Colorado University Athletics

Wednesday, November 22
Berkeley, CA
4:00 PM

Colorado

3
at
0

California

Naghede Abu

Buffs Cruise Past Bears To Improve to 22-8

November 22, 2017 | Volleyball

CU also picked up its 12th Pac-12 win this season

BERKELEY, Calif. – For the first time since 1998, the Colorado Buffaloes have recorded 22 wins in a single season.
 
The 22nd victory of the 2017 season came on Wednesday afternoon as CU defeated the California Bears in straight sets (25-20, 25-18, 25-19). CU is now 22-8 on the season.
 
The win is also the 12th for the Buffs in conference play, which marks the first time CU has recorded more than 11 wins in Pac-12 play since the 2011 season. CU's previous best Pac-12 record was 11-9, which the Buffs did twice in 2014 and 15. The Buffs are currently 12-7 in league matches with one regular season contest remaining.
 
The loss moves Cal to 13-17 (4-15 Pac-12).
 
WHAT HAPPENED: Junior Frankie Shebby led the Buffs with 17 kills and hit well at .265. She also added eight digs and three blocks, one solo and two assists. Alexa Smith had 14 kills in the match and hit .429 with just two errors on 28 attacks. Naghede Abu also recorded double-digit kills with 11 and hit a match-high .526 with only one error on 19 swings.
 
Brynna DeLuzio had an excellent night with 44 assists and a match-best 14 digs as she directed CU's offense to a .349 hitting efficiency. Gabby Carta-Samuels had the second best mark of the night in digs with 11. Four Buffs posted three blocks. Shebby, Abu, Anna Pfefferle and Joslyn Hayes.
 
Cal had a pair of hitter record six kills in the effort: Preslie Anderson and Carmen Annevelink.
 
SET 1: The Buffs led 15-12 at the media timeout. Shebby added a kill out of the break before the Bears recorded two straight points to cut the CU lead to just two. At that point, CU tallied kills from Smith and Justine Spann, which forced Cal to take a break (18-14). The Bears were able to cut CU's lead to a pair a few more times, but the Buffs were finally able to shake Cal and finished the set 25-20. The Buffs hit .436 in the game and held Cal to .219.
 
SET 2: Colorado got out to a great start in the second set, taking an 11-6 advantage before the Bears took a timeout. The Buffs kept attacking and increased the score to 10 points at 18-8, forcing Cal to use another timeout. The Bears took the first point after the timeout, but the Buffs responded with a kill from Shebby (19-9). Cal then used a 4-0 run to bring the score within six before recording an attack error to give CU a 20-13 lead. The Buffs went on to take the set 25-18.
 
SET 3: The Buffs led the frame 9-5 before Cal recorded a 5-0 run to take the lead away from CU (10-9). After a quick break, CU tied the game up with a kill from Hayes. The Bears took the following point, but then CU tallied three straight kills for a 13-11 lead. Cal was able to bring the score within one at 17-16, but the Buffs tallied a pair of kills and forced Cal to take a timeout (19-16). The Bears again rallied and cut the lead to one (20-19) when Shebby hammered a kill. CU recorded a block by Hayes and Pfefferle and an ace by Shebby to put the Buffs back up 23-19. The Bears took another timeout, but was unable to slow down the Buffs as CU won with two more kills from Smith and Pfefferle.
 
NOTES: The Buffs now lead the all-time series 8-6 and have won six of the last seven matches against the Bears…CU has recorded six sweeps in conference play, 11 overall this season…CU hit .349 in the contest, a Pac-12 season-best. The previous best was .340 against Washington. It is also the third best overall this season.
 
TEAM STATISTICS: Colorado recorded a .349 hitting efficiency with 53 kills and 16 kills on 106 attacks and held the Bears to a .160 hitting percentage with 32 kills with 16 errors on 100 attacks. CU served up three aces, while Cal had one. The Buffs also led in digs (43-30) and blocks (7.0-5.0).
 
NEXT UP: Colorado will finish the regular season on Friday, Nov. 24 against No. 15 Utah at the Coors Events Center. The match is slated for an 8:04 p.m. start and will be televised live on Pac-12 Mountain.
 
QUOTES:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
"As I've said before, sweeps are hard to come by in this league and they are doubly tough on the road. I thought we played a very steady match - especially on the offensive side of the ball with four of our attackers hitting for very high numbers. Our match this Friday against Utah now has bigger implications - a win gives us a shot at hosting the first round of the NCAA's."
 
 
 
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