The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs volleyball team's season came to an end Friday as the Mountain Lions were defeated 3-0 (30-22, 20-28, 34-32) by the Metro State Roadrunners in the first round of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference playoffs in Kearney, Neb.
UCCS finished the 2005 season with a 16-13 record. Metro State (20-7) advances to the semifinals to face the winner of the Mesa State-Colorado School of Mines match.
Andrea Weedman led the Mountain Lions with 12 kills and 12 digs.
Diane Sheldon added 10 kills, while
Kelley Angel had nine kills and a team-high six blocks.
The Mountain Lions were outhit .273 to .088 and outblocked 15 to 7.
Julie Green led Metro State with 14 kills.
Game 1 was tied at 20 when a pair of kills by Sheena Bohannon helped the Roadrunners to a 5-1 run. After a Weedman kill, Metro State scored five straight points to close out the game.
Metro State raced to a 7-2 lead in Game 2 and led 18-11 when Angel had two kills to spark a six-point UCCS run. Later, Weedman had consecutive kills to give the Mountain Lions a 27-25 lead. UCCS led 28-26 when Metro State again closed strong with a four-point rally.
Rather than being deflated by the consecutive late-match swoons, UCCS opened Game 3 with a 6-3 lead. The Mountain Lions led by as many as five (35-20) but again could not close it out. After a kill by Sheldon, UCCS led 29-28 and was serving for game point.
The teams traded points all the way to a 32-all tie. A Metro State block and a UCCS setting error ended the match.
