WATCH: Patrick Dawson recaps the UCLA Bruins dominant 3-0 win over the Colorado Buffaloes.
BOULDER– The Colorado Buffaloes (13-10) dropped all three sets to the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins (13-9) on Sunday afternoon in Boulder as their three-game winning streak is now broken.
The first set began on a strong note for the Buffaloes, as they scored the first three points of the match. However, momentum quickly evened out. The Bruins closed the early gap to make it a tight set throughout its duration. The lead never grew larger than four in favor of the black and gold, who were draped in their sleek gray jerseys.
Despite what appeared to be a consistent set for Colorado, UCLA never backed down and tied the set at 23, which forced Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney to take the team’s first timeout of the match.
Nonetheless, senior Maya Tabron was able to answer the Bruins' charge with a great kill for the first point of the timeout. As the Buffs lined up to serve for set point, the Bruins called a timeout, much to the distress of the large crowd in the CU Events Center.
The blue and gold were able to draw up a kill to keep it away from set point, but Tabron was there to stump their momentum once again with a kill of her own.
Once again, UCLA did not back down. They scored a kill right along the boundary before scoring again to make it 26-25 with set point in their favor. Colorado took a timeout but was not able to come back. The Bruins took the first set, 27-25.
Colorado surrendered the first point of the second set, but freshman Ana Burilovic sent a high speed response back over the net. She continued to fill the role that was previously taken by graduate student Lexi Haydrych, the Buffs’ top scorer who remains out with an injury.
An amazing collection of saves from the Boulder squad got the crowd excited before freshman Cayla Payne emphatically stuffed a UCLA hit for a point and received an even greater reaction from the audience.
The Buffs surrendered some momentum to the Bruins, who went on a 3-0 scoring run before Mahoney called another timeout.
Colorado went up by two points on multiple occasions throughout the set, but UCLA made another late-set charge to take the second set, 25-20.
The third set appeared to be more of the same. It was tight and back and forth at the start, but the Bruins were able to separate with a 12-7 lead. It all appeared to unravel at this point as Colorado was unable to recover, and for the foreseeable future, the deficit was never within five.
However, a late surge from the black and gold brought the blue and gold lead down to three, 23-20, forcing a Bruins timeout.
The Bruins would score immediately after the timeout and move to match point, and despite an answer from the Buffs, a service error would seal the deal for this match. UCLA won the final set, 25-21, taking all three sets on their way to a 3-0 sweep over Colorado.
The Buffs' bench looks up at the big screen during pregame introductions. Colorado went on to lose the match in a 3-0 sweep to UCLA. (Photo by Cristian Blanco/Sko Buffs Sports)
“Today, I feel like a lot of people were taking mistakes personally throughout the game,” said graduate student Skyy Howard, “We just kind of need to get out of that mindset and we just weren't able to do that fast enough.”
The Buffs go on the road to take on the Oregon State Beavers on Friday, Nov. 3rd, at 8 p.m. MT.
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