BOULDER— The University of Colorado Buffaloes (15-14) defeated the University of Washington Huskies (15-14) in a 3-0 sweep to close out their home season on Senior Day.
It was a mostly tight, back-and-forth contest between the two squads who came into the match with similar records.
The first set started strongly for the Buffs, who took the first point. However, they were not able to use that to materialize a consistent momentum advantage. Neither team was able to surpass a lead of larger than three points while they traded multiple service errors.
Fortunately for Colorado, graduate student Lexi Hadrych had an outstanding first set. Recently returning from injury, the California native lived up to her reputation that she has built of hitting the ball harder than anyone else on the court, with six kills in the first set.
The black and gold rallied off of her momentum-building hits and took the first set 26-24.
The second set started off with a Washington point, but the trend of neither team being able to create any separation continued. A successful challenge from the purple and gold Huskies appeared to be a turning point, but again, neither team could manufacture a large lead.
At 13-11, both squads had gone back and forth for six consecutive points, and the Huskies decided to call a timeout to reset.
At 23-19, Colorado took the largest lead of the match to that point. The Buffs had the chance to separate and took it, winning the set 25-20.
The third set was much more explosive for the Boulder squad, who immediately opened with a 7-1 lead. They seemed to have become fired up by winning two long, competitive sets and opened up with an intensity and poise that had led them to a 10-3 record at one point in the season.
Colorado had continued this momentum to take a 21-14 lead, however, they surrendered a 3-0 run which forced the Buffs’ head coach Jesse Mahoney to take a timeout.
The team at the feet of the Flatirons didn’t roll over and give up, and they used the timeout to regain focus and finish strong. They immediately kicked off a 4-0 run to win the final home game of the season and send their seniors out with a sweep, winning the final set 25-17.
“It’s great to win, winning is fun,” said coach Mahoney after the game, “but I was really mostly excited about how we played. And the fact that we got better through the match was important to me.”
The Buffaloes said goodbye to five seniors Sunday afternoon: Lexi Hadrych, Skyy Howard, Alexia Kuehl, Morgan Riddle, and Maya Tabron.
The Colorado Buffaloes will close out their season with two road games, up next at the University of California on Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. MDT.
Comments