CANYON, TEXAS – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball team opened the 2022 season Friday afternoon with a 3-1 win over St. Mary's University at the West Texas A&M BritKare Lady Buff Classic. The Mountain Lions dropped the night cap match to No. 14 West Texas A&M University, 3-0.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final vs. St. Mary's: 3-1 (25-17, 24-26, 25-19, 26-24) | vs. #14 West Texas, 0-3 (18-25, 10-25, 22-25)
Records: UCCS (1-1, 0-0 RMAC) | SMU (0-2, 0-0 LSC) | WTAMU (2-0, 0-0 LSC)
Facility | Location: WT First United Bank Center | Canyon, Texas
All-Time Series vs. St. Mary's: 3-0 | vs. WTAMU: 0-4
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. ST. MARY'S
- The Mountain Lions opened the season with a convincing 25-17 win in the opening set against St. Mary's after hitting .250 at the net behind 19 kills. Hannah Ammerman was nearly flawless as she hit .500 after putting down five kills on eight attempts. Setter Reilly Babcock made her Mountain Lion debut with 10 assists, two kills and an ace.
- St. Mary's narrowly edged UCCS in set two, 26-24. Ammerman brought the Mountain Lions within two points, 24-22 on a kill from Babcock's assist. Back-to-back kills from Raegen Emery knotted the set at 24-all, before the Rattlers ended the set with a kill and a blocked attempt.
- Set three belonged to the Mountain Lions as they took a 2-1 advantage in the match with a 25-19 set win. Ammerman rattled off seven straight serves as UCCS went on a 6-0 run before. After a service error, the Mountain Lions quickly regained the serve when Babcock connected with Geiger for a kill, followed by two aces and five straight serves from Madison McIntosh. Leading 14-7, UCCS cruised to the set win heading into the four set.
- The Mountain Lions notched a monumental comeback in the fourth set to win the season opening match, 26-24. Trailing 23-15, the Mountain Lions called a timeout to regroup and it paid dividends that resulted in the win. After the time out, Babcock and Nicole Medlin blocked a Rattler attack followed by a kill from Lauryn Shockley and an ace from Babcock. With set point on the line, 24-19, SMU committed an attack error followed by a kill from Emery, another SMU attack error and a kill from Medlin to bring UCCS within one point of the Rattlers, 24-23, forcing SMU to call a timeout. Ammerman put down her 11th kill of the afternoon to knot the set, 24-24, before Emery gave the Mountain Lions just their second lead of the set, 25-24. Medlin and Emery put the finishing touches on St. Mary's, blocking their attack to seal the match win, 3-1.
MATCH STATISTICS VS. ST. MARY'S
- Four Mountain Lions recorded double digit kills behind Emery's match high 13. Shockley chipped in 12 kills as Ammerman and Geiger each registered 11 apiece.
- Babcock hit a solid .455 behind six kills and just one error on 11 attempts to go with her match high 42 set assists and two aces.
- Madison McIntosh served up three aces and dug up nine attacks. Jordyn Kinsey posted 11 digs and an ace.
- UCCS defended the net with six blocks. Medlin paced the defense with three block assists and a solo block as Emery and Geiger each tallied two block assists.
- The Rattlers' were led by Lindsey Ogle's 11 kills.
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. WEST TEXAS
- The 14th ranked team in Division II swept the Mountain Lions in the night match, 18-25, 10-25 and 22-25. UCCS opened the match with a 3-0 lead but the Buffs knotted the set at 3-3 and quickly snagged an 8-4 lead over the Mountain Lions. WT held UCCS to seven kills and forced seven hitting errors while posting 11 kills for the home team. Ammerman accounted for four of UCCS' seven kills on nine attempts and just one error.
- West Texas wasted no time in the second set, accruing a 14-0 lead. The Mountain Lions battled back to put 10 points on the scoreboard before the Buffs ended the set, 25-10.
- UCCS rebounded in the third set and rattled off five straight points to gain a 6-2 lead as Ammerman, Medlin and Emery recorded kills. Emery and Medlin added to the scoring run with a block to go with an ace from Lauryn Shockley. The Buffs broke a 7-7 tie to score four straight points and take an 11-7 lead they would not relinquish, taking the match win, 3-0.
MATCH STATISTICS VS. WEST TEXAS
- Ammerman hit a team high seven kills and .174 at the net. Defensively, she posted two block assists and six digs. Medlin tied for match high honors with four block assists to go with four kills.
- Setting the offense was Babcock who registered 15 of UCCS' 23 assists.
- The Mountain Lions finished the match with 26 kills on 112 attempts and a .000 hitting mark. Babcock, Shockley and Geiger each served up an ace as Kinsey dug up a team high seven digs.
- West Texas' Kayla Elliott posted a match high 11 kills and didn't commit an error on 16 attempts to finish the match with a .688 attack percentage. WT dug up 45 Mountain Lion attacks and were paced by Brylie Contreras match high 15 digs.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Today's matches marked the first career matches for first-year head coach Tara Hittle.
- The season opening match against St. Mary's is the first time UCCS played the Rattlers away from home. UCCS has not played SMU since 2005.
- All four meetings against the Buffs have occurred in Canyon, Texas.
- The Mountain Lions have been tabbed to finish eighth in the RMAC preseason coaches' poll, up four spots from last year's 12th place finish in the league.
- Kinsey is currently ranked third all-time in the career record books with 3.85 digs per set, and sixth all-time for most digs (1,381). She needs only 25 digs to move into fifth place.
- Shockley has started 77 matches in her career at UCCS, the ninth most starts in program history. She will move up to eighth all-time with six more starts.
UP NEXT
- The Mountain Lions close out their season opening weekend tomorrow against Adams State University at 8 a.m. (MT) and No. 14 Missouri Western State University at 1 p.m. (MT).
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
