Buffs Finish Season With Five-Set Victory Over No. 17 Utah

Friday, November 25

Salt Lake City, Utah

1:00 PM

Colorado

14-16, 6-14

Utah

20-11, 11-10

Colorado

Utah

The Buffs celebrate after knocking off No. 17 Utah to end the 2016 season.

Photo by: Ed Kosmicki

Buffs Finish Season With Five-Set Victory Over No. 17 Utah

November 25, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score HIGHLIGHTS: CU 3, Utah 2 Katelyn Cuff Interview

By: Linda Sprouse, Assistant SID

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. — The Colorado volleyball knocked off No. 17 Utah with a thrilling five-set victory (25-19, 16-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13) to finish the 2016 season on Friday afternoon.

With the win, the Buffs snapped a five-match losing streak to wrap-up the campaign with a 14-16 overall record and a 6-14 Pac-12 mark. Utah is now 20-11 overall, 11-9 in the Pac-12.

WHAT HAPPENED: Sophomore Alexa Smith recorded her 13th double-double this season with a team best 13 kills and 16 digs while adding a pair of blocks in the win.

Colorado's seniors all shined in their final match. Katelyn Cuff was second on the team with 11 kills and hit a match-high .526 with just one error on 19 attacks. Cuff also played well on defense, posting six blocks. Kiara McKibben and Marie Zimmerman both set very well. McKibben handed out 27 assists and recorded 10 digs for her seventh double-double this season and Zimmerman recorded 21 assists, tying a season-best, and added six digs. Cierra Simpson was second on the team with 15 digs in the win.

Sophomore Naghede Abu also had a great season-ending match with 10 kills and six blocks. Abu did not commit an error on 25 attacks to hit .400.

Utah was led by Adora Anae's 23 kills and Carly Trueman added another 18. Two other Utes, Berkeley Oblad (11) and Eliza Katoa (10) recorded double-digit kills.

SET 1: The game was tied 8-8 when CU recorded a 3-0 run to go up 11-8. The Utes cut the advantage to a pair twice, but the Buffs were having none of it and increased their lead to six points at 20-14. UU took a timeout at that point, and was able to side out with a kill, but the Buffs responded with a block by Abu and Smith (21-5). CU went on to finish the set 25-19.

SET 2: CU coach Jesse Mahoney took an early timeout in the set after Utah recorded a 6-1 lead. The Utes took the next point, but CU came back with three straight points (7-4). Just as soon as the Buffs started to make a dent in the score, the Utes strung together a 7-3 run to bring the score to 14-7 and force CU to spend its final timeout. The Buffs were not able to stop Utah's momentum and lost the set 25-16.

SET 3: Utah had an early 7-5 edge on the Buffs, but CU rallied back with a 5-2 run to take a 10-9 advantage. The Utes retook the lead with two straight points out of a quick timeout and the Buffs answered that rally with two points of their own. The score was tied at 12-12 when the Buffs pulled together a 6-1 run to go up 18-13, causing UU to take its final timeout of the frame. The Utes were able to pull within three points of the Buffs three times down the stretch, with the last time coming at 23-20, but Colorado finished the game 25-20 after consecutive kills from Joslyn Hayes and Anna Pfefferle.

SET 4: The Utes jumped out to a 6-2 lead and increased their advantage to 15-9. CU recorded a pair of blocks after the media timeout, bringing the score to 15-11, and kept attacking. The Buffs got the score within three points (18-15), causing the Utes to take a timeout. Utah took the next two points (20-15), but the Buffs were not finished and kept the score close. CU took a timeout at 23-20, but the Utes finished the game two points later (25-20), forcing the fifth and deciding set.

SET 5: The Buffs took a 4-1 lead in the final set, causing Utah to spend an early timeout. Utah recorded the next two points (4-3), but CU answered with a kill from Smith to regain a two-point lead. The Buffs led 10-6 when UU called its final timeout. The Utes took the first point out of the break and a couple points later had narrowed the Buffs' lead to just two (12-10). UU evened the set up two points later and after exchanging points, the set was tied again at 13-13. CU wasn't going to let this one slip through its fingers though, and took the game 15-13 with kills from Pfefferle and Stephanie Shadley.

TEAM STATISTICS: The Buffs hit .179 with 54 kills and 23 errors on 173 attacks, while the Utes hit .205 with 73 kills and 35 errors on 185 attacks. Utah recorded 69 assists to CU's 53 and also out-dug the Buffs 84-67. CU had the lead in blocks, posting 12.5-10.0.

NOTEABLE: The win against Utah snapped CU's five match losing streak…It is the first win in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Buffs since joining the Pac-12 in 2001…Utah leads the all-time series 9-8; the two teams split meetings this year as Utah defeated CU (3-2) to start the Pac-12 season on Sept. 21… CU is 6-4 in five-sets matches this season… This is CU's fifth win against a ranked team this season; the Buffs finish the season 5-10 against ranked opponents…Cierra Simpson finished her career with 1,840 digs, which is CU's all-time digs record…She is also the rally-scoring era leader in sets played at 493.

QUOTABLE:
Jesse Mahoney, head coach
"I'm happy for our players and especially for our seniors to finish the season playing their hearts out and beating a top-25 team. It wasn't always pretty today but we found a way to win. Katelyn Cuff and Naghede Abu were unstoppable in the middle and came up with big kills in set five."

"I'm proud of the fight this team showed in the last third of the season - they kept playing hard even though the wins weren't coming. It's something to build on heading into the spring."