COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs will begin to go back through the conference schedule this weekend with matches at Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday and at New Mexico Highlands on Saturday. The Mountain Lions split with the teams two weeks ago at home in a pair of five-set matches.
UCCS won 3-2 against New Mexico Highlands on Sept. 30, with a convincing 15-4 win in the final set. Taylor Hamilton made 20 kills against the Cowgirls and hit .487 in the ninth-best percentage for a five-set match. The match was the start of a four-match road swing for the New Mexico Highlands and it will only be the third home match for the Cowgirls this season.
The Mountain Lions fell 3-2 to Colorado State-Pueblo on Oct. 1, led by Hamilton's 16 kills. It secured two points for the ThunderWolves in the Steel & Silver Series between the two schools and Friday's match will be worth two points in the all-sport competition.
UCCS is coming off a long break after a 3-1 win last Friday at Westminster. Natasha Habert's 34 digs and Alyssa Brinton's 26 kills both rank among the top five performances in a four-set match in program history. Habert is third in the conference with 5.13 digs per set and on pace to break the program digs record by nearly 0.4 digs per set. Brinton is third in the league with 3.95, on pace for fifth in history.
Hamilton and Lauren Brown rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in hitting percentages in the RMAC. UCCS is second in the conference with 13.05 kills per set and third with a .220 team hitting percentage. CSU-Pueblo has the third-best blocking defense in the conference with 2.08 blocks per set.
Morgan Evans can move into fourth in UCCS career assists records with 48 this weekend. She has 2,365 and will need 48 to tie Adrienne Epple's mark set from 1996 through 1999. Evans will then focus on third-place Jessica Stewart's 2,766, a gap of 401 assists.
The ThunderWolves have won two of their last three matches, including the 3-2 win against UCCS on Oct. 1. Katie Burnett is leading the RMAC with 0.45 aces per set and is fourth with five digs per set. CSU-Pueblo is at home for the first time since Sept. 23-24, when the ThunderWolves went 2-0.
New Mexico Highlands is 2-0 at home with victories against Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines. The Cowgirls are on a four-match losing stretch that started with the loss to UCCS two weeks ago.
Live stats, video and audio from both matches will be available for free, with coverage links available at GoMountainLions.com.
