Colorado Falls in Top-25 Match Up

Friday, August 31

Seattle, WA

6:00 PM

Colorado

2-2

Illinois

4-0

Illinois

Colorado

Photo by: Jamie Mitchell

August 31, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Shaun Wicen, Assistant SID

SEATTLE, Wash. — The University of Colorado women's volleyball team fell short in the first match of the 2018 Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Challenge Friday night in a three-set loss (25-19, 26-24, 25-21) to No. 11 Illinois. The 21^st ranked Buffaloes will look to reload fast as the team takes on Iowa tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. (MT) in Seattle to conclude the tournament.

"Illinois is a very good team," said head coach Jesse Mahoney. "They put a lot of service pressure on us, (I) didn't feel like we stepped up to that challenge at times. With the exception of set two, we didn't pass very well. We struggled to find a rhythm offensively and couldn't score."

The Buffs struggled in passing all evening, allowing the Illini to go off for six aces in addition to having 42 kills. The team also had difficulties hitting around and through the Illinois block that had a team total of a dozen blocks.

Despite the passing woes, junior Justine Spann had 10 kills and a team-high .308 hitting percentage. She was joined by senior Alexa Smith and redshirt freshman Anyse Smith who dished out six kills apiece. The Buffs split the setting duties, with sophomore Brynna DeLuzio leading the way with 16 assists while freshman Jenna Ewert had 11.

Defensively the team had strong moments of glory up front in the block. Redshirt freshman Danielle Price had a team-high four blocks, joining forces with junior Lillie Klemmer and Anyse Smith who had three blocks apiece. The team tallied eight total blocks with one solo block coming from Smith.

Junior libero Rachel Whipple was the lone Buff in double-digit digs with a dozen.

"We regroup for tomorrow to take on a very good Big Ten team in Iowa," said Mahoney. "We will look to rebound, control the ball a little bit better, have a certain intensity, commitment to our defensive schemes and be better tomorrow."

Colorado's hitting struggles showed, as the team had the second-lowest hitting percentage in the Mahoney era at .095. The Buffs will look to correct this tomorrow against Iowa (2-1), a team that is putting up nearly three blocks per set this season.

Set 1: CU jumped out to an early 7-5 lead, posting a quick four kills in the span. Illinois tied up the set at nine and went on a 7-1 run that put the Buffs behind quickly. CU was unable to recover, struggling without a block all set while Illinois' Beth Prince hit .400 with five kills.

Set 2: The Buffs came out swinging, but found themselves down again, 9-6. The teams traded points until an Alexa Smith kill triggered a three-point run that put the Buffs up 16-15. Colorado continued to battle on its way to set point, but Illinois rallied off the next three points to go up by a pair of sets. The set saw eight ties in the final 20 rallies. Colorado had six total blocks in the set.

Set 3: Illinois jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead and never relinquished the lead in the set. The largest lead came at 12-5, then the Buffs began to push. CU came as close as 21-18 before the Illini scored the next two points and made it a surviving game.