2021 VOLLEYBALL Pre-season news (Black and Gold scrimmage Saturday, 8/21, 3:00 PM)

[AztecBuff]

Wanted to start this thread to report on any pre-season scheduling, roster or other interesting news that pop up for the volleyball team as they're less than 2 months, with their 1st matches scheduled to be at a 2 day tourney being hosted by UNC-Charlotte.

To start with, this season's general schedule has just been announced. (Note- the schedule is more general than the one released yesterday by the soccer team, with exact dates and opponents for some of the pre-season matches not finalized yet, as well as where matches may be viewed.)



Direct link to article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2021/6/30/volleyball-colorado-announces-2021-fall-schedule.aspx

"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado volleyball team announced it's upcoming 2021 fall schedule Wednesday afternoon.

The team begins action Aug. 27 in North Carolina in a tournament against UNC Charlotte and Xavier. The team then competes in the Pac-12 vs. BIG TEN Challenge at the University of Illinois against the Illini and Iowa.

Colorado opens home action Sept. 10 in the Buffs Invitational against Northern Colorado, Texas Tech and San Jose State. Non-conference competition concludes with the Battle for the Golden Spike against CSU in a home-and-home matchup Sept. 16 and 18.

The Buffs begin conference competition at Washington State on Sept. 22 then at home against Utah in the same weekend. The teams repeat with a host of Washington then at Utah to end the season. Colorado hosts the Oregon schools following the first Utah matchup before going to Los Angeles, the Bay area schools and then close the first half hosting the Arizona schools.

The second half starts in Oregon before hosting the Southern California schools. After a trip to Arizona, Colorado returns for three at home against the Bay schools and Washington before ending at Utah.

A dozen of the Buffs matches are scheduled to air live on the Pac-12 Networks. Colorado athletics announced last week 100 percent fan capacity allowed at all events this fall. For more information on volleyball season tickets click here.

	2021 Colorado Volleyball Season
	UNC Charlotte Tournament
Aug. 27-28	UNC Charlotte/Xavier/TBD	Charlotte, NC	TBD
	Pac-12 vs. BIG TEN Challenge
Sept. 3	Iowa	Champaign, IL	TBD
Sept. 5	Illinois	Champaign, IL	TBD
	BUFFS INVITATIONAL$
Sept. 10	Texas Tech$	Boulder, CO	10am
Sept. 10	San Jose State$	Boulder, CO	7pm
Sept. 11	Northern Colorado$	Boulder, CO	7pm
Sept. 16	Colorado State	Boulder, CO	7pm TV
Sept. 18	@Colorado State	Fort Collins, CO	1pm
Sept. 22	@Washington State	Pullman, WA	5pm TV
Sept. 24	Utah	Boulder, CO	7pm TV
Oct. 1	Oregon	Boulder, CO	7pm TV
Oct. 3	Oregon State	Boulder, CO	TBD
Oct. 8	@UCLA	Los Angeles, CA	7pm TV
Oct. 10	@USC	Los Angeles, CA	TBD
Oct. 15	@CAL	Berkeley, CA	TBD
Oct. 17	@Stanford	Palo Alto, CA	Noon TV
Oct. 22	Arizona	Boulder, CO	6pm TV
Oct. 24	Arizona State	Boulder, CO	TBD
Oct. 29	@Oregon State	Corvallis, OR	7pm TV
Oct. 31	@Oregon	Eugene, OR	TBD
Nov. 5	USC	Boulder, CO	7pm
Nov. 7	UCLA	Boulder, CO	Noon TV
Nov. 12	@Arizona State	Tempe, AZ	TBD TV
Nov. 14	@Arizona	Tucson, AZ	TBD
Nov. 18	Stanford	Boulder, CO	TBD TV
Nov. 21	CAL	Boulder, CO	TBD
Nov. 24	Washington	Boulder, CO	TBD
Nov. 27	@Utah	Salt Lake, UT	12/1pm TV TBD
Dec. 5	NCAA Round 1 and 2	Seeded Sites TBD
Dec. 12	NCAA Regionals	Regional Sites TBD
Dec. 16-19	NCAA FINAL FOUR	Columbus, OH

"

 

[AztecBuff]

Wanted to mention the cubuffs schedule page has also now been updated (with the same info as listed above in the announcement) - https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule

Also (just largely copying what I wrote on another forum), a few things I wanted to emphasize from perusing the announcement and schedule -

• From the announcement, looks like their opening weekend tournament, hosted by UNC-Charlotte, is still being finalized, with one team still to add and exact time of matches between the various schools unknown right now.
• Pre-season consists of 4 home and 6 road matches.
• With the Pac 12 conference schedule always being a little short (20 matches) to have ALL teams play each other twice, it's the Washington schools that the Buffs are only playing once this season in conference play.

