Colorado and Baylor Sweep Their Way Into NCAA Round Two

MATCH STATS

• Colorado def. JMU 3-0, (25-21, 25-14, 25-12)
• Colorado moves to 23-9; JMU ends season at 23-6
• Waco, Texas
• Attendance: 545
• Box Score

• Baylor def. Miami (OH) 3-0, (25-19, 25-16, 25-21)
• Baylor moves to 24-6; Miami (OH) ends season at 22-9
• Waco, Texas
• Attendance: 1610
• Box Score

WACO, Texas– Colorado defeated JMU and Baylor took down Miami (OH) on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Ferrell Center at Baylor. The Colorado Buffs have now won four first-round NCAA matches in a row and Baylor’s win helped them match their most home wins in program history. The two teams will face each other Saturday night at 8 p.m. as the Bears host Colorado.

Colorado setter, Brynna DeLuzio, ran the offense for the Buffs with 33 assists and 13 digs for a double-double. Frankie Shebby led the team in kills, putting away 12 balls on a .320 clip and scooping up eight digs on the match. Naghede Abu also had an impressive offensive performance with nine kills and one error on 13 attempts for a .615 hitting percentage. The team posted seven blocks.

Liv Crawley fueled the JMU offense with six kills. She was fed by setter, Sarah Martin, who recorded 14 assists. The back row was controlled by libero, Taylor Austin, as she dug up 12.

In the Baylor match, Hannah Lockin delivered 36 assists and Yossiana Pressley put away 17 kills hitting .361. Jana Brusek led the defense with 19 digs. The Bears came away from the match with 59 digs.

Taylor Daignault led the offense for Miami (OH) with six kills, hitting .091. Defensively, Maeve McDonald led the way with 16 digs. Morgan Seaman accounted for 12 of 27 assists for the Redhawks.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Colorado Athletics

WACO, Texas – The University of Colorado advanced to the second round of the 2017 NCAA Volleyball Tournament by sweeping James Madison, 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-12), Friday here at the Farrell Center.

The Buffs improve to 23-9 on the season and have now won four straight first-round matches in NCAA Tournament action dating back to 2005.  The Dukes end their season with a 23-6 record.

WHAT HAPPENED: Colorado and James Madison played the first set fairly evenly before the Buffs took control and never looked back.  Setter Brynna DeLuzio got the middles involved early in the second set and that proved to be the difference in that set then Frankie Shebby took over the third set to get the sweep.

Naghede Abu hit .615 and Anna Pfefferle hit .462 with four blocks to lead the Buffs.  On the outside, Frankie Shebbyled all players with 12 kills and Alexa Smith added eight.  DeLuzio paced the offense with 33 assists and led the charge defensively with 13 digs and Gabby Carta-Samuels added nine digs.  Joslyn Hayes had four kills, four blocks and three digs on the right side.

SET 1: The Buffs and Dukes played the first set evenly early, as neither team had more than a three point lead until the Buffs had a mini 3-0 run that took the set from a 14-13 advantage to an 17-13 advantage.  That run spanned both the media timeout and forced the first Dukes timeout of the set.  The Buffs maintained that 3-5 point advantage until JMU made a run to bring the set within one at 22-21 when CU coach Jesse Mahoney called a Buffs timeout.  CU then won the final three points out of that timeout to take the set, 25-21.  CU hit just .150 (13 kills, 7 errors on 40 attacks) but held the Dukes to .000 (10-10-39).  The Buffs had a balanced attack as Smith had four kills, Pfefferle had three and Abu, Hayes and Shebby each had two.

SET 2: The Buffs jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead in the second set and never looked back. Utilizing the Buffs middle attack, DeLuzio got the ball to Abu and Pfefferle, who each accounted for two points in that 7-1 lead.  The two teams played evenly over the middle part of the match and with the score 17-10 in the Buffs favor; they then pushed their lead into double figures and won the second set, 25-14.  Abu ended the set with five kills and a block while Pfefferle added four kills and an ace.  The Buffs had just one hitting error in the set with an attack percentage of .486 (18-1-35), holding the Dukes to a .171 hitting mark (10-4-35).

