Colorado Dominates Utah In Sweep

SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Colorado women’s volleyball team swept (25-23, 25-11, 25-22) Pac-12 rival Utah here Thursday night for the first win in Utah since 2016 and first sweep in Salt Lake City in conference play.
 
The Buffaloes (9-2, 1-0 Pac-12) held Utah (7-5, 0-1 Pac-12) to -.018 hitting in the match, including holding them negative in two of the three sets.
 
Maya Tabron led Colorado from the outside with 10 kills and a .226 hitting percentage. She added in six digs and a pair of blocks, including a solo block to finish off the match. Lexi Hadrych had nine kills, while Meegan Hart added eight kills with a .583 hitting percentage, her sixth match this season hitting greater than .500. Hart also had a team-best four blocks.
 
The Buffs’ defense kept Utah on the ropes all night long with Katie Lougeay leading the back row with 11 digs. Setter Taylor Simpson added eight digs and dished out 23 assists.
 
Colorado’s stout defense proved to be too much for the Utes who did not have an athlete register double-digit kills or assists. Utah’s only double-digit performance of the night came from libero Vanessa Ramirez with 13 digs. Utah won the block count 10-8, but CU’s strong serving with four aces and discipline hitting with only 17 errors compared to the Utes’ 30 led to the quick match.
 
The Buffaloes return home to face Arizona State Sunday at 1 p.m. in the CU Events Center. The match will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Title IX.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET ONE
The Buffs went out to a quick 4-0 lead behind kills from Kuehl and Tabron along with a block from Hart. Utah tied things up at nine all as the back row was keeping things alive with nine digs compared to CU’s three. Tabron gave CU a two-point lead at 14-12 with her fourth kill already while hitting .333. Mahoney challenged a ball on the line a play later, but after the challenge was unsuccessful Hart gave CU a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. The Buffs pushed their scoring run to three out of the break to 17-13, then Utah came rallying back to 20-19 when Mahoney used his second challenge of the set. That challenge went unsuccessful, leaving CU without another challenge the rest of the match. Colorado went up 23-20 to force a Utah timeout before the Utes responded to tie it up and force a CU timeout. Utah’s Karich led all…