Buffs Fall To Bruins In Three

BOULDER – The Colorado Women’s Volleyball team (13-10, 5-7) fell to the UCLA Bruins (13-9, 5-7) in three sets (25-27, 20-25, 21-25) here Sunday in the CU Events Center. 

Despite the loss, Colorado played a strong match led by outside hitter Maya Tabron in kills. With CU’s top scorer Lexi Hadrych absent, Tabron stepped up and earned herself 13 kills in 24 attempts to hit .458. She also recorded seven digs for the Buffs. Skyy Howard, Ana Burilović, and Cayla Payne were also strong contenders for Colorado in today’s match. 

Colorado fell short of UCLA in kills, as the Bruins recorded 40 hitting .273 while the Buffs only recorded 37 hitting .198. UCLA’s Iman Dyiaye led the Bruins to their win, producing 13 kills in 29 attempts to hit .379. 

The Buffs will travel to Oregon to face off against the Oregon State Beavers on Friday November 3rd at 8:00 p.m. MT and the University of Oregon Ducks on Sunday November 5th at 1:00 p.m. MT. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

SET ONE: Burilović got things rolling for the Buffs as she posted two kills to take an early lead against the Bruins of 2-0. Both teams traded points evenly back and forth for the beginning of set one until the Buffs went on a 3-0 scoring run, forcing a UCLA timeout. Hitting 1.000, Payne posted her second kill of the match to increase the lead to 17-15, while Tabron earned the third ace of the set, bringing the set to 18-15. Tabron was a strong contender for the remainder of the set, earning her third kill to bring the score to 23-20. The score tied up again at 23-23 after a 3-0 scoring run from the Bruins, however, the Buffs could not return their lead as UCLA won set one 27-25.

SET TWO: It was a tight battle with an early tie of 4-4 between the teams, however, the Buffs went on a 5-0 scoring run to increase the lead to 8-4 early in set two to force a timeout from the Bruins. Payne earned two kills to keep the lead alive during a 6-1 scoring run for the Buffs. Howard posted her fifth kill on seven attacks to keep things rolling, bringing the score to 13-10. A 3-0 scoring run from UCLA created a tie of 13-13, however, Colorado kept fighting to remain within a point of the Bruins at 18-17. The game remained close until UCLA increased their service pressure and took set two 25-20. 

SET THREE: Tabron continued to lead the Buffs in kills to jump to…