SET 3: After the break, the Buffs broke open an early 3-3 tie with a 5-1 run to take a 8-4 lead, and the Dukes responded to bring it within two at 9-7.  CU then rattled off six straight points to take a 15-7 lead and then had another 4-0 lead to take a 20-9 lead before coasting to a 25-12 victory in the set and sweep in the match. Shebby led the Buffs with six kills in the set.  CU hit .300 (12-3-30) and held the Dukes to a negative percentage at -.097 (5-8-31).

NOTES:  This was the first match-up between Colorado and James Madison.  Colorado improved to 3-0 against teams from the Colonial Athletic Conference, also having sweeps over Hofstra (11/29/90) and UNC Wilmington (8/31/07).  The Buffs improved to 12-18 all-time in NCAA Tournament action and are now 9-8 in the first round.  The Buffs have won four consecutive first-round NCAA Tournament matches dating back to 2005.  This is the sixth NCAA Tournament sweep in the CU’s NCAA Tournament history. CU is now 6-3 in neutral court match-ups in the NCAA Tournament.  The Buffs now have 23 wins on the season, the most since 1994 and tied for third-most in CU history.  That 1994 team also had 23 while the 1991 squad had 25 wins and the 1993 team 26.

TEAM STATISTICS: Colorado hit .305 in the match with 43 kills and 11 errors on 105 attacks, holding James Madison barely in plus-territory with a .029 percentage with 25 kills and 22 errors on 105 attacks.  CU had 55 digs to the Dukes’ 43 and led with seven blocks to three and three aces to two.

NEXT UP: Colorado advances to face the winner of No. 12 seed Baylor and Miami (Ohio).  The match will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday here in Waco, Texas.

QUOTES:
Head coach Jesse Mahoney
Opening Statement…
“First of all, congratulations to James Madison for a great season. I thought that they were very well coached. I thought they played with a lot of intensity and certainly pushed us to play as hard as we can, so congratulations to them. I felt like our team, certainly midway through the first set kind of calmed down and relaxed a little bit, played within ourselves. From that point on I was really pleased with the way our offense was spread.”

On the team’s performance…
“I felt like our setter, Brynna DeLuzio], did a really nice job of getting everybody involved. Then towards the ends of sets two and three, I thought defensively we continued to get better, certainly on the blocks. I’m happy for the showing we had, a lot of great individual performances, and like we’ve done all season, a really great team effort.”

Senior Joslyn Hayes
On the difference between the first set and the next two…
“Well, I think that in the first set everybody was nervous, everybody was excited to be in the tournament itself. So just getting the jitters out was ultimately I think the difference. Once we got comfortable we were able to just go and play our own game.”

Senior Anna Pfefferle
On what it means to advance to the second round…
“Having the opportunity to play another game is everything that we’re looking forward to, so as long as we can keep playing we’ll be happy.”

Courtesy of JMU Athletics

WACO, TEXAS – James Madison volleyball dropped a three-set match to Colorado (21-25, 14-25, 12-25) inside the Ferrell Center during Friday’s NCAA First Round.

The Colonial Athletic Association tournament champions closed the season with a 23-6 overall record, the most wins for the program since 1999. Colorado improved to 23-9, and advances to the second round.

MATCH NOTES

• Freshman Liv Crawley led the Dukes with six kills, followed by Taylor Gail, Bryn Recker, M’Kaela White and Kelly Vahos who each tallied four.
• Sophomore setter, Sarah Martin led the Dukes with 14 assists.
• The Dukes tallied 3.0 team blocks, Martin led the way with two, one block assist and one solo block.
• Senior libero Taylor Austin garnered 12 digs, followed by Sarah Driscoll who had 10.
• The Buffaloes were led by Frankie Shebby who had 12 kills and Brynna DeLuzio who led Colorado with 33 assists.

QUOTING COACH STEINBRECHER
“Obviously kudos to Colorado. They’re a very good team and they played great tonight. We had no answer at all for them in sets two and three, but just super proud of our team and the fight we had all year. The opportunity to get here and compete and play, especially these two [Taylor Austin and Bryn Recker], and especially Taylor, our senior libero. Just thankful for everything they gave to our program.”

