Colorado
Colorado State
Buffs Prepare for Golden Spike Showdown
September 12, 2023 | Volleyball
BOULDER – The Colorado Women's Volleyball team (6-2) faces Colorado State (5-4) this weekend in the fourth annual home-and-home series in the Battle for the Golden Spike this Thursday and Friday. They will then be back home Sunday afternoon to take on Denver.
The Buffaloes will host the Rams Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the CU Events Center with a "Buffs Wear Black" them. Friday, CU heads to Fort Collins the to determine who will take home the Golden Spike Trophy. Friday night's match will also begin at 7 p.m. and Sunday's match will have a 2 p.m. start time.
The Golden Spike, which was donated by Colorado Volleyball supporter club members, is a vintage spike donated by the Comanche Crossing Museum in Strasburg, Colo., where the final spike was driven to connect the first continuous chain of train tracks from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Since the trophy's beginning in 2019, the Buffs and Rams have each won three matches. However, CU has won the Golden Spike three times by earning an edge since they won the latest match last season in Boulder.
Colorado most recently split two matches on their road trip to Wichita. They fell in four sets to the Kansas Jayhawks and bounced back the next day with a sweep over tournament host Wichita State.
Graduate transfer from North Carolina, Skyy Howard, continues to show out for Colorado. She is currently 16th in the nation in blocks per set (1.48) and leads the team with 34 total blocks. Howard also boasts an impressive .460 hitting percentage with 48 kills.
Graduate student Lexi Hadrych and senior Maya Tabron headline the kills category for the Buffs. Hadrych has a team-best 78 kills with a .226 hitting percentage, while Tabron has 71 kills hitting .282. First year Lily Dwinell stacks up with the third-most kills, 49.
Colorado is 6-3 against CSU under Mahoney, including a 2-2 mark in Moby Arena. Mahoney was the first in-state coach to defeat CSU coach Tom Hilbert in Moby back in 2017.
Thursday's game will air on the Pac-12 Network while Sunday's match will appear on Colorado's Live Stream.
COLORADO STATE
The Rams head into this weekend with a 5-4 record, most recently taking down Pacific in four sets at home. They've surrendered losses to three-ranked teams in Stanford, Baylor and Arkansas, and also fell to in-state opponent Northern Colorado. CSU currently has three players over the century mark in kills: Annie Sullivan, Malaya Jones, and Kennedy Stanford.
CU hasn't fared well against their in-state rival, holding a record of 17-26 in the 43 total matches. They do hold a winning record at home at 11-9, but are 6-17 when playing in Fort Collins. The Buffs are 6-4 in the last ten matches between the two.
DENVER
The Pioneers are searching for their first win on the young season, as they currently sit with an 0-6 record. They will compete tonight against Idaho State before heading to Boulder to take on the Buffs.
Colorado rides a 10-match winning streak over Denver, after losing the first-ever match between the two way back in 1986. CU took care of business last year, taking down the Pioneers in a close five-set match.
