CUBuffs.com: Buffs Look To Get Back ON Track At Rice Adidas Invitational (Volleyball)

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After a grueling weekend at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge, the CU volleyball team is looking to get back on the winning track at the Rice Adi...

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BOULDER — After a grueling weekend at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge, the University of Colorado volleyball team is looking to get back on the winning track at the Rice Adidas Invitational, Sept. 11-12, in Houston.

On Friday, Sept. 11, the Buffs play Sam Houston State at 3 p.m. MT. CU will play a pair of matches on Saturday, Sept. 12, starting at 11:30 a.m. MT against Louisiana-Lafayette, and at 6 p.m. MT, the Buffs play Rice. Only the match against Rice will be streamed and will be available for a small fee. Live stats for all three matches will be free at RiceOwls.com.
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Sam Houston State enters the weekend with a 4-3 record and are led by Brooke White, who is averaging 3.24 kills per set. Jordyn Vaughn is second on the team with 3.08 kills per set. The Bearkats are hitting .179 with Michelle Griffith handing out 9.38 assists per set; they are holding their opponents to a .153 hitting efficiency. SHSU’s defense is led by Claire Kilpatrick with 4.85 digs per set. At the net, Amanda Gooch is averaging 0.67 blocks per set.

Louisiana-Lafayette has a 2-5 record after the first two weekends. Sara Mossakowski is recording 2.71 kills per set, while Chanelle Gardner is averaging 2.59 kills per set. The Ragin Cajuns are hitting .148, while their opponents are attacking at a .219 clip. Jessica Bartczyszyn is averaging 8.07 assists per set for ULL. Defensively, Syndey Davis is picking up 3.07 digs per set, while Gardner is the team leader at the net with 0.78 blocks per set.

Rice, the tournament host, has a 5-2 record to start the season. A pair of Owls are averaging over 3.00 kills per set: Leah Mikesky (3.45) and Chelsey Harris (3.48). As a team, RU is hitting .254 and are holding its opponents to a .213 hitting percentage. Kimberly Vaio is averaging a team-best 3.69 digs per set and McKay Kyle is posting 0.90 blocks per set for the Owls.
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Links to Livestats (Gametracker) for the 3 Buff matches looks to be:
vs. Sam Houston State- http://www.cstv.com/gametracker/lau...hool=fo&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&

Vs. U. of Louisiana- Lafayette- http://www.cstv.com/gametracker/lau...hool=fo&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&

vs. Rice- http://www.riceowls.com/gametracker...ol=rice&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&

 

[Buffnik]

Need a clean sweep here and through the rest of the non-conference schedule. Losses to San Diego, Penn State and Illinois won't do anything to hurt the resume. But from here to Pac-12 play, it's time to build the W-L record while avoiding the RPI disaster of a loss to one of these teams.

 

[buffgal]

Most likely live stats only for me. Rice match might work to pay for the streaming.

 

[AztecBuff]

Sam Houston match just starting.

Per Gametracker- "COLO Starters: Shadley, Stephanie; Austin, Alexis; Pfefferle, Anna; Edelman, Nicole; Simpson, Gabby; Abu, Naghede; Libero Simpson, Cierra."

 

[buffgal]

Buffs took set 1 and lead set 2 12-7

 

[buffgal]

At present, Gabby, Pfefferle and Austin each have 6 kills. Too many errors still.

 

[cmgoods]

Buffs up 17-11 in set 2

 

[buffgal]

22-12 in set 2 and Edelman is doing the assist job.

 

[buffgal]

Buffs take Set 2 25-16

 

[Uncle Ken]

One more!

 

[buffgal]

Set 3 score 14-9 and Sam Houston State takes a time out.

 

[buffgal]

That's the match! 25-18. 14 service errors. I don't understand why Kritzka thinks that is acceptable. That could make or break a match.

 

[cmgoods]

It's the same story every single match with the service errors

 

[AztecBuff]

Way to get the win and get back to .500, Buffs!

Looks like Gabby Simpson had probably one of if not her best offensive days as a Buff (14 kills/ almost 5 a set/ hitting .393). Obviously not against Pac 12 level competition, but it will be huge if she can become a pretty consistent solid 2nd or even 1st level threat (depending on the match-ups).

Re serving, it looks like the Buffs definitely push the envelope, especially in non-conference. Last year, I'm calculating from the stats that they averaged 2.67 errors per set in non-conference, 2.02 in conference. They're now, especially after this match, a little above last year's rate at over ~3.1/set, and I assume that may not go down much these remaining matches (if at all) as they'll probably continue to be very aggressive on the serving side, given the level of the competition (except possibly Rice), as they practice to maximize serve lethalness in conference.

Overall, I know its hard for me to do, but I'm trying to think of service errors (at a difficult to discern reasonable level) as just a part of the sport. It's more like a baseball pitcher throwing an occasional ball to explore the strike zone and work the batters, rather than something always really very bad, like say a turnover in football. As I understand it, it's necessary to serve tough and on the edge in top collegiate volleyball, or a team's going to get "killed" on serve anyways if you're not pushing the envelope. (I believe someone in the volleytalk forum mentioned one of the coaches (maybe Wisconsin's?) used part of one of their coach's shows earlier this year to "educate"/ ask the fans to not over-react (as I have a tendency to do) to their team's service errors when rooting the team on live at home matches.)

 

[BeBe]

I can buy the "serve tough" argument for some of the errors but not all of them. During the opening weekend at home I watched D'Agosta serving what looked like powder puff serves and she had 5 serve errors in one of the matches alone. Freshman nerves maybe but come on ... serving an easy serve should result in 0 erros or at most 1 in a match.

 

[Buffnik]

Needed to get this win. Important to dominate a 3 setter, too.