Just got the following in an email. Thee are a couple opportunities to ask Coach Mahoney questions ahead of upcoming matches. I bolded that part of the message below.
****************************
Hey Buffs Fans-
Another great weekend for our team and for the Colorado Volleyball program. In our final tune-up before we begin Pac-12 play we hosted Chicago State, New Orleans, and Colorado State here at Coors for the Omni Invitational.
Unfortunately, Chicago State and New Orleans did not give us much of a test as we swept both easily in three sets. That being said, I was happy with the focus our team had in making sure that we played up to our standards and didn’t play down to their level. It was good to give younger players such as Justine Spann, Lillie Klemmer and Taylor Joachim an opportunity to get on the floor and show what they can do. Justine especially played very well both offensively and defensively in those contests.
The real match of the weekend was of course Saturday night’s showdown with the school from up north. Our players were pumped for the opportunity to play the Rams on our own home floor. Our upperclassmen still remember the pain of losing in the NCAA round of 32 at CSU two seasons ago. And from a historical perspective, we have struggled with CSU…our last win coming way back in 2002.
Although we came into the match as favorites on paper, I know first-hand how well the coaching staff at CSU prepares for big matches and we prepared our team to be ready for a very tough match. And that’s what we got, a high level match between two very physical and skilled teams. CSU’s two middle blockers were the best blocking tandem we have seen this year and really disrupted our attack.
Alexa Smith was the difference in the match. Lex came up huge with 21 kills and hit .400% on the night. On top of that, she was our best point-scorer from the service line. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t win the match without players like Naghede Abu coming up huge in the 4th set blocking or CeCe Simpson passing perfect ball after perfect ball. But Lex was the Golden Buffalo of the night.
The preseason is now over and I am happy with our progress. We’ve truly gotten better every weekend. We’ve challenged ourselves with a tough early schedule in preparation for what the Pac-12 has in store. We came through that challenge with some good wins against very good teams and we are ranked #16 in the country. But in truth we know we might still be the 5th or 6th best Pac-12 team right now. We aren’t satisfied…in fact we know how much better we need to be to accomplish our goals on the season.
Due to the high demand, I have added two additional pre-match Chalk Talks. Remember these are open to all fans. The two new dates are tonight and on September 30 vs. USC. Chalk Talks will now begin approximately 40 minutes prior to the match. There has been an amazing turn out and love the knowledgeable questions I receive.
Thanks to all the fans who have come out to support our team this season. The atmosphere has been fantastic and our players love the energy! I hope to see you in the stands this coming tonight as we start the conference season off with the Utah Utes.
Go Buffs!
Jesse Mahoney
Head Volleyball Coach
University of Colorado
****************************
Hey Buffs Fans-
Another great weekend for our team and for the Colorado Volleyball program. In our final tune-up before we begin Pac-12 play we hosted Chicago State, New Orleans, and Colorado State here at Coors for the Omni Invitational.
Unfortunately, Chicago State and New Orleans did not give us much of a test as we swept both easily in three sets. That being said, I was happy with the focus our team had in making sure that we played up to our standards and didn’t play down to their level. It was good to give younger players such as Justine Spann, Lillie Klemmer and Taylor Joachim an opportunity to get on the floor and show what they can do. Justine especially played very well both offensively and defensively in those contests.
The real match of the weekend was of course Saturday night’s showdown with the school from up north. Our players were pumped for the opportunity to play the Rams on our own home floor. Our upperclassmen still remember the pain of losing in the NCAA round of 32 at CSU two seasons ago. And from a historical perspective, we have struggled with CSU…our last win coming way back in 2002.
Although we came into the match as favorites on paper, I know first-hand how well the coaching staff at CSU prepares for big matches and we prepared our team to be ready for a very tough match. And that’s what we got, a high level match between two very physical and skilled teams. CSU’s two middle blockers were the best blocking tandem we have seen this year and really disrupted our attack.
Alexa Smith was the difference in the match. Lex came up huge with 21 kills and hit .400% on the night. On top of that, she was our best point-scorer from the service line. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t win the match without players like Naghede Abu coming up huge in the 4th set blocking or CeCe Simpson passing perfect ball after perfect ball. But Lex was the Golden Buffalo of the night.
The preseason is now over and I am happy with our progress. We’ve truly gotten better every weekend. We’ve challenged ourselves with a tough early schedule in preparation for what the Pac-12 has in store. We came through that challenge with some good wins against very good teams and we are ranked #16 in the country. But in truth we know we might still be the 5th or 6th best Pac-12 team right now. We aren’t satisfied…in fact we know how much better we need to be to accomplish our goals on the season.
Due to the high demand, I have added two additional pre-match Chalk Talks. Remember these are open to all fans. The two new dates are tonight and on September 30 vs. USC. Chalk Talks will now begin approximately 40 minutes prior to the match. There has been an amazing turn out and love the knowledgeable questions I receive.
Thanks to all the fans who have come out to support our team this season. The atmosphere has been fantastic and our players love the energy! I hope to see you in the stands this coming tonight as we start the conference season off with the Utah Utes.
Go Buffs!
Jesse Mahoney
Head Volleyball Coach
University of Colorado
Last edited:
