Friday, November 23
Salt Lake City, UT
12:00 PM
Colorado
18-13, 10-10
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at
3
Utah
18-13, 10-10
1
2
3
4
F
Colorado
23
25
29
16
1
UTAH
25
22
31
25
3
Photo by: Ed Kosmicki
Utah Tops Buffaloes in Season Finale
November 23, 2018 | Volleyball
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The fate of the University of Colorado women's volleyball team's chances at postseason play is officially out of their hands after a four-set loss (25-23, 22-25, 31-29, 25-16) to Utah in Salt Lake City Friday afternoon.
With the result, Utah and Colorado finish with identical 18-13 overall records and a 10-10 mark in the Pac-12. Utah will better their ranking of 40 in the RPI rankings after sweeping the eighth-ranked team in RPI in USC and closing out the season against the Buffs. Colorado entered the week ranked 46 in RPI, and with a win against No.35 UCLA the team hit their goal of a 3-1 record to close the season.
A long third set proved to be the largest difference for the Buffaloes. The team began down 4-0 in the set but battled back to take the lead at 6-5 with a five-point run. The teams traded leads to a 19 all tie, but CU would rise to the occasion and earn a 22-20 advantage late in the set. Three-straight kills moved Utah past Colorado and into the first of many set-points. CU earned a pair of set-points in the long back-and-forth battle, but in the end lost the set and momentum for the rest of the match.
"We certainly would have liked to have been up 2-1 going into the fourth," said coach Jesse Mahoney about the third set. "We didn't respond the way we needed to."
The Colorado blocking kept the team in the match in the early sets. CU notched five team blocks in both sets one and three, finishing with 13.5 total team blocks in the match. The difference in the outcome was in the serving game in those two sets, as Utah had three aces in each.
"We passed poorly for sure," said coach when asked about the Utah serving. "Utah's aces and our serve errors lost sets one and three."
Alexa Smith led Colorado with 18 kills with a .265 hitting percentage. She also added 18 digs for a double-double and had two blocks to earn her eighth 20-point match of the season. Naghede Abu was nearly flawless with 11 kills and a .476 hitting percentage, while Justine Spann had 13 kills and Anyse Smith had 11.
"Lex and Naghede are our two best players and they always come up big when it matters," said Mahoney. "We needed another point scorer today as well to beat a team as good as Utah."
Jenna Ewert continued her hot streak, dishing out 53 assists for more than 13 per set. She also added seven digs and three blocks. Ewert now has six matches in the past seven that she had at least 40 assists, including four 50 assist matches and a 60.
Defensively, Rachel Whipple notched her third match of 20 or more digs in the past four matches with 21. She and Smith accounted for 60 percent of the team's digs. Abu led the charge in the front row with eight total blocks, while Danielle Price and Anyse Smith each added five block assists. All six front row players tallied at least a pair of blocks to account for the team's 13.5 total blocks.
"We are on the bubble," said Mahoney. "We will have an RPI at 49 or 50 but the rest of our resume is very good with five top-50 wins and a solid strength of schedule. We have played our way into contention and I hope our players get rewarded because we are one of the top 64 teams."
The team heads home and will meet again Sunday for the NCAA Selection Show. The show will be aired live on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. MT. Should the Buffs be chosen they will have a short turn around as the first round of play gets underway Thursday.
With the result, Utah and Colorado finish with identical 18-13 overall records and a 10-10 mark in the Pac-12. Utah will better their ranking of 40 in the RPI rankings after sweeping the eighth-ranked team in RPI in USC and closing out the season against the Buffs. Colorado entered the week ranked 46 in RPI, and with a win against No.35 UCLA the team hit their goal of a 3-1 record to close the season.
A long third set proved to be the largest difference for the Buffaloes. The team began down 4-0 in the set but battled back to take the lead at 6-5 with a five-point run. The teams traded leads to a 19 all tie, but CU would rise to the occasion and earn a 22-20 advantage late in the set. Three-straight kills moved Utah past Colorado and into the first of many set-points. CU earned a pair of set-points in the long back-and-forth battle, but in the end lost the set and momentum for the rest of the match.
"We certainly would have liked to have been up 2-1 going into the fourth," said coach Jesse Mahoney about the third set. "We didn't respond the way we needed to."
The Colorado blocking kept the team in the match in the early sets. CU notched five team blocks in both sets one and three, finishing with 13.5 total team blocks in the match. The difference in the outcome was in the serving game in those two sets, as Utah had three aces in each.
"We passed poorly for sure," said coach when asked about the Utah serving. "Utah's aces and our serve errors lost sets one and three."
Alexa Smith led Colorado with 18 kills with a .265 hitting percentage. She also added 18 digs for a double-double and had two blocks to earn her eighth 20-point match of the season. Naghede Abu was nearly flawless with 11 kills and a .476 hitting percentage, while Justine Spann had 13 kills and Anyse Smith had 11.
"Lex and Naghede are our two best players and they always come up big when it matters," said Mahoney. "We needed another point scorer today as well to beat a team as good as Utah."
Jenna Ewert continued her hot streak, dishing out 53 assists for more than 13 per set. She also added seven digs and three blocks. Ewert now has six matches in the past seven that she had at least 40 assists, including four 50 assist matches and a 60.
Defensively, Rachel Whipple notched her third match of 20 or more digs in the past four matches with 21. She and Smith accounted for 60 percent of the team's digs. Abu led the charge in the front row with eight total blocks, while Danielle Price and Anyse Smith each added five block assists. All six front row players tallied at least a pair of blocks to account for the team's 13.5 total blocks.
"We are on the bubble," said Mahoney. "We will have an RPI at 49 or 50 but the rest of our resume is very good with five top-50 wins and a solid strength of schedule. We have played our way into contention and I hope our players get rewarded because we are one of the top 64 teams."
The team heads home and will meet again Sunday for the NCAA Selection Show. The show will be aired live on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. MT. Should the Buffs be chosen they will have a short turn around as the first round of play gets underway Thursday.
Team Stats
COLO
UTAH
Kills
59
65
Errors
27
25
Attempts
165
166
Hitting %
.194
.241
Points
75.5
80.0
Assists
59
63
Aces
3
8
Blocks
13.5
7.0
Game Leaders
Kills
18
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
8
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
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/ Volleyball
MB
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