Relentless was a popular word late Thursday night at the Coors Events Center.

Colorado volleyball players used it at least five times in their postgame press conference. It was a good choice after what the Buffs did to beat New Mexico State.

The Buffs were relentless in how they convincingly won the first two games in the teams' first-round NCAA Tournament match. They were relentless in how they came back from an eight-point deficit in the third game to tie it 30-30. And they were relentless in how they advanced to the second round for the first time in five years.

Colorado beat the No. 19-ranked Aggies 30-24, 30-20, 34-32 in the first NCAA match at CU since 1997. It set the Buffs up for a 7 p.m. match at home today against defending national champion Washington for a chance to go to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997.

"I think this team may be a little different because we're relentless. We've been down a couple time and we refuse to give up," senior setter Ashley Nu'u said. "That means the players on the floor to the players on the bench and the coaches all doing that."

There isn't much time for the Buffs to recover. The Huskies (26-4) are the sixth-seeded team in the tournament, but are ranked No. 3 in

the coaches' poll. They beat Colorado State, 3-1, Thursday and feature outside hitter Christal Morrison and setter Courtney Thompson. Morrison was this year's Pac-10 player of the year and Thompson was last year's national player of the year.

"We feel like we can beat anyone," said CU outside hitter Amber Sutherland, who tied Mallori Gibson for the team lead in kills, with 13. "We just try to focus on the next game and make sure that is what we're prepared for."

The Buffs (17-11) had extra motivation to hang on like they did against New Mexico St., which finished the season 33-4. Colorado lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2003, 2004 and 2005. When they trailed NMSU 18-12 in the third game, some of the bad memories from those years came back.

"Yeah, just a little motivation," senior middle blocker Amber Sutherland said with sarcasm.

CU cut the lead to 28-26 and eventually tied it at 28-28. That had the crowd of 1,564 on its feet in anticipation of a sweep that seemed impossible only a few points before. The teams then traded leads all the way to 32-32.

It took some improbable plays and some improbable players to keep CU in the game. Nu'u made the most acrobatic of the plays when she dove at a ball that was falling parallel to the net. It was quickly falling out of bounds and would have been a point for the Aggies. Instead Nu'u stretched her arm and put her fist between the ball and the floor. It spun up and over the net where it landed out of the reach of any Aggie.

Nu'u was first-team All-Big 12. She is expected to come up big for her team. But her less-heralded twin sister also did the same. Amber Nu'u came off the bench late in the game for a few key digs and an ace that really got the crowd going.

"Amber did some real nice things for us," CU coach Pi'i Aiu said. "She makes you look good as coaches when she does that for you."

Colorado will likely need the attitude from Thursday to carry over to today if it's going to win. The Huskies beat the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-ranked teams this season and may have received a wake up call from the Rams when they lost the first game of their match.

"I think we're ready to play them," Ashley Nu'u said. "They are really consistent, they don't make a lot of errors and I think (Thompson) really rallies them up. I think we can come in ready to give them a game and hopefully advance to the round of 16."