DENVER, Colo. – No. 2 seed University of Colorado Colorado Springs took down No. 3 seed Colorado State University Pueblo in three sets Friday night at No. 1 seed Metropolitan State University of Denver in the semifinal match of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament.  The win marked the Mountain Lions' 14^th straight victory and advances them to the RMAC Championship Tournament match tomorrow night against the No. 9 Roadrunners.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP

• Final Score: W, 3-2 (25-22, 25-17, 27-25)
• Records: UCCS (26-2, 13-1 RMAC) | CSUP (20-8, 11-3 RMAC)
• Facility | Location: MSUD Auraria Event Center | Denver, Colo.
• All-Time Series: The Mountain Lions are 33-35 in the all-time series against the ThunderWolves.  UCCS is 2-3 against the Pack in neutral-site matches.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Michelle Fredrick got the starting nod tonight and gave UCCS the first two points of the night on back-to-back kills.  Two straight CSU Pueblo errors pushed the lead for UCCS, 5-2, but the ThunderWolves went on a 5-0 run to take their first lead of the set, 7-5.  Trailing 10-8, the Mountain Lions ignited for a 6-3 run as five Mountain Lions put down six kills.  A kill from Payton Tompkins tied the set at 17-17 and fueled a 5-1 run by UCCS, which took a 22-18 lead.  The Pack dished up an ace to cut into UCCS' lead, 24-22, forcing head coach Tara Hittle to call a timeout, but Nicole Martin fired off a kill to seal the opening set win, 25-22.
• Both teams kept it tight in the early action of set two as there were three scoring ties in the first six rallies.  Three straight kills from Sydney Hyde, Kinley Gomez and Sydnee Walker broke a 3-3 tie and gave the black and gold a three-point cushion, 6-3.  The ThunderWolves strung together four kills to knot the set up again, 8-8, before UCCS regained the lead, 10-9.  The Mountain Lions took their 10-9 lead and put together a 7-3 run that featured kills from Martin and Fredrick and five CSUP errors, giving the Mountain Lions a 17-12 advantage.  A kill from Tompkins pushed UCCS' lead up to four, 18-14, as the Mountain Lions ended the set outscoring the Pack 8-3.  Gomez had a big hand in closing out the ThunderWolves in set two, putting down two kills and assisting in a block as part of UCCS' final run in the 25-17 win.
• Set three continued to be a close battle between the two squads with six ties before the first media timeout.  The Mountain Lions trailed 15-12 at the break and found themselves down 17-14, but a CSUP attacking error followed by an ace from Martin and two kills from Walker knotted the set at 20-20.  The Pack's Finja Schul put down a kill to give her team a 22-21 lead, but two straight kills from the hands of Martin and Tompkins gave UCCS their first lead since leading early in the set, 3-2, and now they went on top of CSUP, 23-22.  Fredrick and Martin paired up to block CSUP's attack, giving UCCS match point, 24-22. The Pack didn't back down as Golden Finch notched a kill, followed by a solo block from Lily Zwart to tie the set at 24-24.  Martin gave the edge to UCCS on a kill but served an error as the two teams were knotted again, 25-25.  The Mountain Lions forced an attacking error before Maylen Mitrovich put the set and match to bed with an ace, 27-25.

 
MATCH STATISTICS

• Gomez tied for match high honors with 11 kills.  She hit a solid .423 without committing an error on 26 attempts.
• Walker chipped in 10 kills and hit. 320 while adding two digs and two block assists.
• Mitrovich accounted for 17 of UCCS' 45 assists and served up one of three aces and claimed 11 digs.
• Ransom led both teams with 19 digs, and she added eight assists.
• UCCS hit .309 against the Pack behind 49 kills and dug up 54 attacks while blocking five.
• Golden Finch paced CSUP with 11 kills on 15 attempts as part of her .733 attack percentage.

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• UCCS advanced to its second RMAC championship tournament match in program history (2007).
• Ransom's 19 kills are a season high for UCCS in a three-set match.
• The Mountain Lions' 49 kills tied for the second highest this season.
• UCCS recorded their 15^th sweep tonight and are now 15-1 in three-set matches.
• The last time UCCS defeated CSU Pueblo twice in one season was 2017.

 
UP NEXT

• The Mountain Lions will take on top seed No. 9 MSU Denver Saturday at 5 p.m. in the RMAC Championship Match.

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As a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs competes in 14 varsity sports in NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletics.  Read Full Article