WATCH: The Colorado Buffaloes come back from a 2-1 set deficit to complete the season sweep of the Oregon State Beavers.
BOULDER– The Colorado Buffaloes (14-10) defeated the Oregon State Beavers (9-14) in five sets Friday night, despite going down 2-1.
The Buffs fell behind early as the Beavers put themselves in a 7-4 lead. Despite bringing themselves back to within one point on multiple occasions, the black and gold’s deficit ended up growing further to four points at 13-9.
At 13-10, the Buffs and Beavers had a great back and forth rally, extended by freshman Ana Burilovic’s great efforts in the middle, where she continued to fill in for the injured graduate student Lexi Haydrych. However, Oregon State held on and took the point, which gave them enough momentum to go on a 3-0 scoring run to extend their lead to 16-10. At this point, Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney decided the team needed a reset and called a timeout.
Another incredible rally which included multiple great saves by both sides, kicked off by an outstanding save by senior Maya Tabron, resulted in a Buffs point. It appeared that they were headed on a run, but an erroneous hit resulted in Colorado’s momentum being stumped once again while the score moved to 17-12, in favor of Oregon State.
The Buffs' momentum never came back, and they dropped the first set, 25-17.
The second set started off much better for the black and gold where they took their first lead of the game at 4-3.
However, the Beavers remained focused and retook the lead, bringing it to 8-6 in their favor.
Despite the setback, Colorado stayed close and tied the set at 13, where Oregon State took a timeout.
Nonetheless, the Buffs would fall behind once again. At 20-17, the Beavers appeared to regain control of the set, and Colorado took a timeout.
Regardless of the apparent loss of momentum, the Boulder squad proved again that they do not quit. Immediately out of the timeout, Colorado went on a 4-0 scoring run to take the lead at 21-20, for the first time since the aforementioned 4-3 lead. Oregon State responded with a timeout of their own.
Despite Oregon State tying it at 23-23, Colorado was able to capitalize on their momentum to take the next two consecutive points to win the set, 25-23.
The third set did not begin in favor of the Buffs, as the Beavers quickly took off to a 4-1 lead.
Colorado stayed calm, however, and brought the deficit to just one point, 8-7. At this point, the Beavers decided to take a timeout to try and stump the Buffaloes' momentum.
Nonetheless, the Buffs kept their focus and took their first lead of the set at 11-10.
Unfortunately for the Buffs, they would surrender a great deal of momentum while the Beavers took an 18-15 lead, forcing the Buffs to call a timeout.
The lead grew to as much as five, and despite a late surge in momentum by Colorado, Oregon State held on to take the set, 25-21.
For the fourth consecutive set, Colorado surrendered the first point. However, the Buffs continued the trend of staying in the match despite being down, and they ended up using that determination to take the lead at 7-6.
For what seems to be a recurring theme, there was another outstanding rally that lasted nearly an entire minute. However, the Buffs would break the trend of giving up points on these long rallies and would take the point to make it 11-11. This would spur a 4-0 scoring run for the Buffs which forced the Beavers to call a timeout in hopes of breaking the momentum.
Colorado continued their hot streak and extended their scoring run to 7-0, once again forcing an Oregon State timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Beavers broke the run with a point. However, Colorado quickly responded with two points of their own, establishing a level of control that was absent in the previous three sets.
Colorado kept this control for the remainder of the set, and they took the fourth set, 25-18.
Colorado opened the last set with a block from freshman Cayla Payne, making it the first time all night that they took the first point of the set.
By the time the teams switched sides at 11 points, as per fifth set rules, the Buffs had extended their lead to 8-3. They appeared to have found themselves a rhythm that could not be rivaled by the Beavers.
The black and gold surrendered a 3-0 scoring run, but they stayed on top with a quick response of two points, forcing the gray and orange Beavers to take their last timeout.
This timeout proved to be helpful for the Beavers, who brought their deficit down to two, 10-8, while the Buffs took their final timeout.
Despite the late charge, a service ace by freshman Avery Bolles would put the Beavers away, with a final score of 15-9.
Tabron was the star of the show as she finished with a team-high 18 kills along with a service ace. Burilovic and graduate student Skyy Howard also showed out for the Buffs, both finishing with 12 kills of their own.
The Buffs stay in Oregon but travel to Eugene to take on the Oregon Ducks on Sunday, Nov 5. at 1 p.m. MDT.
Photo by Simon Broan/cubuffs.com
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