2 matinees on tap as the Buffs finish their regular season in L.A. against the Bruins Wednesday before jetting off to Utah for a post-thanksgiving day tilt Friday against the Utes.
When I hear interviews and read quotes from almost all incoming Buff commits (esp. in the team sports), one common theme is that they became Buffs to be challenged by always competing in a "high stakes" environment against good to great teams in the TOUGH Pac 12; that being the case, these last 2 matches should be a BLAST for these very competitive student-athletes!
Neither of the opponents this week are ranked (both, like the Buffs, are in the "RV"/ receiving votes category), but it should be a GREAT couple VERY intense matches against quality teams, as ALL THREE are in a position where, to a lesser to greater degree, the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow, as it could be "win or stay home" after the tournament field is announced this Sunday evening:
_________________________________________________________________________
Official preview article-
Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/11/20...ludes-regular-season-with-long-road-trip.aspx
"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team has a quick turnaround after returning to the state Sunday evening, as the team heads back out on the road for matchups with UCLA on Wednesday at 2 p.m. MT, and a regular season finale at Utah at noon.
Colorado swept last weekend and pulled even in conference play with a 17-12 overall record and 9-9 record in the Pac-12. The Bruins are 13-12 with an 8-10 record in conference play, while the Utes are 16-13 with the same record in conference play as UCLA.
This weekend will be a huge one, as both UCLA and Utah are higher in the RPI rankings than CU. With the sweep the Buffs improved to 46 on the ranking list but are now the 28-ranked team if the current automatic qualifying teams are taken out of the equation. All three schools are looking to receive at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, with UCLA at 35 in RPI rankings and Utah at 40.
Alexa Smith continues to lead the charge for CU, racking up her 400th kill of the season last Friday at Oregon. She is hitting .224 in conference play. She is joined by Justine Spann with her 300th kill coming at Oregon, Anyse Smith who has more than 250 and Naghede Abu with nearly 200.
Colorado will rely strongly on their blocking game. After posting a season-best 23.5 blocks at Oregon State, the team has sky-rocketed to the 16-ranked team in total blocks in the nation. The Buffs are also 27th in blocks per set, while Naghede Abu is 22nd in the nation in blocks per set and 19th in hitting percentage.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS: UCLA has one of the strangest seasons as of late. The team has been ranked all season long, finally dropping out of the polls this week. In conference they have key wins at Utah, a sweep of Arizona, and a win at Washington. Ever since the win at Washington though the Bruins are 2-7 in conference play with wins against Oregon State in five and at Arizona State in four. UCLA is coming off of a loss by way of sweep to Arizona.
UCLA is led by Mac May, who has 349 kills this season with a .210 hitting percentage. She also leads the team with 33 aces, while libero Zana Muno has 466 digs with more than five per set. The defense is the strongest part of the team with the 16th best dig per set record in the nation and the best in the conference.
SCOUTING THE UTES: Ever since the five-set matchup in Boulder to kick off the season, Colorado and Utah has had the same record overall and in conference play until last weekend. The Utes have two strong wins against Washington, a win against Oregon, and a win against Arizona. They also have two losses to Cal.
Utah is the best team in the conference in total assists with nearly 1,500. They are led by the southpaw outside hitter Dani Drews who leads the conference in total points with more than 500. They also have the best server in the conference in Bailey Choy and her 39 aces.
Naghede Abu
Senior Naghede Abu has been on pace to become the career record holder in blocks, barely. For the entire conference season she has needed to hit about 5.5 blocks per match to tie the record. After Sunday's 17 block school record performance at Oregon State, Abu is just a single block from tying Meghan Barkman's school record 565 career blocks. Now what was uncertain is a question of when. Abu has only a single match in her career without a block, last season against Nebraska in the Sweet 16.
...
"
_____________________________________________________________________________
Match notes - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2018/11/20//Match_Notes_Template_Nov_20.pdf
Match Media links -
Vs. UCLA (Wednesday, 2:00 PM MT) :
Live video - match is being shown live on the Pac 12 National, Mountain and L.A. channels. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to one of those Pac 12 channels, believe the match can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-volleyball/event/2018/11/21/colorado-ucla .
.
Link to link to live stats - http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla . Direct link to this game's stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223668
Vs. Utah (Friday, Noon MT) :
Live video - match is being shown live on the Pac 12 National and Mountain channels. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to one of those Pac 12 channels, believe the match can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-volleyball/event/2018/11/23/colorado-utah .
Live stats - https://utahutes.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
When I hear interviews and read quotes from almost all incoming Buff commits (esp. in the team sports), one common theme is that they became Buffs to be challenged by always competing in a "high stakes" environment against good to great teams in the TOUGH Pac 12; that being the case, these last 2 matches should be a BLAST for these very competitive student-athletes!
