Colorado
4-3,0-0Big 12
Northern Colorado
6-2,0-0Big Sky
Buffs Fall to Bears in Five
September 11, 2024 | Volleyball
BOULDER – The Colorado volleyball team (4-3) fell to the Northern Colorado Bears (23-25, 25-18, 18-25, 25-22, 8-15) in a midweek match at CU Events Center on Wednesday evening.
The Buffs had a long match against the Bears with 32 tie scores and 14 lead changes, but managed to get a hefty seven-point win in set two. Though Colorado pulled out the win in the fourth set, UNC flew through the fifth and grabbed the win.
"Kudos to Northern Colorado, they're a really good team and really well coached," head coach Jesse Mahoney said. "They've already got some big wins this year, this is another big win for them. They've got a really elite setter that makes them run and a really nice game plan. I was really frustrated, and all these things are my fault, but we weren't prepared early. We did not come out with any sort of focus or intentionality, and we let that first set slip away from us and we were playing catch up the rest of the match."
Colorado had 13.0 blocks on the night, out-blocking the opponent for the third time this season.
KEY PLAYERS:
- Jr. MB Bella Simkus reached a career-high six blocks for the Buffs as well as four kills with zero errors (hitting .571).
- So. OH Lily Dwinell had a great match with nine kills (2e, 24att, hitting .292) for Colorado, and many timely blocks to support (one solo, six total).
- So. MB Cayla Payne notched eight kills (4e, 17att) and five blocks (one solo) for the Buffs.
- Sr. S Taylor Simpson totaled 38 assists on the night and helped Colorado to a .244 hitting percentage.
- So. OH Ana Burilovic led scoring for CU with 15 kills (6e, 40att) and had four digs. She also had three total blocks (one solo).
- So. OH Sydney Jordan had seven kills and zero hitting errors on the night. She also saw six digs and a block for Colorado.
- Jr. DS/L Sarah Morton totaled 15 digs and two assists on the night, and So. DS/L Avery Bolles had eight digs.
- For the Bears, Maddie Davies led scoring for all teams with 22 kills and Alayna Tessena had 11 digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Neither team scored more than two points in a row in the first set, seeing 18 tie scores and seven lead changes. Northern Colorado maintained the lead for most of the set, notched the last few points and taking set one, 25-23. Burilovic and Payne saw three kills each in the third set.
- The Buffs bit back and managed to take set two, 25-18, with seven kills from Burilovic and many key blocks. Payne had four blocks in the second set, one giving Colorado the lead (11-10), and CU pulled away on a 5-0 run to stampede through set two. Dwinell sent the Buffs to set point with a big solo block (24-17), one of six total blocks for the sophomore.
- UNC had a 3-0 run early in the third set but the Buffs answered back with a 4-0 run of their own to come within one (7-6, UNC). After the Bears scored seven-straight, Colorado managed to come back within three on a 4-0 run with a Dwinell kill and back-to-back Jordan aces (16-13, UNC). The Bears ended on a 4-0 run to take the third, 25-18.
- The Buffs began on a 3-0 in set four, going 7-2 in the first nine points of the set, with Payne and Dwinell kills and a Morton ace. Though UNC went on a 4-0 run later in the set, Colorado took a 3-0 run with Payne and Simkus kills, keeping its lead through to the end of the set and taking the fourth, 25-22.
- The Black and Gold fell behind early in the fifth set after two 3-0 runs by the Bears (9-3). Though Simkus had two big blocks and Burilovic had a few kills, UNC took over and got the match win (15-8).
UP NEXT:
- Colorado will face UC Irvine in the first match of Buffs Invitational on Friday, Sept. 13. First serve is set for 7 p.m. MT at CU Events Center. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ and links to watch are available at CUBuffs.com.
- Mahoney on the upcoming tournament: "Cal [is] a former Pac-12 team, they've got one of the better outside hitters in the country in Maggie Lee and they're super dangerous. Irvine is similar. This team, in my opinion, runs their offense really fast and is really scrappy. And Wyoming is going to present some problems. They have another really elite setter and run a really fast offense."
MATCH NOTES:
- Colorado moves to 5-2 all-time against Northern Colorado.
- The Buffs get their third loss of the season going 2-2 in five-set matches.
- Sophomore middle blocker Cayla Payne is one block shy of 100 career blocks.
- Junior middle blocker Bella Simkus had a career-high six blocks against the Bears.
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.
