had a really clean third set and I thought we played a really good second set. It was played well by both teams, we just couldn't close it out at the end and we ran out of subs. A little bit of the story of our season, playing at a really high level or a level that isn't going to get it done for what we want to do."
On the setters
"Consistency is the issue for us. Offensively we are putting up good enough numbers to win matches. Part of that is our passing. Our passing was better tonight than it's been. When that happens, we have two super talented kids (DeLuzio and Ewert) running the offense. When they have the option to put the ball where they want it, good things are going to happen. I am really happy for them."
On the matchup against Oregon State
"Oregon state is a good team. I know if you look at their record you may not think so, but everyone in our league can play at a really high level. They can as well. They do some things that are a little unique that we haven't seen. We are going to have to take our time going through the film session and getting on top of that. If we pass the way we have been, I think good things are going to happen for us offensively. We just have to manage our errors. Errors tend to come in bunches for us. We need to find some maturity and some discipline. If that happens on Sunday, I anticipate a really good match from us."
NAGHEDE ABU
On the setter assisting her performance
"We have two really talented setters. All of it starts with our pass. We were passing well and it enabled them to get me the balls that they gave me."
RACHEL WHIPPLE
On her career-night
"Playing defense behind Naghede (Abu) and my right sides and outsides makes defense a lot easier. I have a lot of thanks to give to them. Passing is about staying relaxed and staying back there, wanting to help my team out and give us a good pass to run our offense."
UP NEXT: The Buffs move on to Oregon State Sunday at 2 p.m. The match will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Oregon State has yet to win a match in conference this season, but they did push Utah to five sets Thursday on the road.
The Buffs put together a nearly flawless third set after dropping a close 32-30 second set to Oregon. The team had 15 kills with only a pair of errors to hit an astonishing .464. The passing was also on point with the team successfully siding out the ball on 13 of 15 attempts for a .86 percentage. The troubles for Colorado in the match came in the first and fourth sets when the team hit less than .100 in both with nearly as many attacking errors (19) as there were kills (25).
Despite the struggles in the first and last set the Buffs posted decent offensive numbers. Anyse Smith came on strong in the middle sets for CU with five kills in the second and six in the third. She led the team with 18 kills and had a .256 percentage. Senior middle Naghede Abu was nearly unstoppable in the first two sets with 13 kills and a .524 hitting percentage. Abu finished with 17 kills and a .419 hitting percentage
Also for the Buffs, senior Alexa Smith tallied 13 kills while Justine Spann added nine.
The Buffs passing and setting game continues to evolve throughout the season, which was on full display tonight. The setters Brynna DeLuzio and Jenna Ewert both combined for 58 assists, nearly 15 per set. They helped lead the Buffs to 24 kills in the second set and 15 in the first and third.
On the defense end libero Rachel Whipple had a career-night with 25 digs. The junior was all over the court, especially in the final set when she put up nine digs. Spann was second on the team with 11 digs. In the front row Abu tallied a pair of solo blocks and three block assists. Alexa Smith added a solo blocks of her own and a pair of block assists.
The Ducks setter August Raskie was one of the key differences in the match. The senior posted a triple-double against CU with 10 kills on 14 errorless attempts for a .714 hitting percentage. She also had 41 assists and 11 digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET 1: The Buffs started out the match with a quick 2-1 lead, which led to a run of three for Oregon. The teams notched back up the match at four all as Oregon was hitting .500 early. The Ducks pushed the lead to 10-5 with another run of four points before CU could sideout. CU began a small run to bring it within a pair at 12-10. Naghede Abu led the charge with four kills on four swings. The Buffs reeled it back into a one-point set after a block from Anyse Smith and Danielle Price at 14-13. Colorado first tied it back up at 15 all, but a service error and attack error gave it back to the Ducks. Coach Mahoney challenged the error but didn't succeed, then Oregon put down a pair of points to force a CU timeout at 19-15. The Buffs finally ended the six-point run at 21-16. The Ducks reached set-point at 24-18, and finished it off at 25-19. CU finished the set hitting just .098 with 11 attack errors.
