Buffs Defeat Trojans In Five Sets

BOULDER – The Colorado Women’s Volleyball team (13-9, 5-6) took the USC Trojans (13-8, 7-4) to a full five sets, coming away with the win and earning their third match and conference win in a row. 

This is just the fourth time the Buffaloes have defeated the Trojans in program history but have now won the last three match-ups in Boulder. The two split the season series after Colorado dropped the first match earlier in the season in Los Angeles. 

Three different Buffs had double-digit kills, with Maya Tabron leading the way with 18 and earning a double-double with 11 digs as well. 

With CU’s top scorer Lexi Hadrych absent due to injury, it was freshmen Cayla Payne, Lily Dwinell, and Ana Burilović who stepped up for the Buffs en route to their victory. 

Payne, Dwinell, and Burilović combined for 30 of the 57 kills including a career-high 15 kills from Lily Dwinell. Skyy Howard was the only other non-freshman in the kills column tonight, with nine kills and four blocks on top of it. 

Friday nights’ win gets the winning streak to three, with UCLA coming to town Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. MT. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

SET 1: 

The Buffs were in control early in the first half, taking a 12-6 lead over the Trojans. CU forced USC to call their first timeout at 15-11 when Tabron earned her third kill of the set. However, USC responded after the timeout to close the gap to 15-13. The Trojans continued their momentum to tie things up at 17-17, and the Buffs called their first timeout. The two teams traded points evenly from there until USC pulled ahead to 22-20 and CU utilized their second timeout. The Ladies of Troy continued to score though and took the first set 25-21.

SET 2: 

USC jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Buffs got within one point at 5-6. A slide kill from Payne tied the teams at 6-6. CU took their first lead at 11-9, but three consecutive kills from the Trojans gave USC a 12-11 advantage. However, CU kept things close throughout the middle of the set and surged with a three point run late in the set to lead 21-18. CU expanded their lead to reach set point at 24-21, and an ace from Burilović ended the set 25-21 in CU’s favor.

SET 3: 

The two teams remained close throughout the third set. Dwinell put CU within one at 13-12 as she earned her 10th kill of the match and was hitting .529 at the time. The…