The University of Colorado volleyball team fell to the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal Friday night at Coors Events Center in three sets (25-19, 25-15, 25-20).
Head Coach Liz Kritza said after the match that the Buffs gave the Cardinal too many opportunities.
“You could see that Stanford was getting momentum, and they were able to run some faster tempo sets,” Kritza said. “You were seeing some really high level swings from them. The problem is you cannot let a team get too many in a row because then it becomes trying to play catch up against them.”
Stanford won the first set 25-19. The Buffs had three service errors throughout the set. Sophomore setter Nicole Edelman took a hard fall at the eleventh point but was able to finish the set.
The Cardinal dominated the second set from the start. They took an early lead and went up 7-2 early in the second. They would hold their lead throughout the set. Junior outside hitter Taylor Simpson, who had seven kills in the first set, only contributed two kills in the second set. Stanford won the second set 25-15.
The Buffs took a quick 4-0 lead to start the third set, causing the Cardinal to call their first timeout. They kept swinging, increasing their lead to 10-3. Stanford would then call its second timeout. Stanford went on an 11-4 run to even the score at 14-14. Stanford fought their way back into the set to win it 25-20.
Kritza says that the third set shows that the Buffs have the equipment to take on any team.
“For us, in those 13 balls in the third set, we showed that we can handle this team if we are doing all the things we need to do in our game plan,” she said. “I think sustaining that level of play for entire sets or even portions of it was the issue tonight.”
The loss tonight gives the Buffs a record of 15-8 overall.
The Buffs have a quick turnaround as they will play again on Saturday, Nov. 9 against the University of California at 7:00 p.m.
Senior middle blocker Nikki Lindow says that she and her team are going to put this game behind them and look on to tomorrow’s match.
“Tomorrow is a new day, and we are going to bring it ten times more tomorrow because tomorrow is a big game,” Lindow said.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Jillian Arja at Jillian.Arja@colorado.edu.
