Friday, September 7
Boulder, CO
6:00 PM
Colorado
3-3
1
vs
3
Georgia
7-0
1
2
3
4
F
Georgia
25
23
25
25
3
Colorado
21
25
23
19
1
Photo by: Tim Benko, Benko Photographics
Buffs Fall to Undefeated Bulldogs
September 07, 2018 | Volleyball
BOULDER, Colo. — The University of Colorado volleyball team fell in four sets to undefeated University of Georgia tonight in the 2018 Buffs Invitational in the CU Events Center. Despite the home opener loss, numerous Buffs had season-best nights in the four set (21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-29) loss to the Dawgs. The team looks to recollect quickly as it goes up against North Carolina tomorrow at noon, followed by Oklahoma tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Both matches will be streamed on Pac-12 Plus.
The 24th-ranked Buffs, deprived of three possible starters, battled hard with numerous season and career-best results to show, despite not getting the W. Junior outside Justine Spann continued to shine, posting a team-high 20 points with a career-high 19 kills while hitting .213. She was joined by Anyse Smith who had a match-high .483 hitting percentage to go along with her career-best 16 kills. Senior Alexa Smith also joined the double-digit kills party with 14 kills while hitting .278.
Also offensively, the setter duo shined with a combined 50 assists. Freshman Jenna Ewert led the charge with her second double-double of the season with 27 assists and a dozen digs. Sophomore Brynna DeLuzio added in 23 digs.
On the defensive end, missing middles Danielle Price and Naghede Abu definitely hurt the team as CU put up only two blocks in the match. The previous season-low was eight. Despite that, Alexa Smith led the team with 17 digs, picking up her second double-double in a row. Libero Rachel Whipple, who was not targeted much at all in the fourth set, picked up 11 digs.
The Buffs as a team hit the ball well tonight, marking a team hitting percentage of .283, the second-highest of the season. Oddly enough in the last set the team marked its second-best set of the season with a .379 hitting percentage. Their second set of .333 was also a top-five set for CU this season, and the 19 kills in that set was the most the Buffs had put up or faced all season long.
"We hit about .300 for the match, so offensively that was one of our best outputs of the season," said Head Coach Jesse Mahoney. "Defensively, we really struggled block wise, with being down so many players. We just didn't do enough to create opportunities defensively."
The 2018 Buffs Invitational kicked off with a five-set match going in the favor of North Carolina over Oklahoma. It was an offensive show for the three visiting teams, as three different players had 22 or more kills. North Carolina's Destiny Cox led the way with 25 kills, while Alyssa Enneking posted 23 for Oklahoma. Georgia's T'ara Ceasar had 22 kills with a .362 hitting percentage, nearly a full 10 percent higher than the other two.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set 1: Georgia went on a quick run of five points after letting up the first point to take a 5-1 lead. Georgia continued to rally to an 8-4 lead, despite having only three kills. The Buffs kept in it, trailing 10-6 and hitting .000 compared to the Dawgs .333. The teams traded points for a while, with CU narrowing the lead to 15-11 with Alexa Smith having three kills early. Justine Spann put down a trio of quick kills to bring her early total up to four and the Buffs within three points a 17-14 game. She continued to roll with six kills at 20-17, but Georgia's T'ara Ceasar put down seven already. The Buffs put together consecutive points to close the gap to just a pair at 21-19 when Georgia called a timeout. Out of the break, a Georgia kill and attack error from Colorado made this a much farther game, but Smith wasn't going to let it go as she put down her fifth kill of the set at 23-20. Unfortunately, CU couldn't rally farther and fell 25-21.
Set 2: The Buffs jumped out to a 4-2 lead. The teams continued to side out, bringing the score up to 6-4. Both Alexa and Anyse Smith were swinging well, both hitting .500 through the match. After a crazy rally that had the CU point removed and rally replayed on a Georgia challenge, the Dawgs rallied for three straight points to tie the game up. Spann ended the run with her seventh kill of the match and her first of the set. Georgia rallied off another run, this time of four points to take the lead at 12-9. After trading points, the Buffs went on a quick run of three points off of three-straight kills to tie up the set at 13 apiece. The teams traded point after point, with neither team taking more than a one-point lead until CU found a small string of points to take a 20-18 lead. Following a Georgia timeout, Justine Spann put down her 10th kill of the match. Georgia put together a pair of points before Spann knocked down her 11th kill and followed that up with a solo block to give the Buffs a 23-20 lead. CU got to set-point at 23-21, finally closing it out at 25-23 with an Alexa Smith kill.
Set 3: The Dawgs came out with a 6-3 lead. A 3-0 run for CU tied up the game, but Georgia took back the lead with a pair of quick points. Georgia found themselves up by three on three separate occasions, but Colorado charged back to bring the score to 13-12. Senior Alexa Smith was leading the charge, picking up her second double-double of the season with 12 kills and 11 digs, while freshman Jenna Ewert also added her second double-double with 15 assists and 11 digs. A pair of attack errors and a kill gave CU a three-point run and its first lead of the set at 15-13. The lead continued all the way to 20-18, with Georgia finding its block with four in the set after having just a pair in the first two sets. The match was notched at 21 all when Georgia put up another block to take the lead. The Dawgs continued to charge for a pair of points before Alexa Smith put down her 14th kill of the match to make it a 24-22 game. An attack error from Ceasar brought CU within one and a timeout from Georgia in this close match. Ceasar followed the timeout with a set ending kill, her 16th of the match.
