As the wins pile up, so does a level of attention not previously experienced by most of the players on the Colorado volleyball team.
The Buffaloes rejoined the AVCA Top 25 this week for the first time in four years, cracking the poll at No. 24. CU (13-2) is 4-0 in Big 12 play, only the third time since 1998 the Buffs have won their first four conference games. The one other time that happened since 1998 was a 4-0 start in the conference-only, pandemic-delayed 2020 played in early 2021, when the Buffs opened with four straight fan-less wins at home.
The hot start to league play also has garnered the Buffs some individual honors, as Ana Burilovic was named the national AVCA player of the week last week as well as the Big 12 offensive player of the week. Still, as good as Burilovic and the Buffs have been, they aren’t concerned with individual accolades.
CU puts its newly-minted ranking to the test this week on the road, facing Arizona on Wednesday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+) before a big Friday night battle at No. 8 Arizona State (8 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
“It’s kind of the beginning of conference play. It’s great, but I don’t like to get all in my head,” Burilovic said of last week’s individual honor. “It’s a team sport. It doesn’t matter how well I do. We want to do well as a team.”
The Buffs have tied the 1998 squad for the best 15-game start in program history, and Burilovic has been central to that run. The junior from Croatia began the week leading the Big 12 in points per set (5.91) while also ranking second in kills per set (4.92) and total aces (31).
Burilovic certainly hasn’t done it alone, though. In her first year as the starting setter, Rian Finley ranks second in the conference with 10.65 assists per set. Maria Splawska and Cayla Payne have formed a formidable duo in the middle of CU’s defense, with Payne also ranking 10th in the Big 12 with a .341 hitting percentage.
In a positive sign for the Buffs going into another tough road trip, they have posted a 4-1 mark in true road games, including wins two weeks ago against nationally-ranked teams from BYU and Utah. Those two wins occurred less than a week after CU was swept by state rival Colorado State, which at the time felt like a rude awakening after the Buffs’ 9-0 start.
However, the Buffs recovered from those losses to post just the second two-game road sweep against ranked teams in program history. And CU has managed to ride the momentum into a promising start in conference play.
“We have good days and we have bad days at practice, like every team, every human being does. But those moments, it’s how you respond to those moments,” said CU libero Sarah Morton, whose 3.49 digs per set ranks eight in the Big 12. “We’re going to have bad moments in practice like you have bad moments in a game. So, how are you going to turn it around? How are we going to respond?
“A lot of the time in the locker room we talk about pouring into each other. Letting the bad just roll right off. I think that’s really been executed.”
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