The Colorado Buffaloes (10-9) defeated the Arizona Wildcats (6-13) in what was their first win since their Oct. 8 matchup versus the Oregon State Beavers.
The Buffs started slowly after scoring the first point of the match, giving up a 5-0 run and falling to an early deficit. However, momentum evened out before it fell into Colorado’s favor off the back of two big kills from outside hitter Lexi Haydrych.
Touching on the early slip, CU head coach Jesse Mahoney spoke about keeping the right mindset, “We can’t hold on to the last play. You got to think about what you’re going to do on the next play.”
The Buffs quickly forgot about the run they surrendered to the Wildcats, rallying to win that set by four, 25-21.
Following the momentum swing, Colorado never looked back as the Wildcats failed to recover. The next two sets combined went in Colorado’s favor 50-32, with both sets finishing at 25-16. Haydrych led the team with 17 points, including 16 kills in a big night that the Buffs desperately needed to regain some momentum following a span of five losses in their last six contests.
Regarding how the rough road trip in Washington prepared this team for the matchup versus Arizona, freshman Cayla Payne said, “We didn’t play to the best of our abilities against the schools in Washington.”
When asked about their mindset going into Sunday’s matchup against Arizona State, freshman Lily Dwinell added, “We know how to play and we know what we need to do to win. We're just going to come out strong and come out with the momentum that we gained today.”
The Buffaloes stay home this weekend to face off against the No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils on Sunday, Oct. 22 at noon MDT.
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