Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 TOPEKA, Kansas – The 2021 season began Friday morning for the University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball team in Topeka, Kansas at the Washburn Invitational, held at Lee Arena.  The Mountains fell in the opening match to host school No. 8 Washburn but came back to earn their first win of the season in three straight sets over the Beavers of Minot State University.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: vs. Washburn, 1-3 (5-25, 24-26, 11-25, 13-25) | vs. Minot State University, 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-20)
Records: UCCS (1-1, 0-0 RMAC) | Washburn (2-0, 0-0 MIAA) | Minot State (0-2, 0-0 NSIC)
Facility | Location:  Lee Arena | Topeka, Kan.
All-Time Series: vs. Washburn: 0-8, vs. Minot State: 2-0
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
VS. #8 WASHBURN
The Mountain Lions suffered a 25-5 loss in their opening set of the season but bounced back to even the match at 1-1 with a 26-24 win in set two.  Washburn finished the match besting the Mountain Lions 25-11 and 25-13 in sets three and four, respectively.
 
UCCS had set point in the second set, 24-21, but WU rattled off a kill by Kelsey Gordon and an ace from Chloe Paschal before UCCS committed an attack error to even the set at 24-24.  The Mountain Lions eared the set win, 26-24, after forcing the Ichabods into two straight attacking errors.
 
Lauryn Shockley paced the Mountain Lions with 12 kills and hit a team high .182.  Emily Ettel accounted for 25 of the Mountain Lions 26 assists.  Jordyn Kinsey totaled 14 digs in the back row and added two aces.  Defensively at the net, Hannah Ammerman and Maren Burkhardt combined for seven block assists as UCCS finished with four team blocks.
 
Gordon paced the Ichabods with 10 kills just ahead of teammates Genna Berg and Allison Maxwell's nine kills each.
 
The Mountain Lions committed 30 attacking errors with 28 kills on the flip side to finish the match with a -.016 hitting percentage.  Conversely, the eighth ranked team in Division II put down 50 kills and committed only 11 errors on 107 attempts for a .364 hitting mark.
 
VS. MINOT STATE
UCCS quickly bounced back in the afternoon set to sweep Minot State for their first win of the 2021 season after holding the Beavers to 34 points.  The Mountain Lions, who trailed only once in the match, were near perfect at the net, accumulating 41 kills with only six errors for a .372 hitting mark.
 
UCCS was on fire in the opening set, striking down 16 kills and only one error for a solid .536 hitting percentage and a 75.0 sideout percentage.  Five of Camden Strain's 10 kills in the match came in the first set while Ettel dished up 12 of her 29 assists.
 
The Mountain Lions kept the momentum going in the second set, holding the Beavers to only 12 points again. Shockly tallied six of the team's nine kills in the set and did not commit an error on nine attempts (.667).  Both of Kinsey's and Ammerman's aces came in the second set while Kinsey dug up five attacks. 
 
In the final set, the Beavers competed with the Mountain Lions putting 20 points on the scoreboard, but 12 kills, four aces and a block by UCCS staved off MSU's bid for a set win.  Strain hit .600 at the net with four kills and added an assist.
 
Shockley and Strain combined for 21 of UCCS' 41 kills. Ettel quarterbacked the offense with 29 assists and chipped in three aces.  Burkhart and Shockley also registered three aces as UCCS finished the match with 13 aces.
 
 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
Head coach Chrissy Elder is one win away from earning her 100th win at UCCS.  In nine seasons on the sidelines for the Mountain Lions, Elder is 99-109 overall.  In 10 years as a head coach, she owns a 106-132 record.
 
The 3-0 sweep over the Beavers marked back-to-back matches the Mountain Lions have swept Minot State.  UCCS is 2-0 all-time against MSU, besting the Beavers in three sets in their first ever meeting on Sept. 14, 2019 at the UCCS Mountain Lion Classic.
 
UCCS' 13 aces against Minot State is the second most in program history (14), and the most since Oct. 29, 2004 against Western State.
 
The Mountain Lions will have to wait until their next meeting with the Ichabods to try and defeat WU for the first time in program history.  UCCS has lost all eight meetings against Washburn, including the last four matches by a score of 3-1.
 
The five points scored in the season opening set are the fewest points scored by the Mountain Lions since rally scoring began in 2001.
 
 
UP NEXT
The Mountain Lions return to the court Saturday morning at 8 a.m. against William Jewell before closing out the Washburn Invitational at 1:30 p.m. against No. 25 Rockhurst University.
 
 
SOCIAL
Twitter - @GoMountainLions
Instagram - @gomountainlions
Facebook – Go Mountain Lions
 
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.