https://cubuffs.com/news/2019/1/21/volleyball-buffaloes-commemorate-2018-season-at-banquet.aspx
If you go to the link on cubuffs.com, there are some nice photos from the banquet. I can't get the video to play and when I click on the link to YouTube, it says the video has been removed from viewing, so there must be a copyright violation of some kind.
Congrats to all the Buffs on a fun season where they made it to the NCAA Tournament.
BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball program gathered Sunday morning in the Arrow Touchdown Club to celebrate the 2018 season and honor three seniors leaving their final marks on the program.
The annual banquet was a gathering of the masses with the team, support staff, administration, parents, families and key donors coming together to pay tribute to the hard work of the 2018 season.
Festivities began with head coach Jesse Mahoney addressing everyone on the hard work that went on in the season. He expressed his gratitude towards the team for progressing throughout the season and noted that the team had one of the hardest tasks to finish out the season and get to their goal of the NCAA Tournament, a feat they accomplished with poise and excellence.
The most anticipated awards came in the middle of the banquet with the team's most valuable player honors. Senior Alexa Smith was the first honored, earning the offensive MVP for the third-straight season. Following suit, Naghede Abu was named the defensive MVP for third-straight time in her career. The scout team MVP was awarded to Emily DeMure, while the Heart of the Buffalo award was given to Brynna DeLuzio.
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[/TBODY]Scout Team MVP (Emily DeMure)
DeMure was a perfect scout team player for the Buffaloes this season with her versatility to play all positions. She served as a scout team setter later in the season when the team was without DeLuzio. She also was able to play every hitting positions for Colorado from outside hitter to sliding middle or right side. DeMure was key to mimicking numerous players throughout the Pac-12 and helping the Buffaloes finish the regular season with a 3-1 record on the road in the final four matches. DeMure set career-highs in blocks with five against Washington State, and was key against Cal at home early in the season with six kills and a .308 hitting percentage.
Heart of the Buffalo (Brynna DeLuzio
DeLuzio was a key to the Buffaloes success early in the 6-2 system. She helped guide the Buffaloes to a defeat of Colorado State before beginning the Pac-12 season. Halfway through the conference season DeLuzio was sidelined for medical reasons, though she wouldn't let that keep her down. After missing the match at Arizona State, DuLuzio worked back into form and helped CU upset Washington. Unfortunately she once again was sidelined, this time for the remainder of the season. Despite all of this she was always at practice and was able to make the trip to support her team at the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn.
The first awards honored during the event was the Pac-12 All-Academic honorees. DeLuzio was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team, while teammates Abu, DeMure, Lillie Klemmer, Danielle Price, Smith and Rachel Whipple were named Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mentions. Of the 15 players on the Colorado team only 11 were eligible by playing and freshmen/transfer rules. Stanford led all teams with eight selections, while Colorado tied UCLA with seven individuals listed. UCLA and CU each had seven players that earned it with 11 eligible, tallying 64 percent of the team compared to Stanford's 57 percent.
The team showed honor to the Pac-12 Players of the Week honors that were given to Naghede Abu for her work in the road sweep of the Oregon schools and to Jenna Ewert twice as the setter in a five-set battle against Stanford on the road and as the setter with back-to-back career-highs in assists against the Oregon schools.
Other awards honored were the All-Pac-12 team honorees; Smith, Abu, Ewert and Anyse Smith. Both seniors Smith and Abu were also honored again for their All-Regional First Team selections and AVCA All-American honors.
The final portion of the program was the speeches for the seniors as well as the senior speeches. Colorado paid tribute to seniors Gabby Carta-Samuels, Alexa Smith and Naghede Abu.
The Buffaloes finished with an 18-14 record including a 10-10 performance in the Pac-12. CU made it to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season, though was defeated in five-sets by South Carolina.
If you go to the link on cubuffs.com, there are some nice photos from the banquet. I can't get the video to play and when I click on the link to YouTube, it says the video has been removed from viewing, so there must be a copyright violation of some kind.
Congrats to all the Buffs on a fun season where they made it to the NCAA Tournament.
BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball program gathered Sunday morning in the Arrow Touchdown Club to celebrate the 2018 season and honor three seniors leaving their final marks on the program.
