Mountain Lions left out of the 2012 NCAA tournament
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The University of Colorado Colorado Springs missed the 2012 NCAA Division II women's volleyball regional tournament as announced by the NCAA Sunday night. UCCS concluded their season last Tuesday in the quarterfinal match of the 2012 RMAC tournament.
The Mountain Lions finished the season with a record of 18-11 overall, 12-7 RMAC. UCCS had a 10 match home winning streak this season, which was the longest home streak in school history, and only the '93 team had more home wins than the team did this year going 10-4.
Head coach, Keith Barnett, is the fastest coach to 50 wins in program history, and moved into second all-time this season in career wins at UCCS with 68. Barnett surpassed Faye Bozorgzad (1989-1992), with 58 wins and now only trails Jessica Wood (2004-2008) who has 78.
Senior middle blocker, Nikki Kinzer, also finder herself atop the leader boards for career records at UCCS. This season, she broke the all-time school block assist record which was held for 20 years by Joy Blake (1989-1992) who had 351. Kinzer finishes her collegiate career first all-time in UCCS history for block assists with 386, second all-time in the rally scoring era (since 2001) for career solo blocks with 43, and eighth all-time for career kills with 880.
This season, Kinzer also earned the honors of RMAC defensive player of the week four times, RMAC player of the month for September, and was the RMAC defensive player of the year. She was also named to the RMAC All-Academic First Team.
The Mountain Lions had a few other key seniors whose accolades helped led the team to a successful season. Setter Lindsey Stich took over the reigns and anchored the UCCS offense all season recording 730 assists. She moved into eighth all-time for career assists in school history this season with 1,709. Middle blockers Megan Koop and Amy Einspahr were each named to the 2012 Mountain Lion Invitational First Team.
Eight teams from the South Central Region, including five from the RMAC, qualified for the national tournament.
UCCS Players/Staff Featured | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xsl:value-of select="@CoachName" /> | Head Coach | |||
 | Nikki Kinzer | 2 | MB | Sr |
 | Lindsey Stich | 1 | S | Sr |
 | Megan Koop | 14 | MB | Sr |
 | Amy Einspahr | 15 | MB/OPP | Sr |
 | Nikki Kinzer | 2 | MB | |
 | Nikki Kinzer | 2 | MB | |
| Additional News Stories | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| January 16, 2013 |  | Mountain Lions Sign Three For Fall 2013 | COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The University of Colorado Colorado Springs announces three new additions to the Mountain Lion volleyball team for next season. Cameron Girard, Morgan Evans and Emily Whitelaw have all signed letters of intent during the early signing period to join UCCS in the Fall. |
| January 10, 2013 |  | Elder Named Next UCCS Head Volleyball Coach | The University of Colorado Colorado Springs is proud to announce Chrissy Elder as the new head coach of the UCCS volleyball team. She spent the last four seasons as the Head Assistant Coach at the University of Central Missouri. |
| December 5, 2012 |  | Kinzer Earns Spot on Daktronics All-America Third Team | University of Colorado Colorado Springs senior middle blocker Nikki Kinzer finished a record-setting career with a spot on the Daktronics All-America Third Team, announced this morning by the Division II Sports Information Directors. She's the first All-American in program history. |
| December 4, 2012 |  | Barnett Resigns as UCCS Head Volleyball Coach | Keith Barnett, the four-year Head Volleyball Coach for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, resigned his position this morning. His resignation will be effective immediately. The Mountain Lions advanced to the RMAC tournament for the seventh time in the last nine seasons and for the third time under Barnett in 2011. |
| November 27, 2012 |  | Kinzer Earns Daktronics All-South Central Region First Team Honor | LAKEWOOD, Colo. - Nikki Kinzer, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs career record holder in block assists, earned Daktronics First Team All-South Central Region honors today. The RMAC Defensive Player of the Year will advance to the national ballot for All-America consideration. |
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