 

[AztecBuff]

Just noticed the team has now loaded the full 2021 roster on cubuffs.com (https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster/2021?&sort=class).

No surprises for me so far, with the 5 previously announced freshmen on it, and only 2 student-athletes from last season's 16 member team not on the team this season:

• graduated senior (she was actually a grad transfer last season) middle blocker Rachael Fara and
• as I noted a few months ago in the transfer thread, junior outside/ right-side hitter Elissa Alcantara has transferred to North Carolina State.

With all the returners and the quality freshman class (which contains 3 Prepvolleyball.com top 150 ranked recruits (at #'s 27,73 and 131)) able to contribute, hopefully the team can hit the ground running this fall!

 

[AztecBuff]

Congrats to the team for the work in the classroom!



Direct link to article - https://cubuffs.com/news/2021/7/19/volleyball-buffaloes-earn-avca-team-academic-honor.aspx

"
BOULDER—The Colorado Volleyball team earned the USMC/AVCA Team Academic award for the 2020-21 season for the second time in the program's 28-year existence, successfully maintaining above a 3.30-grade point average for the fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, the United States Marine Corps and American Volleyball Coaches Association announced Monday.

The volleyball team earned a 3.30-grade point average over the course of the academic year and 14 players who saw action on the court maintained a 3.0 GPA and seven players earned above a 3.5 GPA. Both Morgan Riddle and Sterling Parker earned 4.0 semesters in the fall.

The award was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year and honors teams who achieve above a 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale. In all, a total of 1,275 teams were honored at the high school and collegiate level.

This is the second time the Buffs have achieved the honor and it's the fifth time that coach Jesse Mahoney has coached a team who has won the honor, including his final three teams at the University of Denver (2013-15) and the only two honors in CU history.
"

 

[AztecBuff]

A few vball-related things:

• Noticed the team just posted Instagram stories showing their picture day. If I remember correctly, believe that usually means the pre-season practice period begins the next day. Best wishes for the team staying healthy and improving every day!
• Also, see the schedule now includes the (normal) Black and Gold Scrimmage, and it's scheduled to be played at the Events Center beginning at 3:00 PM MT on Saturday, 8/21. (Hopefully fans will be allowed to attend!?!)
• And, finally, as was shown in the article quoted in the original post, the 1st weekend of official play, at a tourney hosted by UNC- Charlotte, hadn't been finalized as of late June. However, now it looks like it has:
  • The Buffs open the season by playing an exhibition against South Carolina State at 2:00 PM MT on Friday, 8/27.
  • They then play their 1st official match against Xavier the next day beginning at 11:00 AM MT and
  • finish off the day/ tourney by playing UNC-Charlotte beginning at 4:00 PM MT.

(Just checking RPI's for 2019 (with no non-conference matches played by the Buffs, I consider the 2020 (or actually early 2021) season as meaningless for RPI), looks like Charlotte ended that season at #172 , while Xavier was rated #180. (The Buffs ended at #70).)

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Hadn't heard about it before, but it seems to be Fall sport CU Media Day, and volleyball's press conference has just begun.

 

[AztecBuff]

1st chance to see the team live in a LONG time!

 

[AztecBuff]

Article in front of tomorrow afternoon's season opening scrimmage-

Volleyball Set for 2021 Season - University of Colorado Athletics

When the 2021 Colorado volleyball season begins, head coach Jesse Mahoney will have one of the most experience rosters he has assembled along with a plet...

cubuffs.com

Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2021/8/20/volleyball-set-for-2021-season.aspx

"
BOULDER – When the 2021 Colorado volleyball season begins, head coach Jesse Mahoney will have one of the most experience rosters he has assembled along with a plethora of young talent.

The first look at the Buffs comes this Saturday in the annual Black and Gold scrimmage. The team will compete against one another and the match is open to the public for the first live look at the Colorado volleyball team since November of 2019. The event is free to the public and spectators ages two or greater are required to wear a mask at the CU Events Center.