The annual banquet was a gathering of the masses with the team, support staff, administration, parents, families and key donors coming together to pay tribute to the hard work of the 2018 season.
Festivities began with head coach Jesse Mahoney addressing everyone on the hard work that went on in the season. He expressed his gratitude towards the team for progressing throughout the season and noted that the team had one of the hardest tasks to finish out the season and get to their goal of the NCAA Tournament, a feat they accomplished with poise and excellence.
The most anticipated awards came in the middle of the banquet with the team's most valuable player honors. Senior Alexa Smith was the first honored, earning the offensive MVP for the third-straight season. Following suit, Naghede Abu was named the defensive MVP for third-straight time in her career. The scout team MVP was awarded to Emily DeMure, while the Heart of the Buffalo award was given to Brynna DeLuzio.
| Offensive MVP (Alexa Smith) For the third-straight season Smith was honored as the Offensive Most Valuable Player for the Buffaloes. Smith finished her career becoming the 16th-member of the 1,000 kill club and top-10 all-time in career kills with more than 1,200. She also finished top-10 in school history in attacks and top-20 in total digs with nearly 1,000. Smith finished her career being named an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention this season and was named All-Pac-12 First Team and All-Regional First Team. | |
| Defensive MVP (Naghede Abu) Abu has her name on top of more defensive records than any player in CU history. She finished her career with the most blocks in school history, accomplishing the feat despite missing most of the non-conference season. She broke the record for most blocks in a match at Oregon State with 17, a mark that put the doubt of if she would get the career record mark aside permanently. She also finished with the best hitting percentage in a season for a non-setter in school history which helped propel her to the school record in career hitting percentage at .321. She was honored as an AVCA Third Team All-American. |
DeMure was a perfect scout team player for the Buffaloes this season with her versatility to play all positions. She served as a scout team setter later in the season when the team was without DeLuzio. She also was able to play every hitting positions for Colorado from outside hitter to sliding middle or right side. DeMure was key to mimicking numerous players throughout the Pac-12 and helping the Buffaloes finish the regular season with a 3-1 record on the road in the final four matches. DeMure set career-highs in blocks with five against Washington State, and was key against Cal at home early in the season with six kills and a .308 hitting percentage.
Heart of the Buffalo (Brynna DeLuzio
DeLuzio was a key to the Buffaloes success early in the 6-2 system. She helped guide the Buffaloes to a defeat of Colorado State before beginning the Pac-12 season. Halfway through the conference season DeLuzio was sidelined for medical reasons, though she wouldn't let that keep her down. After missing the match at Arizona State, DuLuzio worked back into form and helped CU upset Washington. Unfortunately she once again was sidelined, this time for the remainder of the season. Despite all of this she was always at practice and was able to make the trip to support her team at the NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn.
The first awards honored during the event was the Pac-12 All-Academic honorees. DeLuzio was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team, while teammates Abu, DeMure, Lillie Klemmer, Danielle Price, Smith and Rachel Whipple were named Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mentions. Of the 15 players on the Colorado team only 11 were eligible by playing and freshmen/transfer rules. Stanford led all teams with eight selections, while Colorado tied UCLA with seven individuals listed. UCLA and CU each had seven players that earned it with 11 eligible, tallying 64 percent of the team compared to Stanford's 57 percent.
The team showed honor to the Pac-12 Players of the Week honors that were given to Naghede Abu for her work in the road sweep of the Oregon schools and to Jenna Ewert twice as the setter in a five-set battle against Stanford on the road and as the setter with back-to-back career-highs in assists against the Oregon schools.
Other awards honored were the All-Pac-12 team honorees; Smith, Abu, Ewert and Anyse Smith. Both seniors Smith and Abu were also honored again for their All-Regional First Team selections and AVCA All-American honors.
The final portion of the program was the speeches for the seniors as well as the senior speeches. Colorado paid tribute to seniors Gabby Carta-Samuels, Alexa Smith and Naghede Abu.
The Buffaloes finished with an 18-14 record including a 10-10 performance in the Pac-12. CU made it to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season, though was defeated in five-sets by South Carolina.