Metro State tops Mountain Lions

DENVER - The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs had hopes of ending 10 years of Metro State domination Thursday night. After the Roadrunners' 3-0 (30-24, 30-23, 30-23) win at the Auraria Events Center, the Mountain Lions must reserve that hope until year 11.

Or perhaps until the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference playoffs.

Despite the loss, CU-Colorado Springs is 10-7, 5-4 in the RMAC. That record has gotten the Mountain Lions thinking something that seemed impossible the over past two years when the team won a combined 10 matches. It's got them thinking about qualifying for the RMAC playoffs.

Coming into Thursday night^'s match, Metro State (8-10, 5-4 RMAC) had beaten CU-Colorado Springs 19 times in 20 meetings. The only time the Mountain Lions won in the series, they weren^'t called the Mountain Lions - they were the Gold. That was on September 28, 1994, or 10 years and 10 days ago.

With the Roadrunners entering the match sporting a very un-Metro-State-like 7-10 record, Thursday looked to be a golden opportunity to avenge a decade of frustration.

"They are a good team. They^'ve been in the top four in the country for the past four years," said fifth-year senior Kelly Olson, who has faced Metro State more times than any other Mountain Lion. "We wanted to come in and win, especially this year."

That decade of futility, though, weighed heavily on CU-Colorado Springs from the outset. Aided by a couple of Mountain Lions miscues - including a rotation error - Metro State raced to a 9-3 lead. CU-Colorado Springs closed the gap with a six-point rally that made the score 27-23, but could not maintain the momentum and lost Game 1 30-24.

"Metro came out today and played well," said Olson, who had four kills. "They scouted us and knew where we hit and they were ready for us.

"We came out a little low, which was disappointing."

The Mountain Lions were much more effective early in Game 2, a seesaw affair that CU-Colorado Springs rode to a 22-all tie. Metro State, though, put down a pair of service aces and the Mountain Lions helped with a net violation and an overpass to give the Roadrunners eight of the final nine points and a two-game advantage.

A Wrenn kill gave the Mountain Lions their biggest lead of the match at 11-8 in Game 3, giving them hope that they might do something no CU-Colorado Springs team had done since 1999 - win a game against Metro State. The Roadrunners erased that hope by going on a 12-5 run, then cruising to a 30-23 win.

"I think they were ready to go tonight and we were not," said Kelley Angel, who had nine kills and a team-high .333 hitting percentage. "It^'s always disappointing to lose, but it^'s really disappointing to lose when you know you should have won."

Jill Wrenn and Caroline Ottino led CU-Colorado Springs with 10 kills each, while Andrea Weedman paced the defense with 15 digs. Setter Lindsey Hillegass was her usual steady self with 32 assists.

Sheena McLaughlin had a match-high 16 kills for Metro State, while Julie Green added 15.

"It^'s one thing to lose when you know you played as good as you can, but we can^'t honestly say we did that tonight," said Angel.

The Mountain Lions can only hope they will if they meet Metro State again in the playoffs.