Neither of the opponents this week are ranked (both, like the Buffs, are in the "RV"/ receiving votes category), but it should be a GREAT couple VERY intense matches against quality teams, as ALL THREE are in a position where, to a lesser to greater degree, the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow, as it could be "win or stay home" after the tournament field is announced this Sunday evening:
- The 1st opponent, UCLA, actually has the best RPI of the three at #35. However, they HAVE to win one of their final 2 matches (against the Buffs or their cross-town rivals (and #15 ranked) trojans), as they currently only have a 13-12 overall record, so an 0-2 finish won't give them the NCAA required .500+ overall winning % to even be considered for an NCAA tournament berth.
- Then Utah, like the Buffs, are considered a bubble team (although with a slightly better RPI (40 vs. 46)), and also have a tough match, tomorrow, against the #15 Trojans. Per the great bracketologist on Volleytalk, trojansc, his/ her latest prognostications (http://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/75651/bracketology-11-19?page=1) have the Utes in even if they lose both matches, but assume they won't be wanting to take any chances, as I'd assume an 0-2 finish would put them near the bottom of the always dangerous "last teams in" category.
- Take it for what it's worth, but trojansc in Volleytalk currently has the Buffs as one of the last 2 teams in the tournament, but it sounds like that's assuming they finish AT LEAST 1-1. He/ she says "Losing both puts them in trouble with their RPI." After what we saw happen to the soccer team, however, I'd say the overall goal the vball Buffs should have is a 2-0 finish (with the more important immediate goal being to win the 1st point against the Bruins, and then every individual point after that, while forgetting about what happened in ANY prior points).
_________________________________________________________________________
Official preview article-
Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2018/11/20...ludes-regular-season-with-long-road-trip.aspx
"
BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team has a quick turnaround after returning to the state Sunday evening, as the team heads back out on the road for matchups with UCLA on Wednesday at 2 p.m. MT, and a regular season finale at Utah at noon.
Colorado swept last weekend and pulled even in conference play with a 17-12 overall record and 9-9 record in the Pac-12. The Bruins are 13-12 with an 8-10 record in conference play, while the Utes are 16-13 with the same record in conference play as UCLA.
This weekend will be a huge one, as both UCLA and Utah are higher in the RPI rankings than CU. With the sweep the Buffs improved to 46 on the ranking list but are now the 28-ranked team if the current automatic qualifying teams are taken out of the equation. All three schools are looking to receive at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, with UCLA at 35 in RPI rankings and Utah at 40.
Alexa Smith continues to lead the charge for CU, racking up her 400th kill of the season last Friday at Oregon. She is hitting .224 in conference play. She is joined by Justine Spann with her 300th kill coming at Oregon, Anyse Smith who has more than 250 and Naghede Abu with nearly 200.
Colorado will rely strongly on their blocking game. After posting a season-best 23.5 blocks at Oregon State, the team has sky-rocketed to the 16-ranked team in total blocks in the nation. The Buffs are also 27th in blocks per set, while Naghede Abu is 22nd in the nation in blocks per set and 19th in hitting percentage.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS: UCLA has one of the strangest seasons as of late. The team has been ranked all season long, finally dropping out of the polls this week. In conference they have key wins at Utah, a sweep of Arizona, and a win at Washington. Ever since the win at Washington though the Bruins are 2-7 in conference play with wins against Oregon State in five and at Arizona State in four. UCLA is coming off of a loss by way of sweep to Arizona.
UCLA is led by Mac May, who has 349 kills this season with a .210 hitting percentage. She also leads the team with 33 aces, while libero Zana Muno has 466 digs with more than five per set. The defense is the strongest part of the team with the 16th best dig per set record in the nation and the best in the conference.
SCOUTING THE UTES: Ever since the five-set matchup in Boulder to kick off the season, Colorado and Utah has had the same record overall and in conference play until last weekend. The Utes have two strong wins against Washington, a win against Oregon, and a win against Arizona. They also have two losses to Cal.
Utah is the best team in the conference in total assists with nearly 1,500. They are led by the southpaw outside hitter Dani Drews who leads the conference in total points with more than 500. They also have the best server in the conference in Bailey Choy and her 39 aces.
Naghede Abu
Senior Naghede Abu has been on pace to become the career record holder in blocks, barely. For the entire conference season she has needed to hit about 5.5 blocks per match to tie the record. After Sunday's 17 block school record performance at Oregon State, Abu is just a single block from tying Meghan Barkman's school record 565 career blocks. Now what was uncertain is a question of when. Abu has only a single match in her career without a block, last season against Nebraska in the Sweet 16.
...
"
_____________________________________________________________________________
Match notes - https://cubuffs.com/documents/2018/11/20//Match_Notes_Template_Nov_20.pdf
Match Media links -
Vs. UCLA (Wednesday, 2:00 PM MT) :
Live video - match is being shown live on the Pac 12 National, Mountain and L.A. channels. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to one of those Pac 12 channels, believe the match can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-volleyball/event/2018/11/21/colorado-ucla .
.
Link to link to live stats - http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla . Direct link to this game's stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223668
Vs. Utah (Friday, Noon MT) :
Live video - match is being shown live on the Pac 12 National and Mountain channels. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to one of those Pac 12 channels, believe the match can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-volleyball/event/2018/11/23/colorado-utah .
Live stats - https://utahutes.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Last edited:
