COLORADO SPRINGS -
Nikki Kinzer had 21 kills and hit .562 as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs defeated the Western State Mountaineers 3-2 (27-29, 25-15, 25-19, 23-25, 15-5) Saturday evening at the Gallogly Events Center.
Fellow middle blocker
Megan Koop added 17 kills. The duo had just eight hitting errors, allowing them to hit a combined .448.
It was the third consecutive win for the Mountain Lions after a five-match skid.
"A win is a win is a win. We'll take it," said UCCS coach Keith Barnett. "Three and oh this weekend. To quote Al Davis, 'Just win, baby.'"
Pretty it wasn't. UCCS led 24-18 in the first set before surrendering seven straight points, the final two on kills by Sara Larson. The Mountain Lions had set point again at 27-26, but Western State scored three straight to take the set 29-27.
UCCS recovered to take the second and third sets. Leading 8-7 in the second set, a kill by Kinzer put
Laura Loosbrock on the service line. Three more kills by Kinzer and three aces by Loosbrock helped the Mountain Lions to a 12-point run and, ultimately, a 25-15 set win.
Skylar Lewandowski served a 7-0 lead, including a pair of aces, to start the third set. The Mountaineers closed to within two at 12-10 but couldn't get any closer.
But just when it looked as if UCCS would put them away, the scrappy Mountaineers took the fourth set behind six kills by Kallee Cool.
That forced a deciding fifth set where Kinzer took over. The senior from Colorado Springs had four kills and assisted on two blocks in the set.
Sonja Johnson added two of her 11 kills in the deciding set as UCCS closed it out 15-5.
Larson led Western State (5-15, 2-10 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) with 12 kills. Sami Fuentes had a match-high 33 digs, while setter Molly Dolson added 34 assists, 18 digs and eight kills.
Lewandowski and Johnson had 26 and 21 digs respectively for UCCS (12-9, 7-5 RMAC). Kinzer had a solo block and five assisted blocks, while setter
Cindy Bathelt had 56 assists, 16 digs, five kills and four assisted blocks.