THANK YOU SENIORS
Though they played their final game as Dukes, the JMU senior class left a mark on this program and excelled to new heights in their careers. Senior Taylor Austin ends her career with 2,083 digs, ranking second all-time at JMU and is only one of two players to ever break 2,000. “With everything that Taylor contributed on the court, her intangibles might be the most significant,” said Coach Steinbrecher. “She is a passionate, competitive, relentless player that gave her heart and soul to this program throughout her career.”

Setter, Amanda Bologna who transferred to JMU as a junior, ends her career as a Duke with 29 assists over 16 sets played and 16 digs. “Only those that are part of the team will ever understand exactly how much Amanda has contributed to this program,” said Coach Steinbrecher. “Her ability to be a role model for our younger player speaks volumes to who she is as a person inside and out.”

The senior class complied 83-39 record and brought home two CAA Championship titles in 2016 and 2017.

Courtesy of Baylor Athletics

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – 12th-seeded Baylor volleyball (24-6) earned its first postseason victory in front of its home crowd with a 3-0 sweep of Miami of Ohio (22-9) in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship First Round Friday night at the Ferrell Center, 25-19, 25-16, 25-21.

In addition to matching their most home wins in program history (13-2), the Bears had 1,610 fans in attendance Friday night which is 10th-best for Ferrell Center volleyball crowds.

Big 12 Freshman of the Year Yossiana Pressley had the best three-set match in postseason history with 17 kills on a .361 hitting effort. Her kill count was 11 more than the Redhawk’s leading attacker, Taylor Daignault (6).

Anchoring the back row, Jana Brusek had a program-best 19 digs in a postseason three-set match. Aniah Philonearly had a double-double with eight kills and 13 dig while Shelly Fanning added 11 kills from the middle.

The Bears came out swinging in set one and jumped out to a 14-6 lead behind key defensive plays by Brusek and Philo, forcing a Redhawk timeout. BU led by as many as 10 before the Redhawks used a 6-1 run to pull within five. Pressley’s fifth kill of the set gave Baylor the early advantage, 25-19.

The second set saw six ties and two lead changes early, but a Camryn Freiberg kill helped BU jump in front by three and force a timeout at 11-7. The Baylor defense held Miami of Ohio to seven kills on a .049 attack clip en route to taking the set, 25-16.

BU came out slow in the third and fell behind 5-1 to force an early timeout. Fueled by a 4-0 run with Braya Hunt at the service line, the Bears drew even and eventually took the lead after a service ace from Pressley. The Bears went on a 3-0 run after an emphatic kill from Tola Itiola to extend its lead and close it out in straight sets.

HIGHLIGHTS
• BU matched its most wins at home in program history (13). Baylor’s 1999 squad finished 13-1 at home.
• Yossiana Pressley’s 17 kills were a program-best in a postseason three-set match.
• Jana Brusek’s 19 digs is the most digs in a three-set match in postseason history.
• Shelly Fanning was the second Bear in double-digit kills with 11.
• Baylor had four different players record a service ace against the Redhawks (Fanning, Philo, Pressley and Brusek).
• In her debut postseason match, Hannah Lockin recorded 36 assists.
• BU has advanced to the NCAA Second Round for the second consecutive year until McGuyre.
• BU is now 1-0 in postseason matches at the Ferrell Center.
• Baylor is now 2-0 all-time against Miami of Ohio.

STAT OF THE MATCH
17 – the program-best postseason kill count by Yossiana Pressley in three sets.

TOP QUOTE
“It was a battle, for sure. I’m not sure it was our sharpest or cleanest match, but the effort was there. For us, it always starts with great effort, and then we’ve got to be a little bit more technical with some of the things we’re doing. On defense, Jana, 19 digs, awesome, awesome job. She’s just been passing lights-out. So, it opened the door for us to continue to do some great things. Yossi really stepped up. Hitting her in the back row, I think, is going to be a force for us through the tournament. And then both of our middles did a good job, either killing the ball or being disruptive.” -head coach Ryan McGuyre

WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor faces Colorado (23-9) in the NCAA Second Round Saturday at 8 p.m. CT in Waco for a spot in the NCAA Sweet 16 next week. Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 2-17) and can be purchased at www.BaylorBears.com or through the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office at 254-710-1000.