Buffs sweep Houston to stay undefeated in Big 12

Colorado Buffaloes volleyball celebrates a point during Saturday's win over the Houston Cougars (Photo by Kekoa Brown/Sko Buffs Sports)

The Colorado Buffaloes (13-2, 4-0 Big 12) swept the Houston Cougars (8-7, 1-3 Big 12) at the CU Events Center in a mid-day game on Saturday. The Buffaloes took the first set 25-20 and held the Cougars to less than 20 in both of the remaining sets, taking them 25-15 and 25-19. 

A dominating performance from both the offense and defense allowed the Buffaloes to only fall behind once across all three sets. The Buffs also cleaned up their attacking errors, as they only committed 12 compared to the 23 in last Thursday's game against UCF.

Ava Burilovic and Sydney Jordan had standout performances in the sweep with 11 kills on 22 attempts and nine kills on 22 attempts, respectively. They combined for 54 percent of the team’s total kills and 59 percent of the team’s total attempts. 

“I’m just kind of stepping into my role, doing anything I can to help the team win,” Jordan said postgame.

The Buffaloes took the first set thanks to 16 kills. The Buffs and Cougars traded points to start, with the Buffs then taking control for a 5-point run for a score of 6-1. This lead would hold as they charged to make it 24-15.

Houston would attempt to claw back from the deficit with a five-point streak during set point. Burilovic would put a stop to the Cougars’ attempted comeback with her fifth kill of the set.

Houston out-killed CU in the second set, but its 11 errors would lead to a CU victory. The set got off to a much closer start than the first, as the Cougars got their first and only lead of the game at  2-1.

It would remain close until momentum swung the Buffs’ way due to multiple kills by Jordan and Houston’s errors beginning to pile up. A timeout by Houston when the score was 15-10 CU would allow the Buffs to regroup and continue their scoring streak to four from before the stoppage.

Houston would call another timeout with the score at 19-11, but CU once again came out of the huddle ready to strike and extended its point streak to four again. After the run, both teams would score four more each, and Buffs fans would get on their feet after a second set victory.

The Buffs came out for the third set ready to send Houston home as Burilovic started with a big kill. Momentum continued to build for CU as they took a 6-1 lead early, but it would swing back Houston’s way and shrink the Buffs’ lead to one.

But the Buffs would keep the lead out of the Cougars' paws, and four points in a row would win them the set and the game. The CU Events Center erupted after the last point from an error by Houston’s Tara Greenberry. Sarah Morton had an impressive third set with three aces, including back-to-back at the end of the set.

Colorado travels to Tucson to play the Arizona Wildcats on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MT on ESPN+, looking to stay undefeated in the Big 12 and keep its win streak alive.