Buffs Ride Five-Match Win Streak into Conference play

BOULDER, Colo. — The University of Colorado volleyball team is on a five-match win streak entering conference play this week. The Buffs kick off Pac-12 action at home, first with No. 23 Utah on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the CU Events Center, then with the University of Southern California Sunday at 1 p.m. Wednesday's match is deemed Players Night, while Sunday's match will give fans to take photos with Ralphie outside the CU Events Center an hour before the match. There will also be a youth clinic Sunday after the match for kids 8^th grade and younger.

Colorado is coming off of an exciting match with in-state rivals Colorado State. The women took the first two sets against the Rams, then jumped out to a huge lead in the fourth set for the victory. The Buffs enter conference play with an 8-3 record and receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.

CU is led by senior All-American Alexa Smith with 146 kills this season. The Colorado-native is hitting .230 and nearly 3.74 kills per set this season. This past Saturday against Colorado State she became just the 16^th Buff to hit 1,000 career kills. She is also just the second Colorado-native to do so for the Buffs. Smith is also third on the team in digs with 97 this season.

Also for Colorado on the offensive end, junior Justine Spann has 131 kills. She is joined by redshirt-freshman Anyse Smith, who was named to the Colorado Classic All-Tournament team. Smith has 91 kills and is hitting .316.

The Buffs have run a 6-2 system this season with two setters splitting time evenly. Brynna DeLuzio leads the offense with 249 assists as well as the team with nine aces. Freshman Jenna Ewert has 172 assists and leads the team with four double-doubles this season. The duo leads the team that is averaging 12.49 assists per set.

On the defensive end, senior Naghede Abu made her season debut this past weekend, highlighting the entrance by being named the Colorado Classic Most Valuable Player. Abu hit greater that .400 in all three matches, including a double-double against Colorado State where she had 10 kills, 10 blocks and a .500 hitting percentage. Abu joins a strong Buffs front that has nearly 100 blocks already. Danielle Price leads the team with 36 total blocks, while Lillie Klemmer is close behind with 34. The Smith duo has combined for 49 blocks, with Alexa leading with 25.

In the back row, Rachel Whipple leads the team with 120 digs, more than three per set. She is joined by Spann and Alex Smith with 104 and 97, respectfully. Senior Gabby Carta-Samuels is making coming back into form, making two appearances as libero this past weekend in sets.

Colorado enters a tough stretch of matches with the next four against ranked opponents. This will be a familiar situation for the rest of the season, as 16 of the 20 remaining matches are against opponents ranked or receiving votes currently in the AVCA poll.

SCOUTING THE UTES: The Utes come to Boulder ranked 23^rd in the nation with an 8-3 record. The team has key wins against Denver and Temple, with the Denver win coming at home is a five-set match. Most recently Utah went to in-state rival Brigham Young University, the No.1-ranked team in the nation. The Utes were swept, finding their most success in the first set at 25-20. The duo of Dani Drews an Lauga Gauta lead the team with 160 and 148 kills, respectfully. Drews is averaging nearly four kills per set, while sophomore outside hitter Lauren Sproule leads the team with a .446 hitting percentage with 45 kills. Junior Bailey Choy is the offensive general for the team with 425 assists, just less than 10 per set.

Also for Utah, Drews has nearly a third of the team's aces with 21. The Utes as a whole have 68 aces this season, averaging nearly an ace and a half per set.

Defensively, Drews is second on the team with 113 digs, while Choy is third with 106. Libero Brianna Doehrmann lead the team with 143 digs, nearly 3.5 per set. Up front, middle Phoebe Grace has 53 of the team's 90 blocks. She is joined by a trio of Utes with 18 to 23 blocks in Kenzie Koerber, Sproule and Drews.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS: USC is off to an 8-3 start under new head coach Brent Crouch. The Trojans are the 14^th-ranked team in the nation, with key wins against Florida in Gainesville, as well as a five-set win against Syracuse. USC was swept by No.1-ranked BYU, with the other losses on schedule coming from Central Florida in four sets and Marquette in five. The Trojans have a pair of players averaging more than four kills per set. Brooke Botkin leads the team with 186 kills, while Khalia Lanier has 172. The third outside hitter Emily Baptista has 110 kills, with the three of them accounting for more than 80 percent of the team's kills. Freshman setter Raquel Lazaro, who was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week the first two weeks of the season, leads the team with 471 assists, more than 11 per set.

On the defensive end, middle Jasmine Gross has 57 of the team's 84.5 blocks. She is joined by Lazaro with 31 and Madison Murtagh and Baptista with 21 apiece. Libero Victoria Garrick has 200 digs to lead the Trojans, while Lazaro and Brooke Botkin have 109.

Buffs Ride Five-Match Win Streak into Conference play

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Brynna DeLuzio

Jenna Ewert

Lillie Klemmer

Danielle Price

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple