Buffs Hitting Frenzy Leads CU Over Oakland

BOULDER – Colorado women's volleyball team broke numerous school records en route to a 3-1 (25-14, 25-12, 24-26, 25-14) win over Oakland University this Friday evening.

Things started off when freshman Sterling Parker became just the third CU player to hit seven kills in seven swings. Though she didn't finish the match with a 1.000 hitting percentage, she dominated with 10 kills and a .412 hitting percentage. She was joined by redshirt sophomore middle Meegan Hart who broke two school records today with her 10 errorless kill effort on 12 swings. Hart broke a 20-year old record by hitting .833 in a four-set match, breaking Lisa Soulliere and Darla DeRuiter's record of .714 hitting percentage with a minimum of 10 kills. She also broke the sophomore overall match hitting percentage record of .778 set by Jennifer Sherlock in 1988 and Nicole Vranesh in 1991.

Those weren't the only records to go down as the team demolished the overall team four-set hitting percentage record of .402 set against Denver in 2004. The Buffs hit .490 in today's effort with 60 kills and only 12 errors on 98 attempts. Much of this effort was due to amazing passing all around, led by sophomore setter Jenna Ewert's double-double of 51 assists and 11 digs. She had 12.75 assist per set and was dishing out dimes with three Buffs over double-digit kills and five over .400 hitting percentage.

Senior outside hitter Justine Spann led the effort with 21 kills and a career-high .562 hitting percentage. She committed just three errors in the effort. Parker and Hart each added 10 kills, followed by Jill Schneggenburger's seven kills and Danielle Price's six and a .714 hitting percentage.

Defensively, Colorado (6-2) held the Golden Bears (5-5) under a .080 hitting percentage for three of the four sets and a team total of .143. CU put down 10 blocks, led by Price's five. Hart and Parker each joined in on four, while Ewert had three. In the back row, Ewert led with 11 digs while libero Rachel Whipple had nine.

Colorado had an outstanding opening set with a .632 team hitting percentage and converting on 13-of-14 sideout opportunities. The Buffs allowed Oakland to score numerous points in a row only five times in the first two and last set, each time converting 84 percent or more of their sideout chances.

CU has another short turnaround as they take on UMBC tomorrow at noon then close out non-conference play against Campbell at 7:30 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams battle in the early points to a three all tie. Colorado put down four straight kills to reach an 8-4 advantage behind a pair of back-to-back Spann kills. The Buffs hit an outstanding .714 in their first 10 points. After an Oakland timeout CU continued to push to a 14-8 lead behind a .500 hitting percentage. Oakland called their second timeout at 17-9 after another CU three-point run. Price was having her way at middle with five kills on five swings to lead the Buffs to a 20-11 lead. Colorado rolled to a 25-14 set win hitting .632 and holding the Golden Grizzlies to just a .069 hitting percentage.

The Buffaloes jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead and pushed it to an 8-4 advantage. The middles were causing havoc with seven kills on eight swings, led by Price's five. CU pushed it to 13-6 before Oakland finally had a sideout. The Golden Grizzlies called timeout trailing 18-8 with Colorado hitting .622. Parker tied the school record for all kills on swings going 7-for-7 to lead CU to a 21-9 lead. CU blasted to a 25-12 set win with a .545 hitting percentage.

Both teams started off well with a four all tie. Oakland pushed to a 9-7 lead to challenge CU, then put down an ace off the tape to give them their largest lead of the night. The lead extended to four at 12-8 with CU hitting .231 in the set while Oakland was hitting .357. CU battled back to an 18 all tie, but Oakland reached the 20-point mark after a dump from the setter at 20-18. The Golden Bears reached set-point at 24-22, hitting .429 in the match. A service error gave CU a chance to serve for the tie, which an attack error notched it up on the next rally, forcing Oakland to challenge the ball being touched that went unsuccessfully. Oakland had a kill for the sideout, then won the set off a CU attack error.

