The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is off to its best start in three years as the Mountain Lions won three out of four matches in a season-opening tournament in Stephenville, Texas.
CU-Colorado Springs lost the opening game Friday against Angelo State 3-1 before putting together three straight dominating wins. The Mountain Lions swept Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday and also needed just three games to beat both Dallas Baptist and Tarleton State on Saturday.
It's the first three-match winning streak for the Mountain Lions since the 2002 season. In fact, CU-Colorado Springs won just five times all of last season.
"I knew we would come out and play well but I didn't expect this," said coach Jessica Wood. "This just shows how hard we've worked over the last three weeks. All these girls came out and played so strong."
Setter
Lindsey Hillegass and freshman outside hitter
Andrea Weedman were named to the All-Tournament team. Hillegass put the ball where it needed to be all weekend and the Mountain Lion hitters took full advantage. CU-Colorado Springs hit over .300 as a team twice.
"There were times our hitters were unstoppable," said Wood.
Jill Wrenn had nine kills and hit .750 against SE Oklahoma State. Kelly Angel and
Kelly Olson also both hit over .400 as they lead the Mountain Lions to the 30-20, 30-15, 30-24 win.
Olson and Wrenn combined for 20 more kills against Dallas Baptist. Weedman added nine kill, four aces and six digs. The most entertaining match of the weekend was the final one versus tournament host Tarleton State.
The Mountain Lions took Game 1 30-26 but found themselves trailing the second one 29-25. CU-Colorado Springs battled back to tie the game then eventually went on to win 40-38.
"We had our backs against the wall and we came out and responded," said Wood. "It said a lot about the mental toughness of our team."
The Mountain Lions put the match away, winning Game 3 30-24. Olson had a game-high 15 kills and Hillegass had 43 assists and three aces.
"This is a great start for us but there is still a lot of work to be done," said Wood.
The Mountain Lions work will continue this weekend when they travel to Gunnison, Colo. to play in the Western State Tournament.
