Simpson Sets Career Highs, Buffaloes Break Eagles in Five-Set Thriller

Friday, August 30

Denton, Texas

6 PM

Colorado

North Texas

Simpson Sets Career Highs, Buffaloes Break Eagles in Five-Set Thriller

August 30, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: Malala Pyle, Assistant Director of Athletic Communication

BOULDER – The Colorado volleyball team (1-0) defeated North Texas in five sets (28-26, 20-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-11) at The Super Pit on Friday, Aug. 30. The Buffaloes open the season with a win, improving to 27-12 in season openers.

Senior setter Taylor Simpson achieved two major milestones in the match – 2,000 career assists in the third set, and 100 career blocks in the fourth. Simpson finished the match with 48 assists and four blocks (one solo).

The Buffs and the Mean Green went back and forth through the entire match, with Colorado earning sets one and three in deuce sets and UNT winning sets two and four. CU ultimately came out on top, 15-11, in the fifth set, shutting the Eagles down with a 3-0 scoring run.

"I'm very happy to get the win," head coach Jesse Mahoney said. "North Texas is a really good team, they're well-coached, and I think they're always going to be tough in their home gym. A little bit of an uneven match for us – lots of highs and lots of lows. We need to even ourselves out and figure out some things on the defensive side."

As a team, Colorado out-killed, out-dug and out-aced their opponent, totaling 63, 66 and nine in those categories respectively. Three Buffs – junior libero Sarah Morton, sophomore defensive specialist Avery Bolles and freshman defensive specialist Katie Salonga – had two aces each. Colorado also had three athletes with double-digit kills, three athletes with double-digit digs and dug 59% of the balls hit at them on the court.

KEY PLAYERS:

Sr. S Taylor Simpson reached 2,000 career assists and 100 career blocks in the match against UNT. Totaling 48 assists and four blocks (one solo), Simpson also notched five digs, four kills and a service ace.
Mahoney on Simpson: "Super proud of Taylor. That's a lot of assists and a lot of blocks. She can be underrated as a blocker, but she's a really nice blocker, so it's nice to see her get rewarded there. She set a really nice match tonight, made a lot of good decisions. Excited for a lot more assists this season."
So. OH Ana Burilovic led the team in kills with 20 (7e, 50att) and notched a double-double for the Buffaloes with 12 digs (55% digging percentage). Burilovic also had an ace in the match.
So. OH Sydney Jordan also achieved a double-double with 16 kills (6e, 47att) and 12 digs (63% digging percentage). She also had an ace and two blocks (one solo). Jordan coupled with Burilovic to account for nearly half of the Buffs earned points (40/82).
Jr. DS/L Sarah Morton led both teams in digs with 26 (66% digging percentage), matching her career-high set in the 2022 season against Georgia (Oct. 9) during her freshman year at Auburn. Morton also recorded two aces and three assists.
So. MB Cayla Payne had 12 kills for the Buffs and led the team in blocks with five (one solo). Payne notched three digs as well.
For the Eagles, Aryn Johnson led the team with 18 kills and reached a double-double with 12 digs. Alexa Washington had eight blocks (two solo). Madison Scrivner has 18 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Colorado and the Eagles stayed neck and neck to begin the first set (6-4), until CU pulled ahead with a 5-0 to take the score to 10-7. UNT responded with a 7-1 run, forcing a Buffalo timeout. Out of the timeout, the Eagles score four-straight to take a strong lead, 14-11, but a 5-0 run from CU brought the Buffs within one (19-18). In comeback fashion, the Buffs battled to take the first set, 28-26.
With another back-and-forth start, UNT took its first big lead with a 6-0 run midway through the second set (12-8). Colorado stayed within three for most of the set (18-15, UNT), but were unable to gain back the lead. North Texas put away the second set, 25-20.
The Buffs came out of the gate strong and managed to take the lead early in the third set, 8-6. An Eagle 4-0 run gave them the lead, 10-8, but it stayed close for the duration of the set. With a kill and a block, Cayla Payne put the deuce third set away for the Buffs, 27-25. Taylor Simpson joined the 2,000 assists club during this set.
Set four stayed close with neither team scoring more than three in a row (16-15, CU) until North Texas took the lead with a 4-0 run (19-16). CU never regained the lead and fell, 25-21, in the fourth. Simpson achieved 100 blocks in this set.
UNT was the first to score three in a row in the fifth set, taking a brief lead and forcing a Colorado timeout (7-6). Out of the timeout, the Buffaloes scored six points in a row with big kills by Burilovic and Dwinell. The Eagles clawed back with a 4-0 run, but the Buffaloes stampeded through to the finish, taking the fifth set, 15-11, and ending on an ace from Sarah Morton.

UP NEXT:

The Buffaloes continue competing in the North Texas Invitational on Saturday afternoon against Miami (1-0). First serve is set for 3 p.m. CT/2 p.m. MT and the match will be shown on ESPN+.
Mahoney on Miami: "We don't have a lot of time, but we have to prepare for Miami who's very good. They have three really heavy topspin jump servers that we have to replicate in our serve-pass tomorrow. They're very fast at the pins and they have a very potent backrow attack."

MATCH NOTES:

Colorado improved to 2-0 all-time against North Texas and won their second straight of the Eagles.
The Buffaloes get their first 3-2 victory of the season and are 1-0 in five-set matches.
Colorado had more kills (63-62), digs (66-65) and service aces (9-6) than its opponent.

Under ninth-year head coach Jesse Mahoney, Colorado earned a winning record in the 2023 season (16-15) and went 8-12 against Pac-12 opponents. A significant win for the Buffs took place against 17th-ranked Arizona State last year. The Buffs took down the Sun Devils in three sets, completing the sweep and earning CU's only win against a ranked opponent in the 2023 season. Colorado also swept Arizona (Oct. 20) and Washington (Nov. 19) and finished seventh in the Pac-12.

For more information on the Colorado volleyball team, please visit cubuffs.com/vb. Fans of the Buffs can follow @cubuffsvb on Instagram, X, and Facebook.