Buffs Turn Tides Against Sun Devils

TEMPE, Ariz. – Down a set on the road in a hostile environment and down seven points in the second set, the University of Colorado women's volleyball team sparked a 12-4 run to swing momentum and turn the tides their way in a four-set victory (21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20) against Arizona State.

The Buffs dropped the first set and looked to still be struggling in the passing game halfway through the second set when the team was down seven points. After a timeout the Buffs began to claw their way back behind junior Justine Spann. The outside posted four kills in the 12-4 run and after that the Buffs were off and running in dominant fashion. The team posted six blocks in the third to assist hitting only nine kills in the set, then turned it around with 16 kills and a .500 hitting percentage in the fourth to finish off the Sun Devils.

Spann led the team in both kills and digs on her way to posting a double-double. She tallied 13 kills on 40 swings with only four errors, while she also had 13 digs on the defensive end and was a key to the passing game. Alexa Smith joined with a dozen kills and a pair of aces, while Anyse Smith had 10 kills and a .444 hitting percentage.

Colorado was without setter Brynna DeLuzio, giving the start to freshman Jenna Ewert in a 5-1 system for the first time in her career. The freshman stepped up to the task with a double-double 34 assists and 12 digs. She also led the team with a .455 hitting percentage with six kills. She added in four block assists to finish third on the team in that category.

Naghede Abu and Danielle Price anchored the front row that turned things around with six blocks in the third set. The duo combined for 13 total blocks, each posting a pair of solo blocks. In the back row, Rachel Whipple and Gabby Carta-Samuels traded off libero duties after the first set. Whipple finished with a dozen digs, while Carta-Samuels had 11.

The fourth set .500 hitting percentage was the second-high this season and the single hitting error that set is the lowest such mark for this season. This is first conference road victory for Colorado this season and their first away victory of the season with the other three victories coming in neutral-site matches.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

SET 1: The Buffs started the match without setter Brynna DeLuzio, giving freshman Jenna Ewert her first career-start running a 5-1. CU got out early to a 4-2 lead, but the Sun Devils came back to tie it a pair of points later. The Sun Devils took the lead and held it to an 8-8 tie when a blocking error on Alexa Smith was challenged by Head Coach Jesse Mahoney unsuccessfully. The Sun Devils carried the lead into the media timeout at 15-14 with the Buffs hitting just .137. The teams battled back-and-forth until ASU had a two-point advantage at 21-19, warranting a CU timeout. After bringing it within one the Buffs gave up a trio of points to allow ASU to set-point at 24-20, forcing another CU timeout. Sun Devil outside hitter Alyse Ford was the main factor with eight kills in the first set and more than half of the team's swings. Ford finished out the set on the second set-point attempt with her ninth kill.

SET 2: The Sun Devils jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, picking CU's defense apart. ASU had nearly doubled up the Buffs in every statistical category with 22 kills compared to 12, the same number on assists. The dig count was similar at 15 to 29. After being down as many as six point the Buffs began to slowly claw back to a 9-5 deficit. That didn't last too long as the Sun Devils score the next four-of-five to bring the lead to seven at 14-7 and force a CU timeout. The Buffs finally found life with three-straight points to bring it to 15-11 and force ASU to call timeout. CU continued to rally with a 7-1 run that brought them within a single point at 16-15. They tied it up at 17 all, then put down another pair of point to take a 19-17 lead and force ASU into its final timeout of the set. Colorado went on a huge 11-2 run to put themselves back into contention. CU hit set-point at 24-21, finishing off the set and tying up the match on the next rally.

SET 3: The Buffs jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the third set. The Sun Devils rallied back behind a four-point run to steal the lead at 7-6. Both teams continued to trade points to a 12-11 ASU lead. Arizona State pushed to a 15-12 lead entering the media timeout. CU clawed its way back to an 18 all tie, finally taking the lead at 20-19. Colorado reached set-point at 24-21 after posting three blocks in the past four points. Buffs closed out the set at 25-22, posting six blocks in the set.

SET 4: Both teams jumped out even through the first 10 points. The even play continued until CU went on a four-point run to take an 11-8 lead. Colorado held the lead into the media timeout with a 15-13 lead behind Justine Spann's double-double 12 kills and 13 digs. The Sun Devils were able to notch things up at 18 all, but a three-point CU run after that led to an ASU timeout. CU rallied after to a 25-20 victory.

QUOTABLES:

Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On the change that happened midway through the second
"ASU is a really good team, to win on anyone's home court in this conference is hard to come by. They changed their lineup around a little bit so it took us a little while to get into the new patterns they were running. Midway through the second set we got a bead on what they were wanting to do offensively, and our passing got better as well as we made the switch to Gabby Carta-Samuels at libero. From that point on we played with a lot more poise and confidence which was good to see."

On Jenna Ewert running 5-1
"I thought Jenna had a really great match. She ran our offense well. We don't run the 5-1 very often and we don't practice the two-hitter rotations a ton but we do them enough in case this happens and I thought she did a nice job. She is a super athletic kid that plays big at the net so we don't lose anything on the defensive stand point. She was an offensive force as well with six kills and .455 as our leading attackers."

On the blocking in the third
"They run what we call a gap-go so they try to overload the right-front blocker and we struggled with it early on which is what allowed Alyse Ford to have as many kills as she had. Once we dialed into it there and then the rest of the match we had 13 total blocks it was just us being disciplined and being able to get over early. When Naghede can get over early she is going to block a ton of balls.

On Justine's play
"I thought J had a really nice match. First and foremost she passed really well, which doesn't show up on the stat sheet as much. She took some really smart swings. Her error rate was only 10 percent which is fantastic. She's a super athletic kid, when she's in front of the defensively she is going to make really great plays. It was good to see her play well in front of so many of her hometown fans."

UP NEXT: Colorado will host a pair of ranked teams in Washington and Washington State next weekend for homecoming. Washington State comes to town Friday at 7 p.m., while the Buffs play Washington at noon on Sunday.

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Team Stats

Justine Spann

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Jenna Ewert

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Brynna DeLuzio

Jenna Ewert

Danielle Price

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Brynna DeLuzio

Jenna Ewert

Danielle Price

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple