Mountain Lions very good, not so good in loss to Adams State

ALAMOSA- Like the little girl with the curl, when the Mountain Lions are good, they are very, very good. When they are bad, well, you know the rest. Sometimes, they can be both in the same match.

Andrea Tuck and Sarah Dirmeyer had 17 and 16 kills respectively to lead the Adams Sate Grizzlies to a 3-2 (19-25, 25-7, 25-15, 24-26, 15-11) victory over the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Friday evening at Plachy Hall.

The Mountain Lions were either very good or very bad in this match, shunning any middle ground. In the first and fourth sets, which they won, they held Adams State to hitting marks of -.050 and .082. In the second and third sets, the Grizzlies hit .583 and .417.

“There's a combination of factors going into that,” said UCCS coach Jessica Wood."œ(We were) a little up and down mentally, but definitely more up than down.

“Our team did a good job of making adjustments. When we made those adjustments, we were right back in the game.”

Little wonder, then, with the schizophrenic nature of the match, that it came down to the fifth set. After falling behind 5-2, the Mountain Lions got two kills by Molly Crockett and an assisted block by Crockett and Karina Miastkowska to tie it at five. It was still tied at eight when, after a UCCS hitting error, A.J. Palmer served a three-point rally to give the Grizzlies a 12-8 advantage. UCCS could do no better than trade points the rest of the way.

Crockett led the Mountain Lions (7-9, 2-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) with 11 kills and five service aces. The freshman from Colorado Springs also had 13 digs.

Andrea Brodie added 10 kills for UCCS. Kelsey Pobar led the defense with a team-high 21 digs while Kim Boogaard had a solo block and assisted on six others. Jessica Stewart, the Mountain Lions'lone senior, had 32 assists and 15 digs.

Palmer was daunting in the service game for Adams State (8-7, 5-3 RMAC). The freshman from Rampart High School in Colorado Springs served a seven-point run in the second set, five straight points in the third set, four straight in the fourth set and the key three-point rally in the fifth.

“She's a great player all-around,” said Wood."œShe's a tough server and she knows the game very, very well.”

While Palmer had only two aces (teammate Tuck had five), she forced bad pass after bad pass with deft placement and changes in trajectory.

She served us tough, she picked apart our weaknesses, but we also struggled with some of our passing,” said Wood."œIt was a two-way deal. That serve-receive lineup, we have to figure out a way to make it tougher so that doesn't happen again.”

Despite the loss, Wood feels her young team (six freshmen and two sophomores) is on track.

“They're maturing the right way at the right pace,” said Wood."œWe're making the right steps. Maturation has been slowed a little bit due to injuries. It's taken a little longer than we expected because of that.”