SEATTLE – The Colorado women’s volleyball team (10-8, 2-5 Pac-12) fell in straight sets to the Washington Huskies (12-6, 3-4 Pac-12) here tonight, losing 21-25, 18-25, 19-25.
Although CU failed to grab a set from UW, there were bright spots for the Buffs. Lexi Hadrych led the team in kills with 13 to hit .310. Middle blocking pair Skyy Howard and Cayla Payne also had strong hitting percentages, attacking .417 and .500 respectively.
The Buffs continued to play big at the net, accumulating eight total blocks throughout the match while Washington only earned two total blocks. However, UW still managed to out hit CU, earning 45 kills with a .343 attacking percentage while Colorado trailed at 37 kills and a .238 hitting percentage. Washington was led offensively by Kierstyn Barton, who earned 17 of the team’s kills.
CU struggled at the service line, accumulating 10 service errors while the Huskies only had four. UW also had more aces than the Buffs, earning seven compared to Colorado’s six.
“We let ourselves down from the service line tonight,” commented head coach Jesse Mahoney after the match. “And when we did get Washington out-of-system, we didn’t capitalize nearly enough. We did enough offensively, but we have to find a way to right ourselves defensively.”
Colorado heads to Pullman, Wash. next to play No.4-ranked Washington St. this Sunday at 1 p.m. MT.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set One: The Buffs jumped out to a 10-7 lead, forcing the Huskies to use their first timeout after Taylor Simpson scored with a left handed dump. Following the timeout, Washington was able to get within two with the Buffs leading 14-12, but Hadrych’s third kill of the set put an end to the UW run.
However, the Huskies continued to push and tied it up at 15-15 off a CU hitting error and followed it up with a kill to take their first lead of the game at 16-15. From there, it was a tight battle, but the Huskies claimed the set 25-21.
Set Two: UW carried their winning momentum into the second set, leading the whole time. The Huskies hit a substantial .484 in the set, while the Buffs were held to a .212 attacking percentage, allowing Washington to win the set 25-18.
Set Three: It was a tighter battle in the third set between the two teams, with the Buffs only trailing by two for the first half of the set. CU tied things up at…
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