Colorado started the set tied three all, led by Spann's 14 kills and .500 hitting percentage. CU put down a 4-0 run to take a 10-6 lead, forcing Oakland into its first timeout. Three plays later Oakland called another timeout as the Buffs' run extended to seven-straight. Spann continued to dominate at CU extended to a 10-point lead at 17-7. The senior had 20 kills and a .548 hitting percentage. Ewert picked up another double-double with 49 assists and 10 digs as CU rolled to a 22-13 lead. Match-point came at 24-13, closing it out with a Lillie Klemmer kill at 25-14.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney

On The Match
"I thought 75% of that match was really high-level volleyball for us. 25% was really mediocre volleyball. Kudos to Oakland after being blowout in the first two sets. They responded and did great in the third set. We were thinking about what we were going to have for dinner. That being said, in the fourth set we played a really nice set of volleyball. I haven't looked at the passing numbers yet but I feel like it was one of our best matches. We were in system a bunch. That is why we were able to score in the middle with Meegan (Hart) and Dani (Price) as much as we did. I was joking with Justine (Spann) that she had a quiet 21 kills. I don't remember that many, but that is really good. 21 kills at a high percentage. I thought we limited our errors for most of the match and put a lot of pressure on them."

On Getting Ready For Tomorrow
"We have to recover tonight. We always talk about hydrating, sleeping, spending time with the training. Then we have to get up in the morning and watch film at 8:30. We'll have a pregame meal and play a match at noon and then another round of film and a match at 7:30. At this point we are used to what tournament weekends look like. It takes focus and effort to be prepared the way we need to be prepared."

On What Didn't Go Well In The Match
"I can give you like 17 things that didn't go well in that match. It is a function of focus. Very often you see four set matches with one team winning the first two, letting down in the third and coming back to win the fourth. That is kind of the human psychology of, how hard do I have to work to win? And then working exactly that hard. This was an opportunity for us to realize that is not going to make, and certainly not in our league. I didn't call a timeout in the third set because I wanted us to feel the pressure and work through it."

On What Was Working On Offense
"First of all, we passed extremely well. You could see them in the first two sets start to guess where Jenna (Ewert) was going. We set the middle three times and they would stay in the middle for the next three that would go to the outside. Jenna did a really good job of managing that part of our game. We served really well and got them a little out of system. Their outsides were struggling to score. We got a lot of blocks, but left a few on the table, but we got a lot of blocks with our right-side block. That is what we need to do day in and day out. It was good to see us compete at that level and set the standard. That is the standard. That is where we are and we can get better from there."

Senior Outside Hitter Justine Spann

On What Worked For Them Tonight
"The passing was really key for us tonight. Jenna (Ewert) was really able to make our offense diverse by putting it all over the place. It gave us more options on each pin, especially running the middle and having a single block or split. That definitely helped."

On Having 21 Kills And Carrying That Momentum Into The Next Few Games
"It definitely meant a lot to me. I think that it's important for us to make a statement right now, especially after the two losses last week against CSU, so coming back and trusting our technique. Like I said before, the middles, the passing, all of that helps. Just having teamwork all the way around, and that's something we worked on this week. But it did mean a lot to come back play well as a team."

Redshirt Sophomore Middle Meegan Hart

On What Worked For Them Tonight
"Passing for sure. Jenna's sets were great."

On Her And Danielle Price Hitting Over .800 And Getting The Middles Going
"I think it's really important because it helps our outsides and helps open up everything else. It's my job to be up and pull the block and help my teammates."

Next Event

Team Stats

Justine Spann

Meegan Hart

Sterling Parker

Jill Schneggenburger

Players Mentioned

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Lillie Klemmer

Sterling Parker

Danielle Price

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple

Players Mentioned

Jenna Ewert

Meegan Hart

Lillie Klemmer

Sterling Parker

Danielle Price

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple