Matches Thread- (RV) VOLLEYBALL on the road to face #21 Washington (Friday, 11/18/22, 8 PM MT) & #25 WSU (Sunday, 1 PM MT)

[AztecBuff]

Buff volleyball (17-9, 9-7 in Pac 12 play) heads up to the Evergreen State with 2 chances to get wins over Top 25 teams, and 2 chances to GREATLY help their chances to secure an NCAA tourney berth. 1st off is a match vs. the #21 Washington Huskies (18-8, 10-6) on Friday night, followed by a Sunday matinee against the WSU Cougars (19-8, 11-5).

Looking at post-season prospects, the last RPI ratings release (dated 11/14) finds CU at #48, while this week's opponents are at #34 (Huskies) and #38 (Cougars) .

Both matches are slotted for the Pac 12 Networks, with Friday's match scheduled to be on the Washington channel, while Sunday's is on the Mountain channel. (More info and links near the bottom of this post.)

Go Buffs!!!

Preview -


Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/11/15/volleyball-buffs-face-two-ranked-teams-in-washington.aspx

"
BOULDER. — The Colorado women's volleyball team travels to Washington this weekend to face two top-25 teams in the form of No. 21 Washington and No. 25 Washington State.

This past weekend, the Buffs (17-9, 9-7 Pac-12) split their matches at the Events Center. After defeating No. 14 Oregon (19-5, 13-3 Pac-12) in the first two sets, CU was reverse swept by the Ducks. Despite the loss, the Buffs hit an impressive .289 and earned 13 blocks while holding Oregon to .181. The Buffs bounced back on Saturday, sweeping Oregon State University (7-19, 2-14 Pac-12). CU held the Beavers to a .000 attack percentage while the Buffs hit .306.
...

For the third consecutive week, the Buffs received votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Friday's game against Washington will air at 8 p.m. MT while Sunday's match against Washington State will be played at 1 p.m. MT.

Washington

The Huskies (18-8, 10-6 Pac-12) fell in ranking by one spot after losing in five to Arizona over the weekend. Washington hit .405 in an Arizona sweep earlier this year but failed to repeat as the Wildcats held them to .182 this time around.

Outside hitter Claire Hoffman leads the Huskies in kills with 412 and a .270 attack percentage while middle blocker Marin Grote has notched 250 kills and 79 blocks this season.

Washington State

The Cougars (19-8, 11-5 Pac-12) have received AVCA votes for most weeks throughout the season, but this is their second consecutive week being ranked 25th. WSU is on a two-game win streak, defeating both Arizona State and Arizona while on the road last week.

Outside hitter Pai Timmer was voted offensive player of the week for the first time this season. Timmer averaged 4.57 kills per set and had a .310 attack percentage against the Arizona schools.
"
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

More on the opponents:

Washington:
Roster - https://gohuskies.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster
Stats - https://gohuskies.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats
Schedule/ results for this season - https://gohuskies.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule?path=wvball
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - https://gohuskies.com/news/2022/11/15/volleyball-huskies-host-colorado-utah-in-penultimate-week.aspx

WSU:
Roster - https://wsucougars.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster
Stats - https://wsucougars.com/sports/wvball/stats
Schedule/ results for this season - https://wsucougars.com/sports/womens-volleyball/schedule?path=wvball
Their preview article for the match with the Buffs - Not available as I type this.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Media links:

Matches' notes -

VolleyballNotes 11.14 Wash (PDF) - University of Colorado Athletics

VolleyballNotes 11.14 Wash (PDF)

cubuffs.com

Friday:
Live stats -

StatBroadcast Live Stat Feed

Live Video - The match is scheduled to be shown live on the Pac 12 Washington channel. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to any Pac 12 channel, assume it can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-volleyball/event/2022/11/18/colorado-washington.

Sunday:
Link to link to live stats - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=419923

Live Video - The match is scheduled to be shown live on the Pac 12 Mountain channel. For those whose Cable/ Satellite/ Cord Cutting subscription includes access to any Pac 12 channel, assume it can also be streamed through a link at https://pac-12.com/womens-volleyball/event/2022/11/20/colorado-washington-state .

 

[AztecBuff]

 

[AztecBuff]

Match day!

(Unfortunately the start is very late where I am, so probably won't be able to watch or post about the match.)

