Mountain Lions rebound from two-set deficit, beat Regis

DENVER - Alex Nuttall had 17 kills and Nicole Pederson had 12 blocks to lead the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to a come-from-behind 3-2 (22-25, 14-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-9) victory over the Regis Rangers Saturday at Regis Fieldhouse.

Having dropped the first two sets, the second a 25-14 spanking, the Mountain Lions faced a 13-9 deficit in Set 3. UCCS rallied for four straight behind kills by Nuttall and Jenica Shippy to tie it at 13, and then again at 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.

Two Regis miscues put UCCS up 22-21. Two more kills by Shippy and a Pederson/Lindsey  Stich block kept the Mountain Lions alive with a 25-21 win.

An 8-2 run with two kills each by Nuttall and Nikki Kinzer broke open an 11-all tie in the fourth set and UCCS cruised to a 25-16 decision and tied the match at two sets each.

The fifth set saw a trio of three-point runs by UCCS as the Mountain Lions completed the comeback with a 15-9 win. Kinzer, Nuttall and Sonja Johnson each had two kills while Pederson had a solo block and two assisted blocks in the deciding set.

For the match, Pederson had four solo and eight assisted blocks. Kinzer and Shippy and 13 and 11 kills respectively, while Stich had 45 assists.

With the win, the Mountain Lions improved to 7-7 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play (13-10 overall), which puts them in ninth place in the conference with four RMAC matches remaining. The positioning is significant because only eight teams qualify for the postseason playoffs. Colorado Christian, Western New Mexico and Fort Lewis are all at 8-6, but the latter two play a considerably softer West Division schedule the rest of the way.

Christina Henzen had a match-high 24 kills and 17 digs for Regis (14-9, 9-5 RMAC).