SET 2: The Ducks came out with a quick 4-1 lead. The Buffs battled back to a 7-6 lead but were denied the tie from the second called block error of the set. The teams traded points to a 13-10 Ducks lead. Abu continued to charge with nine kills and a .727 hitting percentage. Lauren Dorrell put down her fourth kill to tie up the set, then an Abu block took the lead for the first time. The Buffs continued to charge, taking a 19-17 lead late behind Abu hitting 10 kills and .750. The Ducks finally tied it back up at 20 all after putting a pair of blocks down against Anyse Smith. CU took a 22-20 lead, but a three-point run gave Oregon the lead back and force a CU timeout. The Ducks hit set-point at 24-23, but a kill by Alexa Smith notched the set and promised extra points. On the following rally the Buffs took a lead for their first set-point. Out of an Oregon timeout the Ducks scored a pair to retake set-point advantage, but Alexa Smith tied it up again with her seventh kill. The Ducks continued to take set-point for numerous points before the Buffs had a pair of kills from Abu and Spann to take set-point at 29-28. The Ducks survived numerous more set-points from the Buffs, but at 30-29 the Ducks scrambled and looked to commit a set error, so Coach Mahoney challenged. That was unsuccessful, leading to a tied set at 30 all. The Ducks scored a pair later to steal the set 32-30.
SET 3: The Buffs rallied off four points to take a quick 4-0 lead to open the third set. The Buffs continued to lead through 9-5. CU pushed even farther to a 11-5 lead to force Oregon to call its second and final timeout of the set. The Buffs domination couldn't be halted as the team jumped out farther to a 16-8 lead. The Buffs reached the 20-point mark with an eight-point lead and continued to roll. CU was hitting .400 while the Ducks were at .074. Colorado reached set-point at 24-14 and finished off the set on the next point. CU finished hitting .464 in the set while holding the Ducks to a .097 hitting percentage.
SET 4: Things started out back-and-forth to a 6-6 tie with one team wanting to force a fifth-set and one trying to escape with a win. After a challenge by Oregon, the Ducks rallied off five points, including four-straight CU attack errors, and forced a CU timeout at 12-8. The Ducks continued to push to 16-10, forcing CU into another timeout. The Buffs were able to string together three points to make it 17-13, but the Ducks stopped the rally and pushed farther to a 20-13 score. Oregon was on a run to finish the match, reaching match-point at 24-16. Oregon took the victory of the next play.
QUOTABLES:
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On the match
"Oregon is a really good team. I think that outside of Stanford, they are probably one of the best teams in the league. They have been playing really well offensively and doing a lot of really good things. They have a really nice setter. I thought that we were very uneven. We played a really poor first and fourth sets. The line shares of our errors were in those two sets. We had a really clean third set and I thought we played a really good second set. It was played well by both teams, we just couldn't close it out at the end and we ran out of subs. A little bit of the story of our season, playing at a really high level or a level that isn't going to get it done for what we want to do."
On the setters
"Consistency is the issue for us. Offensively we are putting up good enough numbers to win matches. Part of that is our passing. Our passing was better tonight than it's been. When that happens, we have two super talented kids (DeLuzio and Ewert) running the offense. When they have the option to put the ball where they want it, good things are going to happen. I am really happy for them."
On the matchup against Oregon State
"Oregon state is a good team. I know if you look at their record you may not think so, but everyone in our league can play at a really high level. They can as well. They do some things that are a little unique that we haven't seen. We are going to have to take our time going through the film session and getting on top of that. If we pass the way we have been, I think good things are going to happen for us offensively. We just have to manage our errors. Errors tend to come in bunches for us. We need to find some maturity and some discipline. If that happens on Sunday, I anticipate a really good match from us."
NAGHEDE ABU
On the setter assisting her performance
"We have two really talented setters. All of it starts with our pass. We were passing well and it enabled them to get me the balls that they gave me."
RACHEL WHIPPLE
On her career-night
"Playing defense behind Naghede (Abu) and my right sides and outsides makes defense a lot easier. I have a lot of thanks to give to them. Passing is about staying relaxed and staying back there, wanting to help my team out and give us a good pass to run our offense."
UP NEXT: The Buffs move on to Oregon State Sunday at 2 p.m. The match will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. Oregon State has yet to win a match in conference this season, but they did push Utah to five sets Thursday on the road.
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