THIS WEEK'S MATCHUPS
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball team will play their final matches of the regular season this weekend when they head up North to take on No. 1 MSU Denver on Friday, Nov. 12, followed by Saturday's match at Colorado Christian University.  Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.
 
MATCH COVERAGE

• Live Stats at MSUD: https://roadrunnersathletics.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
• Live Stats at CCU: https://ccucougars.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
• Video: https://rmacnetwork.com/gomountainlions

 
LAST TIME OUT

• The Mountain Lions recorded a split in their final home matches of the season, earning a 3-0 win over Black Hills State University on Friday before being swept by the Hardrockers of South Dakota Mines on Saturday.
• Against BHSU, Maren Burkhart tied for match high honors with 10 kills while posting a match high .400 hitting mark on 20 attempts.  Camden Strain followed with nine kills and Lauryn Shockley chipped in eight. Along with Emily Ettel's three kills, she added 28 assists and a block assist.  Hannah Ammerman and Burkhart each assisted on three blocks as UCCS finished the night with five team blocks. 
• On Saturday against SDSM, Shockley tallied a team high 11 kills and hit a solid .364 on 22 attempts and only three errors.  Grace Ferguson chipped in six kills while Ammerman and Burkhart each posted five kills. Jordyn Kinsey protected the back row with a match high 11 digs.
• In the home split, Shockley averaged a team high 3.17 kills per set while hitting .289, as  Burkhart added 15 kills and four assists.  Kinsey served up a team high two aces and added 21 digs, matching Ammerman for the most digs on the team.  Ammerman also added 11 kills, an ace and four blocks.

 
RMAC RECORD/STANDINGS

• MSU Denver continues their reign as the top team in Division II.  The Roadrunners are the only RMAC team undefeated in conference matches with a 16-0 record (22-2 overall). 
• CCU is sitting in the seventh spot in the league standings with a 7-9 RMAC mark (10-14 overall).  UCCS is tied for ninth place in the league with South Dakota Mines, Adams State and New Mexico Highlands.  All four teams are 5-11 and fighting to get one of the top eight seeds for the conference tournament.

 
THE SERIES

• Vs. MSU Denver:  The Mountain Lions trail the Roadrunners in the all-time series, 6-43.  MSU Denver has won the last seven matches against UCCS; the last time UCCS defeated the Roadrunners was a 3-0 home win on Nov. 14, 2015.
• Vs. Colorado Christian: The Mountain Lions are 34-21 all-time against the Cougars.  UCCS has won four of the last five meetings, including last spring's 3-2 win at CCU on March 10, 2021.

 
SCOUTING REPORT

• MSUD Roadrunners: The Roadrunners are riding a 20-match winning streak, 14 of which have been sweeps.  MSU Denver is 16-0 in RMAC matches and 9-0 when playing on their home court this season.  In their first meeting earlier this season on Sept. 24, the Roadrunners swept UCCS in Colorado Springs.
• MSU Denver leads the RMAC in aces (2.0 per set), opponents aces (0.9), and they are third in the league in attack percentage (.259), kills per set (13.9), assists per set (12.9), and blocks per set (2.2).
• Individually, Rylee Hladky is one of the top hitters in the league.  Hladky leads the RMAC in points scored (373.0) and she has the second most kills per set (3.47) and aces per set (0.45).  Avaline Lai is adding offensive power at the net with 3.01 kills per set and a .331 hitting mark.  Libero Ashlyn Cianciulli defends the back row with 3.98 digs per set while serving up 33 aces this season.  Ember Canty's 1.02 blocks per set is the fourth highest average in the league while teammate Mikayla McClinton is nearly averaging 1.00 block per set (0.93).
• CCU Cougars: CCU has suffered setbacks in four of their last five matches.  The Cougars have won nearly half of their home matches (3-4) and earned a 3-2 win over UCCS on Sept. 25 in their first matchup this season.
• Colorado Christian is one of the top blocking teams in the league, averaging 2.0 blocks per set (fourth in the RMAC).  They are putting down 11.6 kills per set and hitting the ball at a .188 rate.
• The offense is led by Breanna Allen with 3.31 kills per set and 243 points this season, ranking her fifth and fourth in the league, respectively, in kills and points.  Also a presence at the net is Lilly Woods with 62 blocks and 125 kills.  Orchestrating the offense is setter Izzy Jones who has the sixth highest assists per set average at 9.03.

HOT TAKES

• In Friday's win over the Yellow Jackets, UCCS' 40 kills were the third most kills this season in a three-set match, while the 108 attempts and 47 digs were the second most in a three-set match.  Friday's sweep was UCCS' first home sweep of the season.
• Jordyn Kinsey is currently sixth in digs in the career record books.  Kinsey has accounted for 1,336 digs in four seasons, and is 70 digs shy of fifth place, held by Kim Catlett (2012-15, 1,406 digs).  She needs 475 digs to become the all-time leader at UCCS, currently owned by Andrea Weedman (2004-07) with 1,811 career digs.
• Jordyn Kinsey's 287 total digs this season are the 16^th most in the RMAC.
• Shockley is ranked in the top 10 in the league in kills per set (fourth, 3.35), total kills (third, 298), attacks per set (eighth, 8.49), total attacks (eighth, 759) and points per set (sixth, 3.71).
• Emily Ettel has tallied 9.22 assists per set and 636 total assists, ranking her fifth and seventh in the league, respectively.   Ettel moved up into the top 10 in the records book for career assists after her 51 assists this past weekend.  She has 1,624 career assists; Leslie McKenzie is the all-time career leader with 3,858 assists.
• UCCS is in the top half of the league in several categories, including hitting percentage (fifth, .214) and kills per set (fifth, 12.43).

 
UCCS UNDER HEAD COACH CHRISSY ELDER

• Chrissy Elder is in her ninth season as the Head Coach for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball program in 2021 after seven consecutive RMAC Tournament appearances for the Mountain Lions.
• Elder won her 100^th match as head coach of the Mountain Lions, accomplishing the feat in a 3-2 home win over Texas A&M International on Friday, Sept. 10.  In nine seasons at UCCS, Elder owns a 105-121 record (.463), and she has a head coaching career record of 112-145 (.436) over 10 seasons.

 
UPCOMING MATCHES

• Following the conclusion of the regular season this weekend, the conference tournament bracket will be announced with the top eight seeds.

 
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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 16 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.