Set 4: The teams swapped points throughout the beginning, with Georgia only earning a lead of more than two once until the score hit 10-7. Back-to-back Anyse Smith kills cut the lead to just a point at 12-11, while also bringing her match total to 14. Smith rallied off three straight Buff points, putting CU at three attackers with 14 or more kills. The Dawgs continued to hold the lead though, pushing it to 17-13 before Colorado called timeout. The lead would continue to 20-16, led by Ceasar with 21 kills. Tasting their first top-25 win of the season and the chance to remain undefeated, Georgia came out and closed out the match at 25-16.
QUOTABLES:
Justine Spann
On Her Season High Nineteen Kills
"It didn't feel like that (a season high) for a while due to my inconsistency with my back row attacks. I know I broke down a little bit with connections to Jenna and I was frustrated with myself. I think after that, I calmed down. I am really excited about that (19 kills), it's super cool. I hope to do it again."
Jenna Ewert
On Her Performance
"This was our first home game with the energy and being in a familiar space. It is nerve racking playing in your first college game. You have to get used to the speed, the tempo, and just the competitiveness of it. I think being at home, and the fact that this was our sixth game, I feel like I am starting to get in a rhythm, and I'm trying to connect with players like J (Justine Spann). We are still working on ours (connection). I like the support from the team. It is really helping me come out of my shell and step up and lead."
NUMEROUS SEASON-BESTS:
Jenna Ewert – 27 assists
Jenna Ewer – 12 digs
Lillie Klemmer - .556 hitting percentage
Alexa Smith – 17 digs
Anyse Smith – 16 kills
Anyse Smith – 29 attacks
Anyse Smith – 16.5 points
Justine Spann – 19 kills
Justine Spann – 47 attacks
Justine Spann – 20 points
ONE MORE THING:
The team was exactly as the sets were at break, balanced. Spann and Smith each had double-digit kills by the break with Spann with a dozen and Smith with 10. At setter, DeLuzio and Ewert were nearly even with DeLuzio having 14 assists and Ewert with 12. Even the dig responsibilities were basically even, with Alexa Smith leading with nine while Ewert had eight and Rachel Whipple had seven.
This didn't change much, as the team ended with three attackers with more than 14 kills, both setter with 23 or more assists and three defensive players with 11 or more digs. Somewhere in the 33 seasons of Colorado volleyball there may have been another match with those kinds of numbers, but not many.
The 24th-ranked Buffs, deprived of three possible starters, battled hard with numerous season and career-best results to show, despite not getting the W. Junior outside Justine Spann continued to shine, posting a team-high 20 points with a career-high 19 kills while hitting .213. She was joined by Anyse Smith who had a match-high .483 hitting percentage to go along with her career-best 16 kills. Senior Alexa Smith also joined the double-digit kills party with 14 kills while hitting .278.
Also offensively, the setter duo shined with a combined 50 assists. Freshman Jenna Ewert led the charge with her second double-double of the season with 27 assists and a dozen digs. Sophomore Brynna DeLuzio added in 23 digs.
On the defensive end, missing middles Danielle Price and Naghede Abu definitely hurt the team as CU put up only two blocks in the match. The previous season-low was eight. Despite that, Alexa Smith led the team with 17 digs, picking up her second double-double in a row. Libero Rachel Whipple, who was not targeted much at all in the fourth set, picked up 11 digs.
The Buffs as a team hit the ball well tonight, marking a team hitting percentage of .283, the second-highest of the season. Oddly enough in the last set the team marked its second-best set of the season with a .379 hitting percentage. Their second set of .333 was also a top-five set for CU this season, and the 19 kills in that set was the most the Buffs had put up or faced all season long.
"We hit about .300 for the match, so offensively that was one of our best outputs of the season," said Head Coach Jesse Mahoney. "Defensively, we really struggled block wise, with being down so many players. We just didn't do enough to create opportunities defensively."
The 2018 Buffs Invitational kicked off with a five-set match going in the favor of North Carolina over Oklahoma. It was an offensive show for the three visiting teams, as three different players had 22 or more kills. North Carolina's Destiny Cox led the way with 25 kills, while Alyssa Enneking posted 23 for Oklahoma. Georgia's T'ara Ceasar had 22 kills with a .362 hitting percentage, nearly a full 10 percent higher than the other two.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set 1: Georgia went on a quick run of five points after letting up the first point to take a 5-1 lead. Georgia continued to rally to an 8-4 lead, despite having only three kills. The Buffs kept in it, trailing 10-6 and hitting .000 compared to the Dawgs .333. The teams traded points for a while, with CU narrowing the lead to 15-11 with Alexa Smith having three kills early. Justine Spann put down a trio of quick kills to bring her early total up to four and the Buffs within three points a 17-14 game. She continued to roll with six kills at 20-17, but Georgia's T'ara Ceasar put down seven already. The Buffs put together consecutive points to close the gap to just a pair at 21-19 when Georgia called a timeout. Out of the break, a Georgia kill and attack error from Colorado made this a much farther game, but Smith wasn't going to let it go as she put down her fifth kill of the set at 23-20. Unfortunately, CU couldn't rally farther and fell 25-21.
