Freshman outside hitter Kerra Schroeder spikes down against San Diego. The Buffs lost in Coors Events Center 3-0. (CU Independent/Ilana Finer)
Brooms were the theme of the day for the Colorado Buffaloes.
After sweeping the Denver Pioneers in straight sets Friday morning, the CU volleyball team was shut out itself by the No. 24 San Diego Toreros (3-5) in their first home match of the season at the Coors Events Center in the Colorado Invitational.
The first set remained close until the end, with the Buffs (4-4) only trailing by a couple points; they even took the lead late with a kill by Fogle. However, USD came back to tie the Buffs at 24 before winning the game, 26-24.
Sophomore outside hitter Becah Fogle led the Buffaloes with six kills in 13 total attacks in the first set.
The Buffs looked good early in the second game, leading the Toreros 10-5 until San Diego stole their momentum.
The Toreros slowly closed the gap and eventually caught up and took an 11-10 lead midway through the game. USD would eventually win the second game, 25-21.
Sophomore outside hitter Rosie Steinhaus led CU in the second set with eight kills in 20 total attacks.
Both teams were evenly matched at the start of the third set, but Colorado slowly started to give up points due to out-of-bounds errors after tying USD at five apiece.
The third game continued to slip away from CU until they eventually lost the set, 25-16, and the match to the Toreros.
Senior setter Kaitlyn Burkett said they let too many opportunities get away from them early on in the match.
“We definitely had opportunities to win the first and second set, so I think we were all disappointed that we let those slip by,” Burkett said.
Colorado head coach Liz Kritza agrees.
“We had a lack of continuity, and you can’t do that when you are playing a team at this level,” Kritza said. “You cannot give up three or four points, because it becomes very hard to recover from it.”
The team’s win at DU in the morning helped keep their energy high in the second game of the double-header, but they just couldn’t come out on the winning side of the match.
Kritza said that losing to the No. 24 team in the nation is nothing to be hung up on, and said they are going to show up with a higher level of game Saturday versus Cal Poly.
Though the Buffs lost, Kritza said the game was a good learning experience for her young team.
“This morning we were learning, but we came away with a win,” Kritza said. “Tonight we were learning—we came out on the losing end of it. You’re not always going to end up on the right side of the column, but this group is really learning how to play high level volleyball and it will prove positive for us as we go into the Big 12.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Gina Yocom at gina.yocom@colorado.edu.
