The Big 12 Conference announced its 2025 women’s volleyball schedule last week. It won’t be an easy start for the Colorado Buffaloes in their second season back in the league.

The Buffs begin conference play with a two-game trip to Utah, visiting BYU on Sept. 25 and the Utah Utes on Sept. 27. CU also began the 2024 Big 12 season with the same two-game trip through Utah.

CU fans will be treated to appearances by five teams that didn’t visit Boulder last year — Central Florida (Oct. 2), Houston (Oct. 4), Iowa State (Oct. 25), Baylor (Oct. 31) and TCU (Nov. 13). The home ledger also includes dates against Utah (Oct. 15), West Virginia (Oct. 18), Arizona State (Nov. 15) and, in the regular season finale, BYU (Nov. 29).

The Buffs’ nonconference schedule will be released at a later date, and most conference games will be available on ESPN+. CU finished 13-17 last season, the ninth under head coach Jesse Mahoney, with a 6-12 mark in the Big 12.

More CUSPYs

Among a few of the other winners from CU’s CUSPY (CU Sports Performers of the Year) Awards, fifth-year basketball standout Frida Formann took home the Female Career Athletic Achievement Award. The other senior finalists were Hanna Abrahamsson (Nordic skiing), Shyra James (soccer), Madeline Pisani (lacrosse), Taylor Simpson (volleyball) and Mila Stanojevic (tennis).

The Sports Performance Awards — essentially the “lifters of the year” — went to Jada Green (track and field) and Morgan Pence (lacrosse) for the women, plus Sam Beckham (track and field) and Freddy Eisenbeis (golf) for the men.

The Ceal Barry Leadership Awards, given to the student-athletes who “most effectively inspire their team” were presented to Riley Burkey (track and field), Jacob Dilling (alpine skiing), Maria Eidhagen Harrouch (golf), Ben Finneseth (football), Jordan Nytes (soccer) and Arden Walker (football).

The Byron R. White Leadership and Initiative Award was given to Camden Dempsey (football); Samantha Lipka (lacrosse); Sophie Spalding (Nordic skiing); and Marco Martinez, Gustavo Alfonso and Green (track and field).

Notable

CU running back Dallan Hayden will host a Lead & Read event at University Hill Elementary School on Wednesday morning. The event is being co-sponsored by the Lids Foundation and Champions for Literacy, which will present a check to the school for a grant to restock the library shelves. … Earlier this month, CU volleyball added to its incoming 2025 freshman class with Nikki Ott, a defensive specialist/libero from Valley, Neb. … The CU men’s golf team will likely land an NCAA regional berth when the postseason fields are announced Wednesday.