WICHITA, Kan. – The Buffs’ (5-2) five match winning streak was ended by the Kansas Jayhawks (5-1) in a four set match (23-25, 27-25, 17-25, 20-25) in the Wichita St. Invitational. Prior to the loss, CU had won 15 consecutive sets against their last five opponents.
The Buffs slightly trailed the Jayhawks in attack percentage, hitting .193 compared to Kansas’ .200. Yet, the key difference for the two teams came from the service line. CU had 17 service errors while KU only had nine. Kansas also racked up more aces than Colorado, finishing with eight on the day while CU had four.
“We shot ourselves in the foot from the service line,” head coach Jesse Mahoney commented after the match. “We couldn’t recoup enough points from those errors.”
The Wichita St. Invitational continues tomorrow, and CU will close out the invitational by playing Wichita St. at 6 p.m. MT.
How It Happened:
Set One:
Kansas jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, before a 3-0 run with Morgan Riddle on the service line put the Buffs within one. CU continued their momentum and a kill by Alexia Kuehl gave CU their first lead of the match at 9-7. Things remained tight between the two squads until a six point service run from the Jayhawks put Kansas up 20-16. Colorado fought back and a block assist from Lexi Hadrych and Skyy Howard tied the teams at 23 points and forced Kansas to take a timeout. However, KU recovered after the timeout and won the next two points to take the set 25-23.
Set Two:
Colorado maintained their lead for most of the second set, with CU’s largest lead coming at 13-6. From there, Kansas slowly chipped away at the Buffs’ lead and tied the set at 17-17 off a Colorado service error. The Jayhawks earned their only lead of the set at 23-22 off a kill from Toyosi Onabanjo. Two Colorado kills, along with an ace and a block allowed the Buffs to hold off the Jayhawks’ advance for CU to win the set in extra points at 27-25.
Set Three:
The two teams were tied for the first half of the third set until Kansas managed to pull away in the middle of the set. Back-to-back kills from Maya Tabron put the Buffs within three points at 16-19, but a Jayhawks kill ended the Buffs’ run. CU only earned one more point off a kill from Cayla Payne before the Jayhawks won the set 25-17.
Set Four:
Once again, the two teams traded points early in the game. Back-to-back blocks from CU put the Buffs within one point at 13-14, and Tabron’s 15th kill of the match…
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