The Colorado Buffaloes women’s volleyball team (5-1) defeated the Charlotte 49ers (25-15, 25-16, 25-21) on Saturday evening. This victory added to the Buffs’ incredible streak of five successive matches without losing a single set.
The Buffs saw an explosion of talent from their youth, Saturday night. The starting lineup consisted of five-first year players, getting their first collegiate volleyball experience, as well as two second-year players. The top four points leaders were all first-year players for the Buffs.
International student Ana Burilović led the team with 12.5 points in just her second match with the team.
Defensively, Colorado saw a great performance from first-year student Cayla Payne who accounted for the Buffs’ only two solo blocks and led the team with five assisted blocks. She also played well offensively, scoring a career high through four games with 7.5 points.
Coaching proved to be decisive in this game. Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney challenged five separate calls, all of which ended up falling in favor of the Buffs, including the match-deciding point at the very end. Mahoney put a great amount of emphasis on trusting his players and their feelings in relation to what is happening on the court.
After the game, Mahoney said, “Players know what happens in play better than anybody else. They can see the touch, they can hear the touch. They are closer to the play than anybody else.”
Set-by-set:
Set one:
Colorado got off to a scorching hot start, scoring the first three points of the match. Charlotte attempted to respond with multiple early substitutions; but to no avail. 49ers head coach Karen Weatherington used her first timeout after a great block by Cayla Payne to put the Buffs up 14-7. The 49ers scored the first point out of the timeout, but the Buffs responded with more great defensive plays from first-year student Lily Dwinell and Burilović to make the lead 21-11.
At this point, Charlotte again attempted to disrupt Colorado’s momentum by calling a timeout. But, the Buffs came out of the timeout focused and held on to the set, winning 25-15 after a set-winning kill from redshirt sophomore Bella Simkas.
Set two:
The second set started off much slower for the Buffs as Charlotte scored the first two points and eventually extended that to a 4-1 lead. Mahoney set a trend for the rest of the game and successfully challenged a 49er point that would have brought the lead to 5-2 bringing the Buffs back within one point. Following the challenge, Colorado rallied around the momentum and scored three consecutive points, eventually going on a run of scoring 10 of the next 13 points in the set.
Charlotte responded with a timeout, scoring the first point after the break. Despite this, first-year player Rian Finley responded with an incredible, savvy play, lightly tapping the ball over the net for an amazing point that got the crowd going.
At 19-13, Charlotte again took a timeout. Nevertheless, the Buffs remained in control for the rest of the match as Finley finished off the set with an ace to win 25-16.
Set three:
The third set proved to be more difficult for the Buffs. Colorado again came out slower than the first set, dropping to a 3-1 deficit. A string of back-and-forth scores from both sides kicked off a 5-0 Buffs scoring run as Charlotte took their first timeout of the set following an emphatic kill from Cayla Payne.
Following consecutive 49er points after the timeout, a double touch violation and a successful Colorado challenge halted any build-up of momentum for Charlotte as the Buffs took a 12-9 lead. An incredible save by Rian Finley led to a score, giving the Buffs their largest lead of the set at that point, 20-16.
Following a point to make it 20-17, Coach Mahoney called for another review, which was again successful, helping Colorado to a 21-16 lead and their third successful challenge of the night.
At the 23-19 mark, Charlotte scored to bring the deficit down to three, 23-20. Nonetheless, Coach Mahoney once again called for a review which led to the call being reversed and the Buffs extending their lead to five, 24-19.
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