In its 4th year of existence, it's the Buff volleyball team's turn to host this current edition of a Pac 12/ Big 10 Challenge, with the Buffs scheduled to once again play the #19 Illinois Illini*** (1-1) Saturday afternoon starting at 2:30 PM MT, followed up with a Sunday 1:30 PM MT match against the Iowa Hawkeyes (2-1).
(***With CU and Illinois also being part of a prior iteration of a Pac 12/ Big 10 Challenge, my GUESS is the Buffs may have had more non-conference matches against the Illini the last 7-8 years than any other opponent, although with the 2 annual matches against CSU that last couple or so normal seasons, the Rams may now be close.)
For any general volleyball fans, this is also a chance to see the #14 and pre-season Pac 12 favorite Washington Huskies (1-1) live, as they are the other Pac 12 squad in Boulder thist weekend, with them scheduled to play against Iowa Saturday starting at noon MT and then the #19 Illini Sunday at 11:00 AM MT.
All 4 matches this weekend are scheduled to be streaming via the Pac 12 Insider platform. (More detail and link near the bottom of this post.)
Go Buffs!!!
Preview-
Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/8/30/volleyball-buffaloes-host-pac-12-big-ten-challenge.aspx
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BOULDER — The undefeated Colorado women's volleyball team will play host to the 2022 Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge this Saturday and Sunday, hosting No.14-ranked Washington, No.19-ranked Illinois and Iowa.
Colorado will play Illinois first at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday before facing Iowa Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Washington will face the Hawkeyes Saturday at noon and the Illini at 11 a.m. on Sunday. All of the matches will be streamed on Pac-12 Insider.
The Buffaloes (3-0) are coming off a Buffs Invitational title run led by their strong defensive play. Colorado led the NCAA through the opening weekend with 44 total blocks. The effort led to Alexia Kuehl being named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week with a conference-best 22 blocks, good for sixth in the NCAA.
The middles were a strong part of CU's success with both Kuehl and Meegan Hart picking up their first career double-double against Denver. Hart finished with 40 kills and a .543 hitting percentage, the latter of which ranks her 10th in the NCAA.
...
The Buffs will look to lean heavily on their efficient hitting percentage of .294 while limiting their opponents to just .142 hitting through their strong blocking.
Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney brings a 27-2 home nonconference record into the tournament that includes upsetting No.13 Penn State and No.17 Illinois in this same tournament back in 2016. Mahoney and staff are 8-2 in the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, including four wins over Illinois in five tries. In 2019, CU swept Illinois when it was ranked fifth in the NCAA, the only top-10 win for Mahoney at CU. Colorado is 3-0 against Iowa since the Hawkeyes took over for Penn State.
Tickets for the tournament will include both matches for each day and are available at cubuffs.com/22vbtix. Sunday's match will be the 500th home match for Colorado in the program's history.
ILLINOIS
The Illini are 1-1 to start the season after being swept by No.9 Georgia Tech in the season opener. They responded by defeating Ole Miss on their home court in four sets. Illinois is hitting .207 this season while allowing their opponents to hit .249. Much of the hitting discrepancy is due to Illinois being blocked 2.7 times per set while only recording 1.7 blocks per set.
Raina Terry and Jessica Nunge each have 22 kills to lead Illinois in the early season and are the only hitters with more than 11 kills. Setter Diana Brown is averaging just less than 9.5 assists per set. She also is tied with Caroline Barnes with a team-best 19 digs while Rylee Hinton has a team-best six blocks.
IOWA
The Hawkeyes went 2-1 during the opening weekend with wins against Gonzaga and Florida International before being swept by Oklahoma in their first away match. Iowa is holding their opponents to a .115 hitting percentage while hitting .212, led by a 12.8 assists per set mark. Iowa is also averaging 16 digs per set, three more than their opponents.
Michelle Urquhart leads Iowa with 32 kills and has three teammates with more than 20. All four of the top hitters are hitting .227 or better. Defensively, Mari Hinkle is averaging 4.8 digs per set while Delaney McSweeney has a team-best 9.5 blocks.
Oklahoma was able to hold Iowa to a .168 hitting percentage and keep Urquhart to a -.043 hitting percentage with just five kills. The Hawkeyes hit .353 against Gonzaga with Urquhart recording 17 kills. In both wins, Iowa held their opponent under .09 hitting.
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More on the opponents -
Illinois:
Roster - https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster
Stats - https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats
Schedule/ results for this season - https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule?path=wvball
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - Not available as I type this.
Iowa:
Roster - https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wvball/roster/
Stats - https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wvball/cumestats/season/2022-23/
Schedule/ results for this season - https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wvball/schedule/
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs & General preview - Not available as I type this.
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Media links:
Link to links to Live stats (for all matches) - https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=colo
Live Video - All 4 matches (involving the Buffs or Huskies) are scheduled to be available via stream on the Pac 12 Insider platform at https://pac-12.com/live?networks=P12I .