Set 2: The Buffs jumped out to a 4-2 lead. The teams continued to side out, bringing the score up to 6-4. Both Alexa and Anyse Smith were swinging well, both hitting .500 through the match. After a crazy rally that had the CU point removed and rally replayed on a Georgia challenge, the Dawgs rallied for three straight points to tie the game up. Spann ended the run with her seventh kill of the match and her first of the set. Georgia rallied off another run, this time of four points to take the lead at 12-9. After trading points, the Buffs went on a quick run of three points off of three-straight kills to tie up the set at 13 apiece. The teams traded point after point, with neither team taking more than a one-point lead until CU found a small string of points to take a 20-18 lead. Following a Georgia timeout, Justine Spann put down her 10th kill of the match. Georgia put together a pair of points before Spann knocked down her 11th kill and followed that up with a solo block to give the Buffs a 23-20 lead. CU got to set-point at 23-21, finally closing it out at 25-23 with an Alexa Smith kill.
Set 3: The Dawgs came out with a 6-3 lead. A 3-0 run for CU tied up the game, but Georgia took back the lead with a pair of quick points. Georgia found themselves up by three on three separate occasions, but Colorado charged back to bring the score to 13-12. Senior Alexa Smith was leading the charge, picking up her second double-double of the season with 12 kills and 11 digs, while freshman Jenna Ewert also added her second double-double with 15 assists and 11 digs. A pair of attack errors and a kill gave CU a three-point run and its first lead of the set at 15-13. The lead continued all the way to 20-18, with Georgia finding its block with four in the set after having just a pair in the first two sets. The match was notched at 21 all when Georgia put up another block to take the lead. The Dawgs continued to charge for a pair of points before Alexa Smith put down her 14th kill of the match to make it a 24-22 game. An attack error from Ceasar brought CU within one and a timeout from Georgia in this close match. Ceasar followed the timeout with a set ending kill, her 16th of the match.
Set 4: The teams swapped points throughout the beginning, with Georgia only earning a lead of more than two once until the score hit 10-7. Back-to-back Anyse Smith kills cut the lead to just a point at 12-11, while also bringing her match total to 14. Smith rallied off three straight Buff points, putting CU at three attackers with 14 or more kills. The Dawgs continued to hold the lead though, pushing it to 17-13 before Colorado called timeout. The lead would continue to 20-16, led by Ceasar with 21 kills. Tasting their first top-25 win of the season and the chance to remain undefeated, Georgia came out and closed out the match at 25-16.
QUOTABLES:
Justine Spann
On Her Season High Nineteen Kills
"It didn't feel like that (a season high) for a while due to my inconsistency with my back row attacks. I know I broke down a little bit with connections to Jenna and I was frustrated with myself. I think after that, I calmed down. I am really excited about that (19 kills), it's super cool. I hope to do it again."
Jenna Ewert
On Her Performance
"This was our first home game with the energy and being in a familiar space. It is nerve racking playing in your first college game. You have to get used to the speed, the tempo, and just the competitiveness of it. I think being at home, and the fact that this was our sixth game, I feel like I am starting to get in a rhythm, and I'm trying to connect with players like J (Justine Spann). We are still working on ours (connection). I like the support from the team. It is really helping me come out of my shell and step up and lead."
NUMEROUS SEASON-BESTS:
Jenna Ewert – 27 assists
Jenna Ewer – 12 digs
Lillie Klemmer - .556 hitting percentage
Alexa Smith – 17 digs
Anyse Smith – 16 kills
Anyse Smith – 29 attacks
Anyse Smith – 16.5 points
Justine Spann – 19 kills
Justine Spann – 47 attacks
Justine Spann – 20 points
ONE MORE THING:
The team was exactly as the sets were at break, balanced. Spann and Smith each had double-digit kills by the break with Spann with a dozen and Smith with 10. At setter, DeLuzio and Ewert were nearly even with DeLuzio having 14 assists and Ewert with 12. Even the dig responsibilities were basically even, with Alexa Smith leading with nine while Ewert had eight and Rachel Whipple had seven.
This didn't change much, as the team ended with three attackers with more than 14 kills, both setter with 23 or more assists and three defensive players with 11 or more digs. Somewhere in the 33 seasons of Colorado volleyball there may have been another match with those kinds of numbers, but not many.
Team Stats
UG
COLO
Kills
59
60
Errors
18
21
Attempts
143
138
Hitting %
.287
.283
Points
74.0
63.0
Assists
58
57
Aces
6
1
Blocks
9.0
2.0
Game Leaders
Kills
19
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
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