Media after last night's win. (The team now has its 1st overnight road trip of the season (and probably their stoutest challenge of the season) to face 2 tough squads in Wichita next weekend.) -
Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/9/2/volleyball-colorado-continues-its-winning-streak.aspx
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BOULDER - The Colorado women's volleyball team secured the Colorado Classic with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) victory over Charlotte here Saturday night at the CU Events Center. The Buffaloes have now won five straight matches without losing a single set which they haven't done since 1993.
Colorado (5-1) didn't play its starters and dominated from start to finish against the 49ers (3-2) as it outhit Charlotte .430 to .160. The Buffs also had 10 blocks on the defensive front compared to Charlotte's two.
Ana Burilović was a force on both ends tonight, racking up 12 total kills, eight digs and one block. She also put together a hitting percentage of .375. Sydney Jordan had a great performance as well as she totaled nine kills with an impressive .474 hitting percentage.
Colorado looked like it was in control for the majority of the night with booming kills set up nicely by setter Rian Finley. Her 29 total assists helped CU to get 38 kills in the match.
Since after the first match of the season, the Buffaloes have looked unstoppable, winning 15 straight sets. Colorado women's volleyball will look to continue that winning streak when it heads to Wichita, Kan. to play in the Wichita State Invitational.
The Buffaloes have matches against the Kansas Jayhawks Friday, Sept. 8th at 2 p.m. MT and the Wichita State Shockers Saturday, Sept. 9th at 6 p.m. MT.
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Quotes:
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement
"Charlotte is a very solid team. We had some players who were working really hard in the practice gym, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to play. I'm really proud of what they made of that opportunity. We hit .430 and held them to .160; we only had four attack errors. That's pretty special. I felt like we got better as the match went on. There's going to be times this season where we need anyone to fill a role for us, and the more opportunity and more comfortable that players can get in a match, the better for our whole team. So, I'm really proud of the performance and looking forward to a day off."
On Utilizing Challenges & Trusting His Players' Calls
"Players know what happened in a play better than anybody else. So if they tell me something happened, I generally agree with them. And then a couple of times I could see it myself even though I didn't have my glasses on" Coach Mahoney won four challenges throughout the course of the match, with three coming in the third set, including match point.
Libero Emilea Stepaniuk
On Winning Their Last Five Matches In Three Sets
"This weekend has been a really quick turnaround. We've been back-to-back-to-back, so that means coming in in the morning and watching film, going through our scout practice and scouting out these teams. I think what has been really important is being dialed in on those practice and using what we learned in film to take it out on the court and apply it to get a good idea of what we're going to see on the other side during the actual match."
Middle blocker Bella Simkus
On Connecting Well With Setter Rian Finley
"Rian and I have worked together for years now, which is really helpful and having that connection already is fantastic. She and I were able to communicate on the court and off the court about what we needed from each other, and that's what helped us get there." Simkus hit .556 in the match with five kills, nine attempts, and zero errors.
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Box score - https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2023/charlotte/boxscore/16434
Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2023/9/2/volleyball-colorado-continues-its-winning-streak.aspx
"
BOULDER - The Colorado women's volleyball team secured the Colorado Classic with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-20) victory over Charlotte here Saturday night at the CU Events Center. The Buffaloes have now won five straight matches without losing a single set which they haven't done since 1993.
Colorado (5-1) didn't play its starters and dominated from start to finish against the 49ers (3-2) as it outhit Charlotte .430 to .160. The Buffs also had 10 blocks on the defensive front compared to Charlotte's two.
Ana Burilović was a force on both ends tonight, racking up 12 total kills, eight digs and one block. She also put together a hitting percentage of .375. Sydney Jordan had a great performance as well as she totaled nine kills with an impressive .474 hitting percentage.
Colorado looked like it was in control for the majority of the night with booming kills set up nicely by setter Rian Finley. Her 29 total assists helped CU to get 38 kills in the match.
Since after the first match of the season, the Buffaloes have looked unstoppable, winning 15 straight sets. Colorado women's volleyball will look to continue that winning streak when it heads to Wichita, Kan. to play in the Wichita State Invitational.
The Buffaloes have matches against the Kansas Jayhawks Friday, Sept. 8th at 2 p.m. MT and the Wichita State Shockers Saturday, Sept. 9th at 6 p.m. MT.
...
Quotes:
Head Coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement
"Charlotte is a very solid team. We had some players who were working really hard in the practice gym, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to play. I'm really proud of what they made of that opportunity. We hit .430 and held them to .160; we only had four attack errors. That's pretty special. I felt like we got better as the match went on. There's going to be times this season where we need anyone to fill a role for us, and the more opportunity and more comfortable that players can get in a match, the better for our whole team. So, I'm really proud of the performance and looking forward to a day off."
On Utilizing Challenges & Trusting His Players' Calls
"Players know what happened in a play better than anybody else. So if they tell me something happened, I generally agree with them. And then a couple of times I could see it myself even though I didn't have my glasses on" Coach Mahoney won four challenges throughout the course of the match, with three coming in the third set, including match point.
Libero Emilea Stepaniuk
On Winning Their Last Five Matches In Three Sets
"This weekend has been a really quick turnaround. We've been back-to-back-to-back, so that means coming in in the morning and watching film, going through our scout practice and scouting out these teams. I think what has been really important is being dialed in on those practice and using what we learned in film to take it out on the court and apply it to get a good idea of what we're going to see on the other side during the actual match."
Middle blocker Bella Simkus
On Connecting Well With Setter Rian Finley
"Rian and I have worked together for years now, which is really helpful and having that connection already is fantastic. She and I were able to communicate on the court and off the court about what we needed from each other, and that's what helped us get there." Simkus hit .556 in the match with five kills, nine attempts, and zero errors.
"
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Box score - https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2023/charlotte/boxscore/16434
