Colorado Continues Road Stretch In Arizona

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team returns to the road this weekend with a pair of matchups against the Arizona schools on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

The Buffs (8-4, 0-2 Pac-12) will take on Arizona State (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) Friday at 8 p.m. MT, then take on Arizona (10-4, 0-2 Pac-12) Sunday at 2 p.m. MT. Colorado is averaging a .239 hitting percentage with opponents hitting .178. They also are averaging more than 2.5 blocks per set while opponents are averaging less than two per set.

Senior Justine Spann is coming off a huge match at Oregon State where she picked up her first double-double of the season with 23 kills and 12 digs. She is putting up more than four kills per set with 170 total and has a team-high 11 aces. Spann is hitting .242 this season.

Joining Spann is a pair of freshmen, Sterling Parker and Jill Schneggenburger. Parker has 94 kills this season and is hitting .261, while Schneggenburger has 86 and is hitting .201. In the middle, Meegan Hart has 62 kills and a .294 hitting percentage while Danielle Price has 35 kills.

Setter Jenna Ewert is averaging just under 10 assists per set this year with 389 total assists. She is also second on the team with 107 digs, trailing on Rachel Whipple's 134. Hart leads the defense with 50 blocks this season, while Parker has 43 and Price has 38.

Colorado is looking to avoid the second-ever 0-3 start in Pac-12 conference play. This is just the second 0-2 start for Head Coach Jesse Mahoney, ironically though that season the team finished 12-8 in the Pac-12 and went on to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

SCOUNTING THE SUNDEVILS
Arizona State is 9-4 this season with a 1-1 conference record after sweeping Arizona last weekend in Tempe then being swept by UCLA in Los Angeles. The team has key wins against Kansas and UNLV, both sweeps, but have losses to Oklahoma, Louisville and Western Kentucky, all on the road.

ASU is hitting .209 as a team led by junior outside Andrea Mitrovic's 151 kills. Another junior outside, Claire Kovensky, is second on the team with 108 kills, but Mitrovic leads the team with a .293 hitting percentage. ASU runs a 6-2 offense with Callie Jones leading the way with 246 assists, while Noa Miller has 119 but did not record any against UCLA with Nicole Peterson stepping in.

On the defensive end, the team is averaging 16.3 digs per set and two blocks per set, holding opponents to a .166 hitting percentage. Libero Courtney Leffel leads the way with 252 digs this season, more than five per set and nearly three-times as many as the next Sun Devil. Up front, the team has four individuals with 20 or more blocks, led by Avital Jaloba's 30. In all eight ASU players have more than 10 total blocks this season.

SCOUNTING THE WILDCATS
Arizona has been a streaky team, dropping a five-set match to Samford and a four-set to Nebraska. The team followed that weekend with six-straight sweeps. The Wildcats started the conference season 0-2 with a sweep to ASU and a four-set loss to No.25 USC, both on the road.

The Wildcats are hitting .272 as a team and holding opponents to .174 hitting percentage. They average 13.8 digs per set and 2.3 blocks per set, while opponents are only managing 1.6 blocks per set against them. Junior outside hitter Paige Whipple leads the team with 162 kills, while Elizabeth Shelton has 124 and Katie Smoot has 105. Senior setter Julia Patterson is averaging more than 10 assist per set. On the defensive side, Kamaile Hiapo has 161 digs at the libero position, followed up by Patterson and Whipple with 112 each. Shardonee Hayes has been a force in the middle with 44 blocks, while Shelton has 35 and returning All-America honorable mention Devyn Cross has 34.

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Players Mentioned

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Sterling Parker

Danielle Price

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple