Colorado University Athletics
Cayla Payne & Lily Dwinell earn a block against USC's Skylar Fields.
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Buffs Defeat Trojans In Five Sets
October 27, 2023 | Volleyball
BOULDER – The Colorado Women's Volleyball team (13-9, 5-6) took the USC Trojans (13-8, 7-4) to a full five sets, coming away with the win and earning their third match and conference win in a row.
This is just the fourth time the Buffaloes have defeated the Trojans in program history but have now won the last three match-ups in Boulder. The two split the season series after Colorado dropped the first match earlier in the season in Los Angeles.
Three different Buffs had double-digit kills, with Maya Tabron leading the way with 18 and earning a double-double with 11 digs as well.
With CU's top scorer Lexi Hadrych absent due to injury, it was freshmen Cayla Payne, Lily Dwinell, and Ana Burilović who stepped up for the Buffs en route to their victory.
Payne, Dwinell, and Burilović combined for 30 of the 57 kills including a career-high 15 kills from Lily Dwinell. Skyy Howard was the only other non-freshman in the kills column tonight, with nine kills and four blocks on top of it.
Friday nights' win gets the winning streak to three, with UCLA coming to town Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. MT.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1:
The Buffs were in control early in the first half, taking a 12-6 lead over the Trojans. CU forced USC to call their first timeout at 15-11 when Tabron earned her third kill of the set. However, USC responded after the timeout to close the gap to 15-13. The Trojans continued their momentum to tie things up at 17-17, and the Buffs called their first timeout. The two teams traded points evenly from there until USC pulled ahead to 22-20 and CU utilized their second timeout. The Ladies of Troy continued to score though and took the first set 25-21.
SET 2:
USC jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Buffs got within one point at 5-6. A slide kill from Payne tied the teams at 6-6. CU took their first lead at 11-9, but three consecutive kills from the Trojans gave USC a 12-11 advantage. However, CU kept things close throughout the middle of the set and surged with a three point run late in the set to lead 21-18. CU expanded their lead to reach set point at 24-21, and an ace from Burilović ended the set 25-21 in CU's favor.
SET 3:
The two teams remained close throughout the third set. Dwinell put CU within one at 13-12 as she earned her 10th kill of the match and was hitting .529 at the time. The Trojans began to build momentum late in the set, extending their lead to five at 21-16. The Buffs continued to battle but couldn't overcome the gap, dropping the set 25-19.
SET 4:
Once again the two teams were during the set, but the Buffs began to pull away with two consecutive blocks and an ace to lead 15-11 at the media timeout. Skylar Fields put an end to the Buffs' run with her 18th kill of the match. CU maintained their lead and caused USC to use their first timeout at 20-17 after a kill from Payne was followed up by a Trojan attack error.
USC continued to battle though and tied things up at 21-21 after Tyrah Ariail earned a kill and followed it up with an ace. The Buffs powered through and another kill from Tabron placed the Buffs at set point. A USC error handed Colorado a 25-23 victory.
SET 5:
The fifth set continued to be a tight battle between the two teams, with there never being more than a two point lead between the two. The Buffs led 8-6 as the squads switched sides and maintained their lead until the Trojans went on a three-point run to lead 13-12 after Fields earned an ace. The Buffs recovered with a block assist from Dwinell and Payne and took the lead off a USC ball handling error. After a long rally, a Trojan hitting error ended the set at 15-13 for CU to win their third consecutive game at home.
Quotes:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement:
"It was just a really nice high-level volleyball match. I thought both sides played really well. Obviously, on our side, we lost Lexi to an injury in the middle of the week and didn't really have a ton of time to adjust, but the team did a really nice job of adjusting. I thought Ana played really well in that position. And you can't replace four kills per set, but I think we did an excellent job of just chipping in a little bit more. We passed extremely well. I thought we served well at times. And I'm so excited for our team because we're playing good volleyball. Even if we had lost that match, I would have been excited for us because I think we're playing really good volleyball, and we've got a goal for the second half of the season, and this is a nice step towards that goal."
On playing USC now vs. last time:
"I mean, it was a little while ago. Playing at home is a lot better obviously for everybody. We were just out of sorts in that match, and we didn't play particularly well in all phases. And if you do that against a top-25 type of team, you're not going to be successful. I thought we played really well in all phases today. And that's the result you get which is a little bit of a coin-flip match for who's going to make plays down at the end, and we were the ones who did it."
Maya Tabron on the advantage of playing at home versus USC:
"We came off a really good weekend last weekend with Arizona. I think we really just wanted to capture that same energy and bring it into this weekend of play. We really wanted that redemption. It's really a new set of games, and you try to see it kind of as a new set of teams, but also learn from our mistakes from the last game. So I think we did that really well."
Lily Dwinell on the advantage of playing at home versus USC:
"I think our biggest thing that we said today was to focus on the next point. We got to move on to the next one, we got to win this one to put ourselves in a better position to win the whole game. We don't want to look too far into the future but also we were trying to not dwell on what happened in the past. So it's just focusing on that next point, making sure you're doing everything you can to get it and then obviously a quick turnaround for UCLA."
