Buffs Defense Stifles Trojans

BOULDER — Colorado women's volleyball closed out homecoming weekend, taking down No. 24 USC in four sets (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20) here Sunday afternoon to earn its third-ever victory over Southern Cal in program history.

The Buffaloes (15-7, 7-5 Pac-12) defeated the Trojans (16-7, 8-4 Pac-12) after recording 10 service aces and committing only 14 errors compared to USC's 28. This marks the first time ever that CU has swept the LA schools in the same weekend.

Lexi Hadrych, Maya Tabron and Meegan Hart each had nine kills and four blocks for Colorado this afternoon. Out of the three, Hart had the best hitting percentage as she hit .529, leading all players. Tabron recorded five digs, an assist, and two service aces as well.

Alexia Kuehl had an impressive outing with seven of the team's 14 blocks while also racking up five kills on the offensive end. Brynna DeLuzio had 11 assists and 18 digs to put up a double-double for the second straight match. Sterling Parker made her way back into the starting lineup for the Buffs and recorded eight kills and three blocks.

Despite having 17 less kills and 15 less assists than Southern Cal, Colorado was able to play a clean match offensively down the stretch and limit the Trojans' hitters.

The Buffs will shift their focus to the other California schools next week when they take on Cal in Berkeley on Friday, Nov. 4th and Stanford on Sunday, Nov. 6th.

HOW IT HAPPENED

SET ONE: Both teams found themselves in a 4-4 tie before Colorado went on a three-point scoring run to go up 7-4. A service ace from Trubint tied it once again for USC at 10-10. CU led by one at 16-15 before Southern Cal scored four unanswered points, leading to a Buffs timeout. After the timeout, the Trojans extended their scoring run to seven points and took a commanding 22-16 lead. Colorado was able to put an end to the run with a combined block between Kuehl and Parker. CU fought back late in the set and came within three points of USC at 23-20. Miller's sixth kill gave Southern Cal set point before Tuaniga finished the job and won the set 25-20 for the Trojans.

SET TWO: The Buffs took a 6-2 lead early in the set after going on a four-point scoring run. A USC attack error capped off another four-point scoring run for Colorado as CU took a 10-5 lead, forcing a Southern Cal timeout. Out of the break, the Trojans scored four unanswered points of their own to cut their deficit to just one as the Buffs took their first timeout of the set while leading 12-11. USC eventually took the lead 15-14 before Colorado took its second and final timeout of the set. After the timeout, Parker's third kill of the match tied everything at 18 all. The tie lasted to 21-21 before CU reclaimed the lead at 23-21, forcing a Trojans timeout. Southern Cal's 12th error of the set led to set point for the Buffs. Hart's third kill won the set 25-22 for Colorado. CU held the Trojans to a .087 hitting percentage in the set.

SET THREE: The Buffs broke a 1-1 tie with four unanswered points to take a 5-1 lead. Early into the set, USC took its first timeout while trailing 9-3. Colorado didn't slow down after the timeout as Kuehl picked up a kill to gain the largest lead of the match for the Buffs at 14-6. Miller's ninth kill made it 17-10 as Southern Cal called its second and final timeout of the set. Perry's second service ace extended the CU lead to nine at 21-12. Shortly after, the Buffs reached set point following a Trojans attack error. USC showed life late in the set and scored four straight points, making it 24-19. Parker racked up her fifth total kill of the match as the Buffs took the set 25-19.

SET FOUR: Colorado started off the set the same way it did in the third with a 4-0 scoring run to go up 5-1. Schneggenburger's block gave CU a 9-3 advantage over USC. The Trojans went on a four-point scoring run of their own and came within two at 11-9. Tabron's eighth kill extended the Buffs lead to four at 15-11. Colorado held a four-point lead all the way to 19-15 as Southern Cal took its first timeout of the set. CU went up 21-16 after Hadrych picked up her ninth kill. She followed it up with a block to give the Buffs a 22-16 lead and force another USC timeout. After the break, Kuehl and Hadrych combined for a block to set up match point for Colorado. Parker's eighth total kill finished the job as CU took the set 25-20.

QUOTES
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney

On Beating USC For The Third Time In Buffs History
"Great match. The third time, I think probably the first time we've swept the LA schools on a weekend so we're pretty excited about that. I was just really proud of our team all weekend really, having a lot of grit, finding ways to win, and coming back when we've lost sets. USC was really good in the first set, hitting the 500 range, and we were able to withstand that and kind of be disciplined in what we do from the serving and defensive standpoints. I think we score by the committee today, I think we had a lot of kids with 7,8,9 kills, which isn't always ideal, but it's we definitely grinded it out. USC didn't have one of their premier players in the league that they usually do, but they're a good staff and have a lot of really talented kids and they were a tough matchup for us today. I'm excited about how we're playing in the second half after finishing the first half on a little bit of a down note. This team really has done a good job of flipping the script a little bit and I'm excited about where we are."

On The Service Good
"Definitely the flip side of the coin from the last time we played them. I thought all weekends we've been serving especially tough, hitting the zones that we need to, and I didn't realize we had 10 Aces, but I knew we were getting them out of the system quite a bit and really doing a nice job in transition. I'll take that 10 to six any day. I'm excited about that."

Middle Blocker Alexia Kuehl

On Limiting Them Defensively
"I think it starts with communication between the people who are front and just really focusing on where our hitters are and trying to just get up and be aggressive and picking off their shots."

On Sterling Parker Joining The Starting Lineup
"I'm excited to have her back. She has really grown and she's really starting to come back to where she used to be and swinging with confidence and I love to just see how excited she gets on the court and I just missed that."

Setter Brynna DeLuzio

On The Defense
"I think paying attention to the block, especially if we weren't blocking, I think we had some good setups to where we were able to just kind of get stopped in defense and that's really the only shot they had a lot of the time so that helped us make our defensive plays, the defensive plays that we were able to make any kind of stay in rhythm and I owe a lot to the block and how we set up and then we're able to run our offense in transition because of that."

On Sterling Parker Joining The Starting Lineup
"I think that it was a process getting her back into being able to swing tough and now she always swings tall so that's not a problem for her but just putting pace on the ball, I think she's become really confident and a lot of our wins I think are testament to being able to diversify the offense and really just give both Jill (Schneggenburger), who played amazing this weekend to just getting both her right side of the ball to open it up."

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Team Stats

Meegan Hart

Lexi Hadrych

Maya Tabron

Sterling Parker