During the last play of the game freshman middle blocker Nichole Lindow (15) spikes the ball at the Furman Paladines while senior outside hitters Rosie Steinhaus (11) defends during the Friday, Aug. 27 game at the Coors Events Center. While the Buffs won against the Paladines, they lost their away game to Colorado State Tuesday, Aug. 31. (CU Independent/Emily Haag)
Strong showings by sophomore outside hitter Kerra Schroeder and junior middle blocker Anicia Santos weren’t enough to give CU’s women’s volleyball team a win.
The Buffaloes lost to No. 15 CSU 25-19, 25-11, 25-16 at Moby Arena Tuesday night. CU falls to 1-2 on the season, while CSU improves to 3-0.
Schroeder led the Buffs with eight kills, three aces and four digs. Santos hit a team-best .455 average with six kills and one error on 11 swings.
“This is a learning lesson,” Head Coach Liz Kritza said in a news release. “You hate to lose to learn these lessons, but there are some positives to come out of this. Anicia Santos hit .455. And this early in the season, for a team that is relatively new in our configuration, it’s helpful to play a high level team and this will help us prepare for our conference season.”
CSU took an early lead to kick off the first set of the match. The Buffs got close at 13-12, but a 5-2 by the Rams run gave the Fort Collins foes an 18-14 lead. The Buffs’ eight service errors led to the Rams taking the first set 25-19.
CU had its first lead of the match with a 3-2 start to the second set. However, a 7-3 CSU run helped them take a 9-6 lead. The Buffs battled back to bring the score to 21-20. Despite fighting off two set points, the Buffs fell in the second set as well, 25-22.
Two solid runs by CSU made the third and final set theirs for the taking. The Buffs tied it up at six all, but a 6-0 run by the Rams gave CSU a 12-6 lead. The Buffaloes got close once again at 19-15, but the Rams finished out the match going on a 6-1 run to give them the win with a score of 25-16 in the last set.
“There is no rest for the weary,” Kritza said. “I think this young team is going to understand that if you play consistently at a high level, good things will happen for you. They believe they can and are willing to put in the reps to get there. This is just the beginning for this young group.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Marlee Horn at Marlee.horn@colorado.edu.
