BOULDER — The University of Colorado women’s volleyball team hosts a pair of tough conference opponents with Washington State coming to town Friday at 5 p.m., followed by No.15-ranked Washington Sunday at noon.
The Buffaloes (12-4, 4-2 Pac-12) split the last two weekends against the Los Angeles school on the road and the Bay schools at home. The Buffs are in a three-way tie for fourth in the conference with No.17 Oregon and Washington State at 4-2, while Washington is in a three-way tie for first in the conference with USC and Stanford.
Colorado continues to lead the way on the defensive front with the team ranked fifth in the NCAA in blocks per set at 2.89. Alexia Kuehl and Meegan Hart are both over 70 blocks this season with Kuehl leading the way with 78. In total, seven Buffaloes have 20 or more blocks this season.
The team is also ranked in the top-50 in hitting percentage this season at .248, led by Hart who is fourth in the NCAA with a .442 hitting percentage. CU has hit greater than .200 in all but three matches this season and greater than .300 five times, all of which were wins for the Buffs.
Maya Tabron and Lexi Hadrych are both averaging more than three kills per set, while Hart is averaging just under 2.75 kills per set. Defensively, Katie Lougeay leads a split backrow with five CU players with 100 or more digs already this season. Lougeay has a team-best 191 digs, followed by Tabron, Taylor Simpson, Brynna DeLuzio and Jill Schneggenburger all with between 127 and 113 digs.
Both matches will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks with Friday’s match on the Mountain Network and Sunday’s on the Washington Network.
WASHINGTON STATE
The Cougars (12-5, 4-2 Pac-12) have only lost matches to ranked opponents this season in BYU, Pepperdine, Minnesota, Washington and Stanford. WSU took down USC in five sets in Los Angeles and is coming off a weekend sweep of the Oregon schools that included upsetting No.12 Oregon in five on their home court.
The Cougars are hitting .275 this season and holding opponents to a .194 hitting percentage. Washington State is also averaging 1.9 aces per set compared to letting up 1.1, and have a block advantage of 2.4 per set to 1.6. WSU spreads out the ball with Lauren Jansen, Pia Timmer, Magda Jehlarova and Katy Ryan all with 140 or more kills. Timmer,…
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