Colorado Suffers Sweep To No.18 Utes

SALT LAKE CITY – A tough start kept Colorado women's volleyball team on an uphill battle against No.18-ranked Utah Wednesday evening in a 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-23) sweep in Salt Lake City.

Colorado (8-3, 0-1 Pac-12) allowed Utah (9-3, 1-0 Pac-12) to start the match scoring the first seven points and rolling to a 25-11 first set victory. The team closed the gap in sets two and three, but late Ute runs led to the sweep.

Senior Justine Spann started off with a slow two kills in the first set but picked up action and went into a hit-for-hit battle with Utah's All-American Dani Drews. Spann finished tying Drews for a match-high 14 kills and had a .216 hitting percentage, putting down six kills in the second and third set.

At setter, Jenna Ewert picked up another double-double with 28 assists and 10 digs. She also had a kill and was a part of a pair of blocks. Rachel Whipple led the Buffs with a match-high 12 digs, while CU led the battle up front with seven blocks, paced by Hart's five.

Hart also was an offensive factor for Colorado with six kills and a .294 hitting percentage. A trio of freshmen led by Jill Schneggenburger worked at the outside and rightside positions. Schneggenburger had six kills while Sterling Parker added three at the right side. Elissa Alcantara came into the match in the third set and added a spark with three kills on six swings with a team-high .333 hitting percentage.

The service game was one that eluded Colorado as Utah put down seven aces. A number of the balls were miscalculated and dropped just perfectly without contention from CU. The Utes also had a trio of hitters that the Buffs struggled to cover, led by Drew's 14 kills and joined by Kenzie Koerber's 10 and match-high .444 hitting percentage. Middle Berkeley Oblad also had 10 kills, as Koerber and Oblad combined for five aces. Both Drews and Koerber finished with a double-double as well.

The Buffaloes have short rest before taking on Oregon State Friday evening in Corvallis. The team will look to rebound quickly and hold off starting the season 0-2 in conference play. The Beavers are 1-5 against Colorado under Head Coach Jesse Mahoney with the lone win in Corvallis in his first season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Utes started out with a 4-0 lead before Mahoney called the first timeout to calm down the team. The run continued out of the break to 7-0 when coach Mahoney called his final timeout of the set. The Utes hit .500 in the first seven points while CU was hitting -.182 with 11 attacks. The team finally picked up a point after back-to-back attacks from Hart turned the ball the Buffs' way. The Utes pushed to an 11-2 lead as the teams kept extending rally after rally with good defense. CU picked up its first set of consecutive points after a Spann kill made the score 15-6. The Utes reached the 20-point mark at 20-10 following a CU 4-1 run. Utah ran away with the set, finishing it off at 25-11 with a .405 hitting percentage while CU hit just .024. The Utes had 16 kills in the set while CU had eight attack errors.

Colorado earned its first lead after Schneggenburger put down an ace to start the second set. A Parker kill pushed it to 2-1 and a pair of attack errors gave CU a 4-1 lead. The Buffs extended their lead to 6-1 before Utah called its first timeout of the match. The Utes began to close the gap with a 4-0 run to bring the score to 7-6. The teams traded points back-and-forth, but a three-point Ute run tied the match at 12 all. A Schneggenburger and Spann set of kills gave CU a 14-12 lead, and the Buffs pushed it to 16-13 shortly after hitting .250 this set. Utah went on another 3-0 run to tie the set at 18 all, forcing a CU timeout. Utah took the lead out of the break and ran to a 20-18 mark. The lead was pushed to 22-19, forcing Colorado into another timeout. CU brought it back to within one at 22-21 and again at 23-22 after a Hart kill. Utah earned set-point at 24-22 and closed it out one rally later. Colorado hit .242 in the set led by Spann's six kills, but Utah put down another 16 kills and hit .333 in the set behind All-American Dani Drews 10 kills and errorless .500 hitting percentage.

CU jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the third set. Utah went on back-to-back 3-0 runs to take a 7-3 lead when CU called timeout. Back-to-back aces gave Utah a 9-3 lead. Elissa Alcantara subbed in and gave the Buffs a spark with a strong kill to give the Buffs a spark as they closed the gap to three. Utah extended the lead to 13-8 as Drew remained errorless with 12 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. The Utes subbed out Drews at 17-11 and extended the lead with a seventh ace of the match. CU put down a 4-0 run to force Utah into a timeout at 19-16. Utah hit the 20-point mark at 20-17, but CU tied it up at 20 all with an 8-1 run and put down another block for the lead and a Utah timeout. A Hart kill pushed the lead to a pair as CU started to rally. Utah tied it up at 22 all but a Spann kill gave CU the smallest of leads looking for set-point. The Utes tied it back up and put down a block to reach match-point, forcing CU into a timeout. The Utes finished off the sweep on the next play off a 3-0 run, finishing with a .275 hitting percentage while the Buffs hit .132.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney

On the match
I thought Utah was very good, credit to them, they started off really strong. They have lots of really talented players. I was disappointed of our effort and execution in set one and we were working to catch up from that moment on. We were really loose with how we blocked and defended. We struggled against their block to sideout as well as we could. We need more than one player scoring well to be successful.

Changes after the tough start
We flipped our two outsides to allow J (Justine Spann) more attempts and minimize Jill's in the front row. We rotated out of rotation one which is where we got stuck in set one, and then we continued to commit to our game plan and try to execute it. I thought we had success at times and just couldn't finish in set two and three.

On the block increase in the match
I thought we blocked rather poorly for most of that match. We had a nice run with Sterling and Meegan in their two-hitter rotation six where all they were going to was Dani Drews. We did a really nice job point scoring in those rotations, and then they got out of it and we couldn't keep up after that.

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Team Stats

Justine Spann

Meegan Hart

Jill Schneggenburger

Sterling Parker

Players Mentioned

Elissa Alcantara

Jenna Ewert

Sterling Parker

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple

Players Mentioned

Elissa Alcantara

Jenna Ewert

Sterling Parker

Jill Schneggenburger

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple