Buffs Extend Streak With Sweep of No.23 UCLA

LOS ANGELES – The Colorado Buffaloes women's volleyball team extended its winning streak to three-straight with a 3-0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-22) sweep of No.23-UCLA in Pauley Pavilion Thursday evening.

The Buffaloes (11-12, 3-10 Pac-12) move to one match away from a .500 record as they take down the Bruins (13-9, 8-5 Pac-12) in Los Angeles for the second-straight sweep after doing so for their final win in 2018. This is the first time CU has won twice in a row in Los Angeles in school history.

Sophomore setter Jenna Ewert was the key to success today with a double-double 37 assists, 10 digs, three kills and three blocks. She led the Buffs to an outstanding .448 hitting percentage in the second set before she went down hard on the court in the third set. Despite limping after the fall, Ewert got back up and led CU to a comeback in the third set after being down by three numerous times.

The greatest benefactor to Ewert's night was freshman Elissa Alcantara. She finished with a team-high 13 kills and .393 hitting percentage after going the first two sets without an attacking error. She was joined by Justine Spann who had 10 kills and Sterling Parker who had eight and a .400 hitting percentage. The trio all stepped up in the third set with four kills each as the Bruins began to key on Meegan Hart who had eight kills and a .615 hitting percentage with an errorless 13 swings.

The match began to look like it was going to be Alcantara and Spann against UCLA's Mac May as the three took swing for swing through two sets. The Pac-12 leader in kills put down an outstanding 20 kills for a .366 hitting percentage but it wasn't enough as CU's defense held the Bruins to a .189 hitting percentage that included a .088 third set. Colorado put down seven blocks, led by Hart's four along with Danielle Price and Ewert's three. Libero Rachel Whipple had another solid night with 13 digs.

Another large reason for the sweep was Colorado's extraordinary service game. The Buffs didn't allow an ace until the third set as UCLA finished with two aces and eight service errors. CU put down four key aces and gave up nine service errors.

Colorado has a day of recovery before taking its winning streak to USC Saturday at 8 p.m. MST where the Buffs have never won.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bruins probed the middle for the first three swings of the match but the Buffs held strong and took the first point. Colorado jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead, holding it to a 9-6 advantage while hitting .545 as a team. UCLA took the first challenge of the match at 15-10, successfully reversing the previous point to 14-11. Colorado put down a quick three points after Spann put down her fourth swing on five kills, forcing UCLA into a timeout down six. The Bruins came out of the break with a four-point run to force CU to call timeout at 17-15. The run extended to six as UCLA tied up the match at 17 all. Both teams traded blows then CU put down a three-point run to take a 21-18 lead behind Spann and Alcantara combining for eight kills on 14 swings. The Buffs put down back-to-back blocks to take a four-point lead, forcing UCLA into their final timeout. The team reached set-point after a May service error, finishing it with a Spann kill at 25-21. CU finished the opening set hitting .324 as it turned into a Spann/Alcantara versus May battle with the Buffs tandem winning with nine kills from 18 swings and a .500 hitting percentage combined compared to May's eight kills and .467 hitting percentage.

The Buffs pushed momentum into the second set with a quick 7-2 lead that forced a Bruin timeout. UCLA put down a three-point run that Alcantara finished with her sixth kill, keeping a 9-6 lead. A second UCLA run of three tied up the match at nine all, then the teams traded service errors to arrive at a 10-all second set. The Bruins took their first lead of the match at 11-10 after May collected a dozen kills. CU picked up the first lead larger than one since 9-7 after Alcantara put down her eighth kill to give CU an 18-16 lead. The Bruins tied it up again after picking up their first ace of the match off a serve that barely rolled over the tape. May's 15th kill gave UCLA the lead again at 19-18 before Price tied it back up. After five-straight attack errors and service errors combined for a 22-21 CU lead, a Spann tip into the corner was called out and instantly challenged by Colorado unsuccessfully to make it six-straight points of errors. Hart turned that tide with a quick swing to give the Buffs a 23-22 lead. UCLA tied it back up after a Spann error then earned set-point off a Bruin attack error. UCLA tied it up again which was followed quickly by Alcantara's ninth kill of the night. After numerous attempts to take the win, Parker put down a set-point to give CU a 28-26 lead as well as a two-set to none lead. Colorado dominated the second set with a .448 hitting percentage while May picked up another seven sets but the Buffs duo combined for 15 to match her.

Facing elimination, UCLA took five of the first six points for a 5-1 lead after switching liberos. After a block from Ewert to give CU it's fifth point at 7-5, the setter took a hard crash and look to be in pain so the Buffs called timeout to give her more time to recover. Despite this, she hobbled back onto the court and picked up another block assist to Hart to close the gap to one. Colorado kept clawing and bringing the score to a one-point lead, finally cracking into the tie after a Parker kill at 11 apiece. The Bruins reclaimed the lead and pushed to a three-point run at 14-11. UCLA pushed to an 18-15 lead before CU called timeout. Colorado came out of the break and tied it up at 19 all before taking the lead a play later to force a UCLA timeout. A Parker kill gave CU a 23-22 lead, then a UCLA attack error that gave CU match-point was challenged unsuccessfully. Colorado finished off the match on the next play with Spann's 10th kill.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
On The Match
First of all, that's a really big win for our team this year. Coming off of two wins and feeling good about ourselves along with a good week of practice and getting healthy helped. We played really solid, disciplined volleyball. If we do that and pass well, limit our unforced errors, we are as good as anyone we play. We had really nice end games tonight where we were able to withstand UCLA's runs and close it out.

On Justine And Elissa
The first set especially and for most of set two they played great. We tried to lose it in set two with service errors but other than that we took care of the ball attacking. Jenna did a great job moving the ball around. The third set she got injured and gutted it out. Our two outsides were very efficient taking swings when they could and keeping the ball in and putting the ball on them when we were a little out-of-system.

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Team Stats

Elissa Alcantara

Justine Spann

Meegan Hart

Sterling Parker

Players Mentioned

Elissa Alcantara

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Sterling Parker

Danielle Price

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple

Players Mentioned

Elissa Alcantara

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Sterling Parker

Danielle Price

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple