CU’s Women’s Volleyball Team celebrates a point in the game against Iowa State at the CU Events Center on October 25, 2025. (Aspen Doust/CU Independent)
Timely blocks late in the fourth set from juniors Cayla Payne and Ana Burilović helped the No. 24 Colorado Buffaloes women’s volleyball team (19-3, 10-1 Big 12) shut down the Iowa State Cyclones (16-4, 6-3 Big 12) and win 3-1 on Oct. 25. This win marks the fourth straight victory for the Buffs, and they now have the most wins of any team in the Big 12.
Iowa State entered the match ranked third in the Big 12 standings, one place behind Colorado, and was coming off of a 3-0 home win against Arizona two days prior.
“That’s a really good team that we just played,” said Colorado head coach Jesse Mahoney during the post-match press conference. “They pass and defend as well as anybody that we’ve seen this year.”
The match was a war of attrition, with all three of Colorado’s set wins being decided by three points or fewer. When asked during the press conference how the team stays composed in those close, end-of-set situations in order to come out on top, both Payne and Burilović credited the work they do in practice.
“We kind of just talk about falling back on everything that we’ve practiced,” Payne said. “Being disciplined at the net, getting those blocks, and doing the things that we know how to do.”
Payne finished the match with eight total blocks, a season high. Six of those came in the fourth set, which were crucial to ensuring the victory for Colorado.
Burilović had five blocks of her own while also managing to rack up 19 kills, leading the team. She made an impact throughout the match, despite Iowa State’s defense making things difficult and forcing adjustments for Colorado.
It was back-and-forth action early, as each team looked to establish their game in the first set. The first scoring run longer than three points went to Colorado, as they won five straight out of a 7-7 tie to go up 12-7 and force a timeout from Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.
Colorado was able to maintain their lead while Iowa State worked to close the gap. With the score at 23-21 in favor of the Buffs, a kill from Payne got Colorado to set point. Despite a service error from junior Peyton Neal on the following play, Payne answered with another kill to win the first set 25-22 for the Buffs.
Setter Rian Finley sets the ball up in a game against Iowa State at the CU Events Center on October 25, 2025. (Aspen Doust/CU Independent)
The second set was another battle with an even tighter finish. After Colorado took the first three points, Iowa State then went on a six-point run with Rachel Van Gorp serving for the Cyclones.
The Buffs then went on a four-point run to reclaim the lead 10-9, and from then on the two teams were separated by three points or fewer for the remainder of the set. Colorado fought back to take the lead late, 21-20. Coming out of a timeout from Iowa State, it was set point for the Buffs again, and sophomore middle blocker Maria Spławska ended it with an ace to win the set 25-23 and give Colorado a 2-0 lead in the match.
Momentum shifted toward the Cyclones in the third set, however. After the score was 4-3 in favor of Colorado, Iowa State went on a 10-0 run with Morgan Brandt serving, the longest run of the entire match for either team. The deficit was too large for the Buffs to climb out of, and Iowa State took the set 25-16.
In the set, there were eight unforced attack errors by the Buffaloes. Mahoney spoke about some of the team’s struggles in his opening statement at the press conference: “It’s definitely very frustrating. We’re a team that I think has had success throughout the season with serving really well, getting teams out of system, and having a good transition game,” Mahoney explained. “When we couldn’t do that as well as we needed to, it got really frustrating.”
Iowa State carried momentum into the fourth set as they looked to tie the match. The Cyclones led 10-4 at one point, but the Buffaloes began to slowly close the gap once again. When the Buffs were down 14-8, Ana Burilović had a strong kill immediately followed by an ace that helped get the comeback started.
Cayla Payne and Lily Dwinell would later combine for a strong block that got a big reaction from the home crowd, and momentum seemed to shift in the Buffs’ favor. One play later, they tied it at 18 and forced another timeout from Iowa State.
The Buff’s blocking success continued after this, with a big solo-block from Burilović at the end of an 8-1 Colorado run, giving them a 23-19 lead. On Colorado’s fifth set point, they put away the match with another block from Payne, assisted by junior setter Rian Finley. The Buffs took the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.
Following an in-state road matchup against the University of Northern Colorado (9-13, 6-3 Big Sky) on Oct. 28, the Colorado Buffaloes will resume conference play against the No. 18 Baylor Bears (12-6, 7-3 Big 12) at 7 p.m. MT on Oct. 31 at the CU Events Center. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Connor Chase at connor.chase@colorado.edu.
