CU’s Women’s Volleyball Team in the postgame huddle after the game against Iowa State at the CU Events Center on Oct. 25, 2025. (Aspen Doust/CU Independent)
The last time the Colorado Buffaloes made the NCAA Tournament, Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. Three years later, the No. 24 Buffaloes return to the dance with aspirations of breaking an eight-year tournament-win drought.
That last tournament win came in a sweep of No. 12 Baylor during the second round of the 2017 playoffs. The Buffaloes have been to the tournament twice since, once in 2018 and again in 2022, both times falling in the first round.
The Sweet 16 is the farthest any CU volleyball team has gone in the postseason, and they’ve only done it once since the NCAA expanded their tournament format to 64 teams in 1998.
Good news: head coach Jesse Mahoney was at the helm during that run, and he has his team in prime position to get back to the Sweet 16 after a 22-8 season and a 12-6 record in the Big 12.
Colorado was rewarded with a No. 5 seed and will play the American Eagles (24-4) as the very first game of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
On that 2022 roster that saw playoff action was at-the-time freshman Rian Finley, who now holds the keys to the Buffs offense as the starting setter heading into the playoffs.
“I think we’re really focused in on our defensive systems and making sure that we’re executing when we need to,” Finley said. “We are hungry and we’re gonna come into practice ready to work so we can make it as far as we can in this tournament.”
Junior setter Rian Finley sets the ball in Colorado’s game win over TCU at the CU Events Center on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Tyler Phillips/CU Independent)
Now a senior, Finley has recorded over 1,000 assists this season while showcasing her volleyball IQ, dumping 43 kills and putting down 41 blocks.
Of her over-1,000 assists, Finley has fed junior pin attacker Ana Burilović, who has the nation’s seventh best tally, 537 kills.
Burilović has recorded double-digit kills in 26 of her 30 matches this season, half of which she recorded 20 kills or more.
The Big 12’s first-teamer offers the offensive presence needed in a team that has hopes of winning games in December, and the impact of her swing is always felt. She has hit the ball 1,347 times this season, good enough for 12th in the nation in attacks.
Finley will look to her arm often, but when she’s not, two other juniors, Cayla Payne and Sydney Jordan also offer some fire power.
“We have to continue to find ways to score in other places,” Mahoney said.
Payne has been excellent near the net this season, putting down nearly 250 kills this season on a .333 hitting percentage, good enough for ninth in the Big 12, all while adding 120 blocks. Her defensive prowess has helped CU to the nation’s 27th best block total this season with 287.5.
Sophomore Maria Spławska has also been a huge defensive help this season, adding 132 blocks to her stat sheet this season. With 1.19 blocks per set, Spławska has grown into her own this season and added a strong attack to her game, slamming down over 100 kills.
Recording 310 digs on just 13 errors this season, senior libero Sarah Morton will look to continue to lock down the defense for the Buffs.
“It’s been the best season I could have asked for, especially for my senior year,” Morton said. “Going into the tournament, we’re hungry.”
Another attacker, Jordan has 266 kills on the season, including an 18-kill performance in the Buffs’ thrilling five-set comeback against UCF earlier this season. Jordan has also provided some life form the service line, recording 35 aces.
On the other side of the net are the Eagles, who won their 19th Patriot League title, going 15-1. American hasn’t been to the tournament since 2019.
Freshman Alex Ioannou, who comes on for her ability to serve the nation’s eighth best ace tally (58), will use her serve to jam up the Buffs and keep them out of rotation.
If they’re able to, the Eagles’ offense will look to their ninth-best hitting percentage (.298) in the nation, led by sophomore Elise Sterling and junior Prinzez Zeck, tied with each other for the 17th-best hitting percentage in the nation (.417) while recording over 350 attacks. While not necessarily high volume, the pair will try to blast through the Buffs’ defense.
Furthermore, the Eagles defense, led by Zeck and Sterling have recorded over 200 blocks this season. But their defensive identity lies in their ability to hold their opponent’s hitting percentage to just .137, good enough for the third best in the nation.
This combination of a top-ten hitting percentage and top-five opponent hitting percentage could spell disaster for Colorado.
This season, the Buffs have struggled when letting their opponent hit over .200, only going 8-8. Their record falls to 0-3 when opponents hit more than .250. Similarly, the Buffs are 0-3 when held to under a .137 hitting percentage this season.
However, Burilović and company will have to dance through the numbers and let it play on the court.
“Everyone is going to play us on a heavy right. So they’re going to try to affect [Burilović] with their serve and with their block,” Mahoney said.
CU’s Women’s Volleyball Team celebrates a point in the game against Iowa State at the CU Events Center on Oct. 25, 2025. (Aspen Doust/CU Independent)
Ranked as a top-sixteen seed in the tournament, No. 17 Indiana has earned the right to host their match as well as the Buffs/Eagles match.
Indiana (23-7) plays Toledo (23-10), a team which the Buffs swept earlier this year. And while the Rockets appear in the nation’s top-15 for six statistical categories, the Hoosiers don’t appear in any.
That match will be played immediately following the Buffs’ and is dripping in upset potential. Should Toledo pull off the upset, it would bode well for Colorado to make their first Sweet 16 in eight years. Even if the Hoosiers fend off the Rockets, they only have a 3-5 record against top-25 teams while the Buffs do slightly better at 4-4.
Past that potential matchup, Colorado should have a date with No. 3 Texas (21-2). The Longhorns lead the nation in kills/set with 14.9, led by junior Torrey Stafford who appears in the top-15 nationally in kills/set (4.68 – 11th) and points/set (5.2 – 13th).
This year’s NCAA Tournament holds intrigue across the board, and while it’s seemingly likely that Colorado will be stopped in their tracks by a hotter team, likely in the Sweet 16, there’s good reason to be optimistic.
“Every team in the tournament is going to have a really good game plan,” Mahoney said. “It’s going to be about execution on both sides.”
Should they win Thursday night against American, the top song on the Billboard Hot 100 – another Swift song, “The Fate of Ophelia.” The Buffs will hope to have a better fate than her.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jake Chau at jake.chau@colorado.edu.