 

[NW Buff]

Buffs up 2-0. Up 8-3 in the third

 

[MarkW]

 

[AztecBuff]

Media after the BIG win from last night:

Article (If I was an editor, I think I'd have the writer fix the word "weakest" when describing CU's serving game last night, as I don't think it makes sense based on what else they (accurately) wrote the rest of the paragraph. I'd say it would be more accurate to say it was the "key aspect".?.) -



Direct link - https://cubuffs.com/news/2022/11/18/volleyball-colorado-sweeps-no-21-washington.aspx

"
SEATTLE — The University of Colorado women's volleyball defeated No. 21 Washington (25-21, 26-24, 25-20) at Alaska Airlines Arena Friday night for the first time in program history.

Prior to Friday, the Buffaloes (18-9, 10-7 Pac-12) were on a six-game losing streak against the Huskies (19-9, 11-6 Pac-12).

The Buffs were led in kills by Lexi Hadrych who notched 13 and garnered a .478 attack percentage. Hadrych was trailed closely by Maya Tabron who had 11 kills and hit .370 and Meegan Hart who earned eight kills and hit .500.

The weakest aspect of Colorado's night was their serving game. The Buffs utilized tough service pressure to keep Washington on their toes and force the Huskies into a .231 attack percentage, holding them below their .288 season average. It was a high-risk, high-reward endeavor as the Buffs earned eight aces, yet handed UW 11 service errors. Despite having more errors than aces, CU's service pressure kept the Huskies out of system, allowing the Buffs to pick up 41 digs and four total blocks.

Colorado achieved an incredible .347 hitting percentage as Taylor Simpson earned 24 assists and Brynna DeLuzio earned 10.

The Buffs look to topple another top 25 ranked team in the form of No. 25 Washington State Sunday at 1 p.m. MT.
...

QUOTES

Head Coach Jesse Mahoney

On The Defeating The Huskies In Washington For The First Time

"That's a very good team and, with playing on their home floor, I was really impressed with how consistent we were throughout the match. Unfortunately we didn't have Sterling tonight, but Kelley came in and did a really good job. I also thought both of our setters were excellent and that Lexi had some great kills at the right time. This was a huge win for our program and a huge win for our NCAA hopes this year as well."

On Playing Washington State Next

"Traditionally, I'd say this has been the toughest road trip for us. We have had some really great road wins this season, and we feel like we can beat any team that we play. So, we're going to punch our ticket to Pullman and play our hearts out."
"
_________________________________________________________________________________

Box score - https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2022/washington/boxscore/15921

 

[AztecBuff]

With the win, as I type this CU's real time RPI (http://ncaastats.figstats.net/volleyball-rpi.cgi) is up to #39.

For what it's worth, a very diligent (and historically pretty accurate) bracketologist over at the volleytalk.com forum (user name trojansc; this week's weekly analysis at https://volleytalk.proboards.com/thread/91848/fall-2022-bracketology-11-14) has been estimating for at least the last 2-3 weeks that an 11 win conference season was the expected ending win total for the Buffs (based on win probabilities for all remaining matches for all NCAA D1 teams), and that # of wins would be enough to safely earn them a NCAA tournament bid. And, with this upset they're already at 10 with 3 left to play.

Sunday's game with the Cougars (they just swept Utah last night to get to 12-5) figures to be the toughest*** remaining of the 3 matches, but could be an important "resume" building win. (***Although, based on how Arizona played the Buffs last season and how they've played lately, and the match being in Tucson, and how tough the final Buff- Utah match ALWAYS is, I wouldn't say any of the remaining matches are easy ones.)

Of course, with it never known outside a committee when it might have decided to change what metrics it values, I'd rather the team win ALL 3 of its remaining matches to get rid of any doubt. Also, in a newer thing (don't know if this is the 1st or 2nd year of doing this?), the tourney committee now seeds 8 teams per region, with those 8 seeds guaranteed a 1st round match against an unseeded team. In the trojansc analysis linked to above, both the Washington schools were GUESSED to maybe be 8 seeds, so I'd think if the Buffs won out the rest of the way they might also possibly be given a seed. (Although, the negative of an 8 seed is that you're guaranteed to play a #1 seed in the 2nd round.)

 

[buffgal]

That was a fun match to watch! I like a sweep on the court of the opponent.

 

[AztecBuff]

Missed today's match, but just from the scores looks like it got ugly late.

Still I'd say getting the win Friday made this a positive road trip.

Now just need to take it to the Wild Cats Wednesday in Tucson and come back to honor the seniors well with a great regular season ending match hosting the Utes on Friday.