Buffs Fall To Bruins In Three

BOULDER - The Colorado Women's Volleyball team (13-10, 5-7) fell to the UCLA Bruins (13-9, 5-7) in three sets (25-27, 20-25, 21-25) here Sunday in the CU Events Center.

Despite the loss, Colorado played a strong match led by outside hitter Maya Tabron in kills. With CU's top scorer Lexi Hadrych absent, Tabron stepped up and earned herself 13 kills in 24 attempts to hit .458. She also recorded seven digs for the Buffs. Skyy Howard, Ana Burilović, and Cayla Payne were also strong contenders for Colorado in today's match.

Colorado fell short of UCLA in kills, as the Bruins recorded 40 hitting .273 while the Buffs only recorded 37 hitting .198. UCLA's Iman Dyiaye led the Bruins to their win, producing 13 kills in 29 attempts to hit .379.

The Buffs will travel to Oregon to face off against the Oregon State Beavers on Friday November 3rd at 8:00 p.m. MT and the University of Oregon Ducks on Sunday November 5th at 1:00 p.m. MT.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

SET ONE: Burilović got things rolling for the Buffs as she posted two kills to take an early lead against the Bruins of 2-0. Both teams traded points evenly back and forth for the beginning of set one until the Buffs went on a 3-0 scoring run, forcing a UCLA timeout. Hitting 1.000, Payne posted her second kill of the match to increase the lead to 17-15, while Tabron earned the third ace of the set, bringing the set to 18-15. Tabron was a strong contender for the remainder of the set, earning her third kill to bring the score to 23-20. The score tied up again at 23-23 after a 3-0 scoring run from the Bruins, however, the Buffs could not return their lead as UCLA won set one 27-25.

SET TWO: It was a tight battle with an early tie of 4-4 between the teams, however, the Buffs went on a 5-0 scoring run to increase the lead to 8-4 early in set two to force a timeout from the Bruins. Payne earned two kills to keep the lead alive during a 6-1 scoring run for the Buffs. Howard posted her fifth kill on seven attacks to keep things rolling, bringing the score to 13-10. A 3-0 scoring run from UCLA created a tie of 13-13, however, Colorado kept fighting to remain within a point of the Bruins at 18-17. The game remained close until UCLA increased their service pressure and took set two 25-20.

SET THREE: Tabron continued to lead the Buffs in kills to jump to an early lead of 5-3. The Bruins then went on a 5-0 scoring run to take back their lead at 11-7, however, Colorado did not back down as they returned with a 3-0 scoring run, bringing them back within two at 13-11. UCLA grew their lead at 21-13, however, the Buffs fought back on a 3-0 scoring run to bring the score to a close 23-20 to force a UCLA timeout. Colorado was not able to return their lead as they fell to UCLA in set three 25-21.

Quotes:

Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement:
"I like a lot of what our team did in that match, certainly in the first set and to start out the second set. UCLA is obviously very good and physical, they've got two great middle blockers that make it tough. On us offensively, I thought they were really good. I thought we played really well on Friday night without Lexi, and today we just needed to find some point scoring. Without her we needed to find some other places to score, and we didn't get that done. And that being said, I think that we can. We have the ability to do it; it just caught up on us a little bit today. We knew what they were doing, and I thought we had a pretty good game plan. We didn't execute it as well as I would have liked and didn't make the most of our opportunities, certainly defensively when we got them out of system. But the big picture, I don't want to dwell on this loss, a whole lot. I think we're playing really good volleyball in general, I think we're trending the right way. And we have to go on the road back-to-back weekends. So we have to be in the right mindset when we're training in the gym, and in the right mindset on the road."

Middle blocker Skyy Howard
On the feeling on the floor friday night compared to the feeling on the floor vs. UCLA:
"I think that Friday, we had a lot more energy in comparison to today. I think we came in after a really good week of practice, and we just really went into it on Friday. And today I feel like a lot of people were taking the mistakes personally throughout the game, and we just needed to get out of that mindset. We just weren't able to do that fast enough."

Outside hitter Maya Tabron
On the feeling on the floor friday night compared to the feeling on the floor vs. UCLA:
"I think we built our energy off of the lack of energy from USC on Friday, and I think UCLA came out with a lot of energy today. We just weren't able to match that on our side of the court."

Maya Tabron
On how to help some of the younger players?
"We do rely on quite a few younger players on the court. I would say our biggest thing is we're just going to have to see how practice comes on Tuesday and make sure they're bringing that energy in practice, and if not, just have a talk with them and try to build up their confidence and tell them 'hey, you are on the court for a reason and we need you to help us with stuff.'"

Skyy Howard
On how to help some of the younger players?
"I definitely think just being good teammates to each other, helping each other out when we see where we can help individually, position-wise, class-wise, when we see that somebody's down picking them up a little bit. Holding each other accountable is a big part of that as well. Letting them know, 'hey, you're good. We trust you. We know that you can do what we need you to do. And just instilling that confidence in them.'"

Next Event

Team Stats

Maya Tabron

Skyy Howard

Cayla Payne

Ana Burilović

Players Mentioned

Ana Burilović

Lexi Hadrych

Skyy Howard

Cayla Payne

Maya Tabron

Players Mentioned

Ana Burilović

Lexi Hadrych

Skyy Howard

Cayla Payne

Maya Tabron