Buffs Start Season with Sweep of Wyoming

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team kicked off the 2019 season with a 3-0 sweep (25-18, 25-23, 25-22) of Wyoming tonight, lead by sophomore setter Jenna Ewert's 32 assists.

The Buffs (1-0) got some sweet revenge against the Cowgirls (0-1) after losing in a five-set upset in Laramie last season. The team's strong defense and middle play led the way to the quick victory alongside Ewert's 32 assists, four kills and three blocks.

Senior outside Justine Spann led all players with 13 kills, hitting .103 but converting all 14 receptions she faced. She was joined by freshman outside Jill Schneggenburger who had eight kills and a .280 hitting percentage in her first start along with 17 errorless receptions, seven digs and two blocks.

In the middle, redshirt sophomores Meegan Hart and Danielle Price each performed well with Hart leading with six kills and Price leading with four blocks. Price had four kills while hitting .800 on five swings without an error. Hart added three blocks, while senior libero Rachel Whipple led all players with 13 digs.

The Buffs didn't win the blocking battle but made up with it from strong servicing and receiving. Wyoming had 10.5 blocks compared to CU's eight, but the Cowgirls only had three aces and nine errors compared to the Buff's four aces and only two errors.

Colorado has the shortest turnaround of the season tomorrow morning when they take on Long Island University at 10 a.m., less than 14 hours after the team left the building. The close out the weekend at night at 7 p.m. against UC-Santa Barbara who defeated LIU today in three sets.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Colorado took early control of the first set after pushing a six-point run to take an 11-6 lead. After a single sideout, CU went on another three point run to take a 14-7 lead off of three Spann kills in the run. Colorado never looked back, finishing off the set with a dump from Ewert to take it 25-18.

In the second set, Colorado found themselves down three quickly and couldn't overcome the gap until Spann and Ewert combined for three kills in a 4-1 run to tie the set at nine all. Wyoming fired off four straight points, but CU kept in it and eventually put together a five-point run to take the lead 20-17, again led by Spann with two kills. At set point with a four point lead the Cowgirls pushed with a three point run, but eventually Schneggenburger closed out the set 25-23.

The final set saw Colorado come out firing to a 13-6 lead that included three-straight kills from Spann. The teams traded point runs but the lead held to 20-14. Facing match point at 24-19, Wyoming put together a run of three before ending the match by a service error straight into the net.

QUOTES:
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney

On the win
"It is always nice to get a win, especially to start the season. I hope everyone knows that that is a very good Wyoming team. I expect them to be very successful this season. That is a team that beat us a year ago. We were happy to get them in Boulder. I think that overall is was a really well played match by our team. We had some lulls here and there, but this is one of the better serving teams we have had here in a long time. We put some pressure on Wyoming that way. This is one of the better defensive teams we've had here in a while. We extended a lot of rallies. That was really good to see. The team did a really good job of following the game plan as well. It was a really nice start. We know we will have to continue to get better, but we will enjoy this for a couple hours."

On keeping leads
"I think we were executing at a pretty high level to create leads. We let down a little bit at the end. It was nice to win the match, but I wish they (Wyoming) had gotten that last serve in so we could have scored the point on our own. I don't like when teams serve out. I want us to feel that pressure. There are going to be times where we have to execute in those situations. That being said, I thought we rallied at the end. Good teams are going to make runs on you so you can't let up. That is a good lesson for us to learn. We have to play throughout the entire set and the entire match."

Sophomore Setter Jenna Ewert
Jenna

On starting the season with a sweep
"We played Wyoming last year, granted they were the third team that we played, but we did lose to them in five (sets). So coming into this, not only was this the first game that we won - we won it in three and we beat a team that beat us in five. We seemed to struggle, we couldn't exactly execute our gameplan or play with a sense of urgency (last year). Everything clicked out there and I know that will up and down for the next couple games until we make that consistent. But I think that is really a special thing to start off that strong."

On the mindset the rest of the tourney
"I think tonight, for me at least and maybe some girls on the team, we will bask in this win and take it in to give ourselves some confidence. But I think that when we wake up tomorrow morning we know its game time again, we have two more games tomorrow and we want to win both of them. So when we wake up we will flip a switch but I think tonight we can have some time to enjoy the win."

Freshman Outside Jill Schneggenburger

On what it was like playing her first game at CU
"It was really good to start off with a sweep, it gave me confidence as to how the season is going to go. Starting off I was terrified. I was really nervous, I didn't know how it was going be, I kind of knew but still its live action. But it was fun being able to play in an actual game with all of my teammates for a game that actually counted and we won."

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Team Stats

Justine Spann

Jill Schneggenburger

Meegan Hart

Sterling Parker

Players Mentioned

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Danielle Price

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple

Players Mentioned

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Danielle Price

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple