LAKELAND, Fla. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs finished with 71 kills, the most in a four-set match since 2007, and improved to 5-2 on the season with a 3-1 regional win against Texas Woman's at the Florida Southern Terrace Classic. The Mountain Lions won with 25-15, 26-24, 25-27 and 25-19 scores against the Pioneers (3-4).
Alyssa Brinton accounted for 19 of those kills and
Lauren Brown added a season-high 17 kills with four blocks.
Morgan Evans made a season-high 55 assists and
Natasha Habert led the back line with a season-high 33 digs.
UCCS opened the first set with a 12-2 run and
Grace Nelson had three kills during the first six points for the Mountain Lions. The Pioneers got as close as six points within UCCS, but couldn't get closer as the Mountain Lions finished the set with 19 kills in a 25-15 set win.
The Mountain Lions opened another early lead with a 6-1 advantage in the second set, but the Pioneers caught UCCS at 14-14 with six straight points midway through the set. Texas Woman's led 23-21 after a four-point rally, but a kill from Brown sparked a three-point run to make it set point for UCCS at 24-23. The Pioneers tied the set again at 24-24, but a kill from Nelson and an attack error by Texas Woman's made it a 2-0 match lead for the Mountain Lions on a 26-24 set victory.
UCCS and Texas Woman's tied 11 times in the third set, the last at 25-25 as the Mountain Lions put together a 5-1 run against the Pioneers late in the set. Texas Woman's held off UCCS to earn the third set decision in a 27-25 score.
The Mountain Lions built a 7-3 lead to start the fourth set, and expanded it to 13-7 to force Texas Woman's to use both timeouts at each point. The Pioneers closed the UCCS lead down to three points at 17-14, but couldn't put together back-to-back points against the Mountain Lions as Brinton secured the match with a kill in the 25-19 set.
The Mountain Lions hit .233 in the best hitting percentage of this weekend. UCCS is 5-2 in the best start to a season since 2009. A win tonight would mark the best start since 2001.
UCCS will take on the host Florida Southern to finish the weekend at 5 p.m., MDT. The Moccasins (5-1) won both of their matches of the weekend in 3-0 sweeps against Texas Woman's and LIU-Post.