Maya Tabron on having a self talk on how to approach this match without Lexi Hadrych:
"I told myself that I'm going to channel my inner Lexie and just go out there and hit the ball hard. That's what she does. That's kind of what we needed to fill on the court. I think everybody on the team was saying to themselves, 'hey, we did just lose our biggest point scorer, but we are going to make it up in other ways.'"
This is just the fourth time the Buffaloes have defeated the Trojans in program history but have now won the last three match-ups in Boulder. The two split the season series after Colorado dropped the first match earlier in the season in Los Angeles.
Three different Buffs had double-digit kills, with Maya Tabron leading the way with 18 and earning a double-double with 11 digs as well.
With CU's top scorer Lexi Hadrych absent due to injury, it was freshmen Cayla Payne, Lily Dwinell, and Ana Burilović who stepped up for the Buffs en route to their victory.
Payne, Dwinell, and Burilović combined for 30 of the 57 kills including a career-high 15 kills from Lily Dwinell. Skyy Howard was the only other non-freshman in the kills column tonight, with nine kills and four blocks on top of it.
Friday nights' win gets the winning streak to three, with UCLA coming to town Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. MT.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1:
The Buffs were in control early in the first half, taking a 12-6 lead over the Trojans. CU forced USC to call their first timeout at 15-11 when Tabron earned her third kill of the set. However, USC responded after the timeout to close the gap to 15-13. The Trojans continued their momentum to tie things up at 17-17, and the Buffs called their first timeout. The two teams traded points evenly from there until USC pulled ahead to 22-20 and CU utilized their second timeout. The Ladies of Troy continued to score though and took the first set 25-21.
SET 2:
USC jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Buffs got within one point at 5-6. A slide kill from Payne tied the teams at 6-6. CU took their first lead at 11-9, but three consecutive kills from the Trojans gave USC a 12-11 advantage. However, CU kept things close throughout the middle of the set and surged with a three point run late in the set to lead 21-18. CU expanded their lead to reach set point at 24-21, and an ace from Burilović ended the set 25-21 in CU's favor.
SET 3:
The two teams remained close throughout the third set. Dwinell put CU within one at 13-12 as she earned her 10th kill of the match and was hitting .529 at the time. The Trojans began to build momentum late in the set, extending their lead to five at 21-16. The Buffs continued to battle but couldn't overcome the gap, dropping the set 25-19.
SET 4:
Once again the two teams were during the set, but the Buffs began to pull away with two consecutive blocks and an ace to lead 15-11 at the media timeout. Skylar Fields put an end to the Buffs' run with her 18th kill of the match. CU maintained their lead and caused USC to use their first timeout at 20-17 after a kill from Payne was followed up by a Trojan attack error.
USC continued to battle though and tied things up at 21-21 after Tyrah Ariail earned a kill and followed it up with an ace. The Buffs powered through and another kill from Tabron placed the Buffs at set point. A USC error handed Colorado a 25-23 victory.
SET 5:
The fifth set continued to be a tight battle between the two teams, with there never being more than a two point lead between the two. The Buffs led 8-6 as the squads switched sides and maintained their lead until the Trojans went on a three-point run to lead 13-12 after Fields earned an ace. The Buffs recovered with a block assist from Dwinell and Payne and took the lead off a USC ball handling error. After a long rally, a Trojan hitting error ended the set at 15-13 for CU to win their third consecutive game at home.
Quotes:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement:
"It was just a really nice high-level volleyball match. I thought both sides played really well. Obviously, on our side, we lost Lexi to an injury in the middle of the week and didn't really have a ton of time to adjust, but the team did a really nice job of adjusting. I thought Ana played really well in that position. And you can't replace four kills per set, but I think we did an excellent job of just chipping in a little bit more. We passed extremely well. I thought we served well at times. And I'm so excited for our team because we're playing good volleyball. Even if we had lost that match, I would have been excited for us because I think we're playing really good volleyball, and we've got a goal for the second half of the season, and this is a nice step towards that goal."
On playing USC now vs. last time:
"I mean, it was a little while ago. Playing at home is a lot better obviously for everybody. We were just out of sorts in that match, and we didn't play particularly well in all phases. And if you do that against a top-25 type of team, you're not going to be successful. I thought we played really well in all phases today. And that's the result you get which is a little bit of a coin-flip match for who's going to make plays down at the end, and we were the ones who did it."
Maya Tabron on the advantage of playing at home versus USC:
"We came off a really good weekend last weekend with Arizona. I think we really just wanted to capture that same energy and bring it into this weekend of play. We really wanted that redemption. It's really a new set of games, and you try to see it kind of as a new set of teams, but also learn from our mistakes from the last game. So I think we did that really well."
Lily Dwinell on the advantage of playing at home versus USC:
"I think our biggest thing that we said today was to focus on the next point. We got to move on to the next one, we got to win this one to put ourselves in a better position to win the whole game. We don't want to look too far into the future but also we were trying to not dwell on what happened in the past. So it's just focusing on that next point, making sure you're doing everything you can to get it and then obviously a quick turnaround for UCLA."
Maya Tabron on having a self talk on how to approach this match without Lexi Hadrych:
"I told myself that I'm going to channel my inner Lexie and just go out there and hit the ball hard. That's what she does. That's kind of what we needed to fill on the court. I think everybody on the team was saying to themselves, 'hey, we did just lose our biggest point scorer, but we are going to make it up in other ways.'"
Players Mentioned
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