Hadrych Leads Buffs' Arizona Sweep with 16 Kills

Friday, October 20

Boulder, Colo.

7:00 PM

Colorado

10-9,2-6

Arizona

6-13,1-7

Arizona

Colorado

Taylor Simpson cheers after a Lexi Hadrych kill.

Photo by: CUBuffs.com

October 20, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Lauren Cawley, Athletic Communications Office

BOULDER - The Colorado Women's Volleyball team (11-9, 3-6 Pac 12) defeated the University of Arizona Wildcats (6-13, 1-8 Pac 12) in three sets (25-21, 25-16, 25-16) here in the CU Events Center Friday.

The Buffs were led once again by outside hitter Lexi Hadrych as she hit .419 and earned herself 16 kills in 31 attempts. Middle blocker Cayla Payne picked up eight kills in 14 attempts to hit .500 while also posting four blocks. As a team, the Buffs hit .330 on the match.

Colorado's defense had an excellent night with Maya Tabron earning nine digs, while Skyy Howard led the defense at the net, earning five blocks. Taylor Simpson was also a huge factor in tonight's victory as she earned 29 assists on the Buffs' offense.

"I thought we were able to learn from what we did well, and what we didn't do well over the past weekend," Payne commented. "We were able to implement that this weekend and turn things around to gain some momentum going into the last part of the Pac-12 season."

The Buffs will look to gain another victory as they face No. 17 Arizona State here Sunday at 12:00 p.m. MT in the CU Events Center.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

SET ONE: Arizona held an early lead of 5-1 to start things off; however, that lead was quickly taken by the Buffs to tie the score at 8-8 off of a kill from Lily Dwinell. The teams battled between a back and forth lead for the middle of set one, but, Colorado eventually took control of the lead at 14-11 off of Hadrych's sixth kill of the match, forcing an Arizona time out. The Buffs did not look back as they held onto their lead for the remainder of the match, taking set one 25-21.

SET TWO: A block by Dwinell kicked things off early for the Buffs in set two, giving them an early 4-2 lead. Another block from Payne kept things alive, increasing Colorado's lead to 9-4 on a 4-0 scoring run. The Buffs went on a 3-0 scoring run to bring the lead to 17-11, forcing an Arizona timeout. Colorado kept fighting and held onto their lead for the remainder of the set, winning set two 25-16.

SET THREE: It was a tied match to start with the teams switching points back and forth early on. The Buffs got things rolling after a kill from Payne to give Colorado the lead at 10-8. A 4-0 scoring run and a kill from Dwinell kept things alive, bringing the score to 19-12. Howard earned her fifth block of the match to increase the lead to 21-14. A kill from Payne put things away with a kill, hitting .500, and gave the Buffs the victory in set three 25-16.

QUOTES:

Head coach Jesse Mahoney opening statement-
"I know that Arizona has struggled a little bit during the season, but they certainly have some great athletes and are very dangerous. They have played some really good matches in the league, so I felt like it was a really good win for us to get a sweep. Also, it is really important for us as we prepare for Sunday. It's one of the better passing matches we've had in a while. That really helped our offense click. We hit .330, and I really thought we blocked well. We had nine blocks, but we really did a nice job of funneling the ball to our defense. A really complete night tonight, and we'll be back at it against another top 20 team on Sunday."

Mahoney on heading into Sunday- "Arizona State is a little bit of a surprising team this year. New head coach and a lot of new players. Them and Oregon are probably the fastest offenses in the Pac. It'd be nice to have a couple days to prepare for that. We have a little bit of time coming off. We don't want to take a ton of jumps tomorrow either. So we have to try to save our legs."
Cayla Payne on turning the page on a rough road trip and what the team focused on in practice this week- "Yeah, I think playing at home is always easier. That's just one thing that gets us a little more hyped up. I think just knowing that we didn't play to our best ability against the schools in Washington, and just knowing that we needed to kind of turn it around. I think we played well against Washington State. We took that energy and obviously we didn't win, but we took the fundamental things that we needed to do, and brought them out in this game. I think we played well."

Payne on heading into Sunday- "Jesse always says that the most important match is the next one. Obviously this is great, taking the momentum from today and moving forward with it."

Lily Dwinell heading into Sunday-
"I think it's just like making sure our certain passes are as good as they were today. Keeping good with our blocking systems and staying calm because we know they're such a good team. We know how to play and we know what we need to do to win. We're just gonna come out strong and come out with the momentum that we gained today."