Buffs Battle No. 13 UCLA Bruins, Fall 3-2

BOULDER — Facing their second straight top-20 opponent in as many nights, the Colorado Buffaloes looked to be on the verge of another upset after taking a 2-1 lead (17-25, 25-15, 25-18) against the No. 13 UCLA Bruins. But UCLA did not give up and took the final two sets (28-26, 16-14) to hold off the surging Buffs on Saturday night at the Coors Events Center.

With the loss, CU finished the first half of Pac-12 play with a 5-5 record, but is also 15-6 overall. The Bruins improved to 6-4 in conference action and are 13-6 overall.

WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffaloes gave UCLA everything they had including a career-high 27 kills from junior Alexa Smith. Smith took 72 swings on the night and hit .250 while adding 17 digs.

The Buffs had two other players with double-digits kills. Frankie Shebby was second on the team with 16 kills and Naghede Abu tallied 12. Abu hit a team-best .409 with only three errors on 22 attacks.

Colorado's block started off strong and finished the match with 14.0 team blocks. Shebby and Abu each posted seven blocks, while Joslyn Hayes added another six. Anna Pfefferle added five and Lauren Dorrell posted one.

The Buffs' passing game was also strong. Gabby Carta-Samuels led the team with 25 digs. Shebby added 16 digs and Brynna DeLuzio had 12 digs. In addition to Smith's 17 digs, four other Buffs combined for 18 digs.

For the Bruins, Jenny Mosser led the way with 28 kills and Reilly Butchler added 23 kills.

SET 1: The Buffs led the set 10-6 before UCLA strung together eight straight points to take a 14-10 lead. The Buffs were able to side-out on the following point, but the Bruins took the next two points and increased the advantage to seven at 20-13. The Buffs attempted to get back into the set, but the Bruins' lead was too great to overcome as UCLA won 25-17.

SET 2: Colorado got out to a 9-3 lead in the second frame and increased it to 13-6, at which point the Bruins called a timeout. The Buffs picked up where they left off after the break with a kill from DeLuzio before UCLA was able to side-out (14-7). CU kept attacking and did not let up, taking an 11-point lead at 20-9, before wrapping the game up 25-15.

SET 3: The third set started extremely close, but the Buffs had a slight 15-13 lead at the midway point. UCLA evened the score after the media timeout, but CU used a 5-2 run to go up 20-17, causing the Bruins to spend a timeout. The Buffs increased the advantage to four at 22-18 just three points later, and again UCLA needed to talk things over. Shebby served up an ace following the timeout and after a block by Hayes and Pfefferle, the Buffs had set point. Smith finished the set on the next point with a kill (25-18).

SET 4: In another close set, the Buffs took a 13-10 lead before UCLA took its first timeout. CU increased the lead to five at 19-14, but after a 3-0 run by the Bruins, the Buffs needed to take a timeout (19-17). UCLA served into the net on the following point, but then took the following five points (22-20), causing CU to take its final timeout. A pair of kills from Shebby out of the break tied the set back up. The Buffs would have three match points, but each time the Bruins fought them off and eventually took the set 28-26, forcing a final game.

SET 5: The Buffs led 8-5 at the side-change, but it was all even a short time later at 10-10. The two sides battled, but the Buffs were able to pull ahead at 13-12. UCLA responded with a kill and the set was tied again. CU had match point after a kill from Abu on the following point, but the Bruins scored the next two points to earn their first match point (15-14) and converted on the following point (16-14) to win the match.

NOTES: CU is 7-2 at Coors this season and is 3-5 against ranked opponents…UCLA leads the all-time series 12-3…CU is 4-2 in five-set matches this season…Frankie Shebby's seven blocks is a career-high…For the first time since 2015, a Buff recorded 27 kills in a match (Alexa Smith's 27)…For the eighth time this season, Brynna DeLuzio recorded 50+ assists.

TEAM STATISTICS: The box score was incredibly close. CU hit .212 with 66 kills and 25 errors on 193 attacks, while UCLA hit .194 with 69 kills and 30 errors on 201 swings. CU recorded five service aces compared to just two for the Bruins. UCLA won the battle in digs (92-88), but the Buffs out-blocked UCLA 14.0-13.0.

NEXT UP: The Buffs start the second half of league play on the road. First they will head to Oregon State (Oct. 27), before taking on Oregon (Oct. 28).

QUOTES:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
General
"It hurts to lose a match like that, especially when we had so many match points. That being said, I feel like this weekend we played really high level volleyball. Both teams were here were really good, nationally ranked. I feel like we put ourselves in a position to win the match tonight but we didn't quite get it done. We had some great performances and some things we can build on as we go into the second half of the season. I thought we played great volleyball and UCLA played great volleyball as well. Someone had to win, I just wish it was us. If we play like that, we're going to be fine in the second half and if we get better, we'll be doing really well going into the NCAA Tournament."

On being at the half-way point of Pac-12 play
"I think seeing everyone once, every one of those matches was really competitive. There are no secrets anymore, so we're going to go on the road next weekend and the teams that we've beaten in the first half are going to be looking to play us really hard. We'll do a half way point analysis of what we've done and where can work to get a little bit better. We'll adjust some things, see if that's worthwhile to do, and go out and play some good volleyball."

Alexa Smith
On not capitalizing on match points
"I don't think that there was one thing specifically that happened. I think it was a lot of things leading up to that. It is just executing in crunch time especially. Moving forward, I think that is one thing that we really need to focus on on our side of the net.

On setting career high in kills
"I am so honored to play the role that I do on this team. But I owe it all to them for putting me in position, especially the coaches for setting me up that way. I wish the game would have turned a different way but I am honored to play the role that I do."

On takeaways going into next week
"I think this weekend we played some pretty solid volleyball. I think that we definitely improved from last weekend to this weekend and that is something that we need to continue to do moving forward in the second half of Pac-12. I am really proud of this team, we continue to work together. If one person isn't playing well one night, another person steps up and that's what you need on a team."

Naghede Abu
On not capitalizing on match points
"I can't really point to one thing as the cause. Again, when it comes to match point, it's only one point. There were a lot of errors we made leading up to that point. We could have finished the match a lot earlier. So it's not necessarily that we didn't finish the game at match point, it is just a matter of how we were playing up to that."

On making blocks
"The last couple matches I noticed how I have been playing undisciplined. So personally, I went into the match telling myself not to put my hands over the net and focus on what I can take care of. They happened to hit into me, I didn't have to do anything extraordinary."

Next Event

Team Stats

Alexa Smith

Frankie Shebby

Naghede Abu

Anna Pfefferle

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Brynna DeLuzio

Lauren Dorrell

Joslyn Hayes

Anna Pfefferle

Frankie Shebby

Alexa Smith

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Brynna DeLuzio

Lauren Dorrell

Joslyn Hayes

Anna Pfefferle

Frankie Shebby

Alexa Smith