The team returns all but two from the spring season and is loaded at all positions, including boasting three setters. Add Top-30 national recruit Jahara Campbell to the outside hitter rotation with sixth-year athlete Leah Clayton, and the Buffs own depth top to bottom with young talent and experienced veterans.

"It will be an interesting season within the PAC given that almost every senior from last year fall/spring has returned for their bonus season," said Mahoney. "In some instances there are 15 scholarship players on rosters rather than the normal 12. The level of play within the league will be as good it has ever been. We've got a talented core returning and a solid freshman class that will push for time on the floor. "
...

"We love playing in the PAC but it will be nice to see some variety early this fall. I like our schedule – we have a nice mix of tough road matches as well as solid RPI matches throughout. I can't tell you how excited our players are to be back out in front of fans again this year!"

Expectations come one stage at a time for the Buffs. After the scrimmage, CU will have an exhibition against SC State before opening the season Aug. 28 against Xavier and Charlotte in North Carolina.

"We truly look to get better every day – we talk about the growth process and improvement throughout the four phases of our season: preseason camp, non-conference, first half of the PAC, second half of the PAC, and finally post-season. If we can improve through each phase we will be a very good team heading into the NCAA's."

The first home competition for Colorado comes in the Buff Invitational when they host Texas Tech Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. They will also play San Jose State that night at 7 p.m. before closing the tournament against Northern Colorado Saturday at 7 p.m.
"

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Article after today's scrimmage. Now it's on to North Carolina for the start of the season next weekend!



"
BOULDER – Colorado volleyball and its fans saw the first action of the 2021 team here Saturday in the annual Black and Gold scrimmage with each team taking two sets in the four-set match.

Leah Clayton and Meegan Hart were the bright spots offensively with Clayton hitting 26 kills on an outstanding .457 hitting percentage from the pin. Hart owned the middle with 17 kills and a team-best .552 hitting percentage. Maya Tabron also had a strong showing with 15 kills on a .171 hitting percentage and a dozen digs.

The pair benefitted from strong setter play as Jenna Ewert led all setters with 52 assists and tied Brynna DeLuzio for the team-best in digs with 18 from each. DeLuzio played limited at setter, putting up 13 assists while freshman Taylor Simpson played exceptional with 34 assists.

On the defensive side, Morgan Riddle played well at defensive specialist and libero, putting up 11 digs. Hart led the team with four blocks while Parker and Bella Simkus each had three.

As a team, Colorado hit .245 with 112 kills combined. The team also had 18 total blocks.

Colorado plays an exhibition against SC State next Friday before opening the season Saturday against Xavier and Charlotte in North Carolina. Home competition begins Sept. 10 when the Buffs host Texas Tech and San Jose State.
...

STATS

Name	S	K	E	TA	Pct	Ast	SA	SE	RE	Dig	BS	BE	BHE	Pts
1 Lougeay K.	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	0
10 Deluzio B.	4	2	0	4	0.5	13	0	1	1	18	0	0	2	2
11 Riddle M.	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0	0	0	0
12 Simpson T.	3	1	1	4	0.000	34	1	1	0	5	0	0	2	2
13 Parker S.	4	8	0	27	0.296	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	11
15 Kuehl A.	4	9	3	25	0.24	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	10
17 Stepaniuk E.	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0	1
18 Simkus B.	4	7	1	16	0.375	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	10
2 Torstenson E.	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	7	0	0	0	1
20 Levaggi K.	4	9	4	29	0.172	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	10
21 Hart M.	4	17	1	29	0.552	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	21
22 Clayton L.	4	26	5	46	0.457	0	0	0	0	8	2	1	0	28
3 deProsse T.	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
31 Schneggenburger J.	4	8	7	35	0.029	0	0	2	2	7	1	0	0	9
4 Ewert J.	4	1	3	7	-0.286	52	2	0	0	18	1	0	2	4
5 Neverdowski Z.	4	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	8	0	0	0	1
6 Campbell J.	4	9	6	37	0.081	0	0	1	0	5	2	0	0	11
7 Perry S.	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	0
9 Tabron M.	4	15	9	35	0.171	0	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	15
		112	40	294	0.245	103	6	8	6	121	18	4	6	136

"