BOULDER. — The University of Colorado women’s volleyball will look to improve its Pac-12 ranking at home this weekend when the team takes on Oregon at 7 p.m. Thursday night and Oregon State at the same time Saturday.
Colorado (16-8, 8-6 Pac-12) split its matches over the weekend, defeating Cal (7-17, 0-14 Pac-12) in four sets and losing to No. 8 Stanford (18-4, 13-1 Pac-12) in three. CU dropped from 37th in RPI ranking to 42nd, but they’re 30th in RPI ranking for a team that’s not leading their conference for an automatic bid. With CU’s current RPI ranking, the Buffs are on the cusp of making the NCAA tournament, but the outcome of their matches this weekend could play a major role in CU’s post-season prospects.
Earlier this season, the Buffs dropped both of their road matches to Oregon State and No. 20 Oregon. Oregon State (7-17, 2-12 Pac-12) upset the Buffs by hitting an incredible .398. Outside hitter Mychael Vernon hit a career-high 22 kills with a .333 attack percentage.
Despite the loss, CU wasn’t slacking on offense against the Beavers. As a team, the Buffs hit an impressive .308, with Maya Tabron, Meegan Hart, and Lexi Hadrych all earning double-digit kills. Setters Taylor Simpson and Brynna DeLuzio had a combined 37 assists for the match.
No. 20 Oregon (17-5, 11-3 Pac-12) swept the Buffs by hitting .252 while holding CU to a .149 attack percentage. The Ducks only had 11 attack errors while Colorado had 22. Offensively, Tabron had 13 kills and hit .281 against the Ducks while middle blocker Alexia Kuehl had six kills for a .364 attack percentage. On the defensive side, libero Katie Lougeay had 15 digs, followed by Simpson who earned 10.
For the second week in a row, CU received votes in the AVCA coaches poll, increasing from four votes last week to five this week.
Thursday’s match against Oregon will be shown on Pac-12 Insider while Saturday’s game versus Oregon State will be featured on Colorado’s Live Stream.
Oregon
Since the two teams last met, Oregon has improved its AVCA Coaches Poll ranking from twentieth to fourteenth. The Ducks defended their second-place position in the Pac-12 by defeating No. 19 Washington and Washington State at home over the weekend. This season, the Ducks are undefeated on their home court, but are only 6-4 for travel games.
Oregon is averaging 14.3 kills a…
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