University of Colorado Athletics
2011 Season Review and Notes
The University of Colorado volleyball team had a tough inaugural Pac-12 season, finishing 6-24 overall, 1-21 in the conference. The Buffs placed 12th in the league and finished the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 5-3 record, finishing above .500 for the 23rd straight year.
The Buffs started the year with a four-set win (25-15, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18) against UNLV at the Northern Colorado Hampton Inn & Suites Classic before falling in four to UC Davis (25-23, 17-25, 23-25, 22-25). CU followed that loss with a five-set victory over instate rival Northern Colorado (13-25, 25-19, 25-18, 19-25, 15-6).
Colorado hosted Albany the following weekend after playing an exhibition match against the Slovenian National Team at its own Omni Hotels Colorado Volleyball Classic. The Buffs defeated the Great Danes in a hard fought four-set match (30-28, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22).
CU hit the road the following week to compete at the Rose Hill Classic at Furman University. The Buffs went 2-2, falling to Siena in five (26-24, 15-25, 23-25, 25-17, 13-15) and then to Albany in three (22-25, 21-25, 18-25). Colorado rebounded with a pair of wins against Fordham (25-17, 25-15, 25-13) and St. John's (22-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21, 15-13) to finish out the non-conference portion of the schedule. Kerra Schroeder and Megan Beckwith were named to the all-tournament team for their performances. Schroeder averaged 4.19 kills per set with 67 kills in 16 sets while Beckwith averaged 4.56 digs per set with 73 total digs in 16 sets.
The Buffaloes had a quick turnaround as they headed home to the Coors Events Center to host Utah in its first ever Pac-12 Conference match two days after the St. John's match. The Pac-12 has a reputation for being the top volleyball conference in the nation and UCLA won the league's 14th NCAA volleyball championship in December. CU dropped the first 19 matches to league opponents. The schedule was a round-robin, with each team playing each opponent twice. During the first 11 conference matches the Buffs fell in three sets.
In the final match of the first half of the season against Arizona State, the Buffs gave it everything they had, but fell 23-25, 23-25, 23-25, the narrowest of margins. That loss proved to be a springboard into the second half of the season. The first match in the second half was against No. 6 UCLA. The Buffs dropped the first two sets 17-25, 15-25, but then rallied back to take the third set 25-19. They came close to taking the fourth set, but fell 23-25; losing the match.
The following week CU pushed Oregon State to five sets, although they didn't come out on the winning end. Schroeder recorded 22 kills and added a career-high 21 digs to become the first Buff since Alex Buth in 2007 to record a double-double with at least 20 kills and 20 digs in the match. Schroeder became just the 11th Buff to ever accomplish that double-double in school history. Beckwith had a career-best 32 digs for the Buffs, which is also the sixth best mark in CU history.
The Buffaloes kept at it, pushing No. 3 Stanford, No. 7 Cal and ASU to three sets, and Arizona to five. Colorado recorded its first Pac-12 win on Nov. 18 against Washington State. CU fought back from a 0-2 deficit to win 21-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-10, 15-6. In the match Schroeder hammered her 1,000th career kill, becoming just the 14th Buff to ever reach that milestone.
Unfortunately the Buffs weren't able to keep the momentum going and dropped the following two matches to No. 10 Washington and Utah in three sets, closing out the inaugural Pac-12 season.
For just the second time in CU's history, the Buffs faced six ranked opponents in seven matches between Sept. 16-Oct. 7, which included No. 1 Cal, No. Stanford, No. 15 Oregon, Oregon State, No. 5 USC, No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Washigton. The last time CU faced a stretch like this was in 1996 when CU played Kansas State (20), Baylor, Texas Tech (21), Texas A&M (16), Texas (8), Oral Roberts (25) and Hawai'i (5). The two matches against Oral Roberts and Hawai'i were also in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The total of the team rankings in 1996 was 95, averaging 15.8, but this season's total was just 28 for an average ranking of 4.7.
Schroeder finished the season with 431 kills to lead the team and ranked seventh in the Pac-12 with 3.95 kills per set. She was also seventh in the league with 4.42 points per set. Schroeder also set the junior and outside hitter's season attacks records after recording 1,405 and overall attacks per set record with 12.88. On the career kills chart she ranks 12th with 1,039 kills.
Beckwith led the team with 428 digs and ranked seventh in the conference with 4.16 digs per set. Her total ranks fifth in the CU single season record book while her career total of 829 is 16th in CU history. Alyssa Valentine ranked ninth in the Pac-12 with 9.62 assists per set. Nikki Lindow and Anicia Santos each recorded 0.76 blocks per set to lead the Buffs.
Schroeder was named the CU Athlete of the Week on four occasions during the season and Santos garnered one CU Athlete of the Week honor.
Several Buffs were recognized for their accomplishments off the court. Elysse Richardson was named to the Academic All-Pac-12 First Team. Emily Alexis, Jessica Aschenbrenner, Beckwith, Santos and Valentine received honorable mention honors.