Buffs Fall To Cougars

BOULDER - The Colorado women's volleyball team (14-14, 6-11) fell to the No. 11 Washington State Cougars (21-7, 11-6) in three sets here Friday night.

The Buffs fought back in set three after a tough battle against the Cougars in sets one and two, but ultimately CU could not complete the comeback.

Despite the loss, Maya Tabron once again led CU in kills, hitting nine in 27 attempts. Lexi Hadrych made her return after missing six straight matches due to an injury, earning eight kills in 15 attempts to hit .400. Skyy Howard was also a strong contributor as she led the team with blocks, earning five.

Colorado was unable to keep up with Washington State's Pia Timmer. The outside hitter earned 15 kills in 33 attempts to hit .333. As a team, WSU had a .379 hitting percentage while CU hit .181.

Colorado will look to bounce back this Sunday against the University of Washington Huskies at 12:00 p.m. MT here at the CU Events Center. The team will honor their five graduating players prior to the match.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

SET ONE: An early 4-0 scoring run had Colorado trailing to Washington State 4-1. Multiple service errors early in set one caused a forced timeout by the Buffs at 16-9. Colorado responded with a 3-0 scoring run off of a block from Cayla Payne; however, the Buffs were not able to stop the Cougars as they fell to WSU 25-18.

SET TWO: The Cougars jumped to a 10-3 lead to take the early advantage. Hadrych brought the Buffs back to life with two blocks and three kills to bring Colorado back from a deep deficit, followed by a 3-0 scoring run to get back within two at 14-12. A kill from Ana Burilovic kept Colorado close at 24-20; however, Washington State took set two 25-20.

SET THREE: The Buffs took the first few points with an early lead at 2-0 and maintained the lead through to 8-6 off of an attack from Burilovic. A continued 11-7 lead forced a WSU time out. A slow start to the match did not slow down Colorado as they went on a 3-0 scoring run to increase their lead to 16-11. A late 6-0 scoring run gave the Cougars the lead at 20-19. The Buffs responded with two blocks from Howard and Tabron to tie things up at 21-21, yet WSU closed out set three 25-23.

QUOTES:

Coach Jesse Mahoney

Opening Statement
"Frustrating match. Obviously Washington State's very good, and I thought they played exceptionally well. We can't warm up into the match like we did. They got to 15 with us having zero blocks and zero digs in that first set, and we got better as the set progressed and into two and three, but we weren't ready to go from the start and that comes down to me, I think.

It's good to have Lexi [Hadrych], get back and get some swings in. We ran out of subs in both sets two and three and tried to maximize opportunities to score points. I thought we had a chance in set three, and we had our opportunities and missed them. Our backs are against the wall now and we have to play three really good teams. Two on the road to finish out the season and give ourselves an opportunity to keep playing."

Outside hitter Lexi Hadrych

On her recovery process
"Yeah, recovery-wise, I'm trying to do as much treatment as possible because I don't want to miss a lot of games. It was a bummer that happened, but it happens to many players. And I'm just happy to be back. I started playing last week, but I wasn't near 100%. So I'm glad that I had the time to slowly get pushed back in rather than possibly doing something to my ankle again. So I was very happy that I was able to play tonight."

On getting ready for Sunday's game
"We just need to take every point seriously and stop messing around. Just get out there and practice our hardest."

Right side Kendall Meller

On today's game
"I think it was a bummer that we started slow. I think just going in with a lot of energy was my goal to pump up the team and get us in a spot where we could compete. I feel like we had an opportunity in the third set, and I think we have to take every set as an opportunity from the beginning."

On getting ready for Sunday's game
"I think we have our backs against the wall, so I just think we need to come in tomorrow with the mindset that we want every point. It comes down to every point in practice, and I think that work ethic shows in the game, so we have to have a good day tomorrow to have a good day on Sunday."

Next Event

Team Stats

Maya Tabron

Lexi Hadrych

Skyy Howard

Cayla Payne

Players Mentioned

Lexi Hadrych

Skyy Howard

Kendall Meller

Cayla Payne

Maya Tabron

Players Mentioned

Lexi Hadrych

Skyy Howard

Kendall Meller

Cayla Payne

Maya Tabron