Match notes - Not available for either match as I type this. (The last notes I can find when clicking on the Match Notes link on cubuffs.com is from some of the last home matches of LAST season, so maybe they aren't planning on providing notes for volleyball this season?)
(***With CU and Illinois also being part of a prior iteration of a Pac 12/ Big 10 Challenge, my GUESS is the Buffs may have had more non-conference matches against the Illini the last 7-8 years than any other opponent, although with the 2 annual matches against CSU that last couple or so normal seasons, the Rams may now be close.)
For any general volleyball fans, this is also a chance to see the #14 and pre-season Pac 12 favorite Washington Huskies (1-1) live, as they are the other Pac 12 squad in Boulder thist weekend, with them scheduled to play against Iowa Saturday starting at noon MT and then the #19 Illini Sunday at 11:00 AM MT.
All 4 matches this weekend are scheduled to be streaming via the Pac 12 Insider platform. (More detail and link near the bottom of this post.)
Go Buffs!!!
Preview-
Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/8/30/volleyball-buffaloes-host-pac-12-big-ten-challenge.aspx
"
BOULDER — The undefeated Colorado women's volleyball team will play host to the 2022 Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge this Saturday and Sunday, hosting No.14-ranked Washington, No.19-ranked Illinois and Iowa.
Colorado will play Illinois first at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday before facing Iowa Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Washington will face the Hawkeyes Saturday at noon and the Illini at 11 a.m. on Sunday. All of the matches will be streamed on Pac-12 Insider.
The Buffaloes (3-0) are coming off a Buffs Invitational title run led by their strong defensive play. Colorado led the NCAA through the opening weekend with 44 total blocks. The effort led to Alexia Kuehl being named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week with a conference-best 22 blocks, good for sixth in the NCAA.
The middles were a strong part of CU's success with both Kuehl and Meegan Hart picking up their first career double-double against Denver. Hart finished with 40 kills and a .543 hitting percentage, the latter of which ranks her 10th in the NCAA.
...
The Buffs will look to lean heavily on their efficient hitting percentage of .294 while limiting their opponents to just .142 hitting through their strong blocking.
Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney brings a 27-2 home nonconference record into the tournament that includes upsetting No.13 Penn State and No.17 Illinois in this same tournament back in 2016. Mahoney and staff are 8-2 in the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, including four wins over Illinois in five tries. In 2019, CU swept Illinois when it was ranked fifth in the NCAA, the only top-10 win for Mahoney at CU. Colorado is 3-0 against Iowa since the Hawkeyes took over for Penn State.
Tickets for the tournament will include both matches for each day and are available at cubuffs.com/22vbtix. Sunday's match will be the 500th home match for Colorado in the program's history.
ILLINOIS
The Illini are 1-1 to start the season after being swept by No.9 Georgia Tech in the season opener. They responded by defeating Ole Miss on their home court in four sets. Illinois is hitting .207 this season while allowing their opponents to hit .249. Much of the hitting discrepancy is due to Illinois being blocked 2.7 times per set while only recording 1.7 blocks per set.
Raina Terry and Jessica Nunge each have 22 kills to lead Illinois in the early season and are the only hitters with more than 11 kills. Setter Diana Brown is averaging just less than 9.5 assists per set. She also is tied with Caroline Barnes with a team-best 19 digs while Rylee Hinton has a team-best six blocks.
IOWA
The Hawkeyes went 2-1 during the opening weekend with wins against Gonzaga and Florida International before being swept by Oklahoma in their first away match. Iowa is holding their opponents to a .115 hitting percentage while hitting .212, led by a 12.8 assists per set mark. Iowa is also averaging 16 digs per set, three more than their opponents.
Michelle Urquhart leads Iowa with 32 kills and has three teammates with more than 20. All four of the top hitters are hitting .227 or better. Defensively, Mari Hinkle is averaging 4.8 digs per set while Delaney McSweeney has a team-best 9.5 blocks.
Oklahoma was able to hold Iowa to a .168 hitting percentage and keep Urquhart to a -.043 hitting percentage with just five kills. The Hawkeyes hit .353 against Gonzaga with Urquhart recording 17 kills. In both wins, Iowa held their opponent under .09 hitting.
"
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
More on the opponents -
Illinois:
Roster - https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster
Stats - https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats
Schedule/ results for this season - https://fightingillini.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule?path=wvball
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - Not available as I type this.
Iowa:
Roster - https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wvball/roster/
Stats - https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wvball/cumestats/season/2022-23/
Schedule/ results for this season - https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wvball/schedule/
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs & General preview - Not available as I type this.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Media links:
Link to links to Live stats (for all matches) - https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=colo
Live Video - All 4 matches (involving the Buffs or Huskies) are scheduled to be available via stream on the Pac 12 Insider platform at https://pac-12.com/live?networks=P12I .
Match notes - Not available for either match as I type this. (The last notes I can find when clicking on the Match Notes link on cubuffs.com is from some of the last home matches of LAST season, so maybe they aren't planning on providing notes for volleyball this season?)