LINCOLN, Neb. –   The University of Colorado volleyball team dropped its second match of the season to the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers in front of 4,136 at the Nebraska Coliseum in Lincoln, Neb. The game scores were 17-30, 22-30 and 20-30.

Emilee Sisco led the Buffs for the second straight match with 13 kills. She hit just .114 but she led CU with 35 attacks.

“Emilee is starting to play really well,” head coach Pi’i Aiu said. “She is doing some nice things and is driving hard to the ball and she’s hitting the right shots. She is trying to make good things happen. Most of the errors she is making right now are aggressive errors and I like that. That is how I have wanted to coach.”

Schylur Edelman also had a good night for CU. She recorded eight kills on 22 errorless swings to hit a team-high .364. Edelman also added three block assists.

“Schylur still has a lot to learn about the game but she did a really nice job for us offensively,” Aiu said. “I like having her out there and I think she is just getting better and better as the year goes on.”

The Buffs recorded just 27 kills in the match and hit .147 while Nebraska notched a .394 attack percentage with 54 kills. Mallori Gibson and Alex Buth were held in check by the Huskers. Gibson hit just six kills and Buth recorded one.

The Buffs picked up 40 digs to NU’s 62. Callie Webster led the effort with 10 digs and moved up to sixth on the single-season chart with 408 digs this season. Kaitlyn Burkett recorded nine and Buth added seven.

The Huskers put up 8.0 team blocks to CU’s 6.0. Rosie Steinhaus put up CU’s only block solo and added a pair of assists. Buth and Gibson each recorded two.

The Huskers took off to a 9-3 lead in the first game before Aiu called CU’s first timeout of the match. CU was able to string together its first pair of points (six and seven) off a pair block assists (both involving Edelman) and cut the Huskers’ lead to five. The Buffs were not able to put anything together and NU pulled out to a 22-12 lead and never let go.

Sisco recorded six kills in the set and hit a team-best .500. The Buffs hit .308 with 13 kills on 39 swings with just one error, but the Huskers recorded 23 kills on 37 attacks with three errors to hit .541. The Buffs did record 3.0 blocks compared to NU’s 1.0. 

The second game started out with the Huskers pulling out an 11-3 lead. CU earned five of the next seven points to cut the lead to five (13-8).  CU put its longest run of the match together in the second game when the Buffs took four straight points off Gibson’s serve to bring the score to 18-24. Gibson recorded a kill and an ace, while Edelman added a block and a kill. The Buffs fought off the first two game points, but the Huskers finished the game with a 6-4 run.

CU recorded just eight kills in the second game and hit .000 with eight errors on 39 attacks. Nebraska recorded 11 points for CU by notching 11 errors, five service errors and six attack errors. The Buffs did hold NU to a .263 hitting percentage in the game with 16 kills.

Colorado took its first lead of the match in the third game after putting together four straight points to go up 6-5. The Huskers came back with their own 4-0 run to regain the lead. The Buffs got right back in the game and within one point at 12-13. CU battled but Nebraska recorded an 11-2 run which included eight consecutive points to pull out to a commanding 23-14 lead.

The Buffs hit a match-low six kills in the third game. They recorded just three errors and hit .125. Nebraska hit .379 with 15 kills.

The Buffaloes (6-18, 1-15 Big 12) will be back in Boulder on Nov. 10 when they will face off with the Kansas Jayhawks at the Coors Events Center. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.

--COLORADO--