COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs volleyball team set a new program record for wins to begin a season, claiming its ninth straight victory in a competitive sweep over Colorado School of Mines.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
- Final Score: W, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-23)
- Records: UCCS (9-0, 1-0 RMAC) | CSM (7-3, 0-2 RMAC)
- Facility | Location: Gallogly Events Center | Colorado Springs, Colo.
- All-Time Series: The Mountain Lions move to 26-31 all-time against the Orediggers after Saturday evening's match.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Saturday evening's contest was highly competitive from the jump as the first set included seven tied scores and three lead changes. The Mountain Lions found themselves in a large 8-14 hole when a kill by Sydnee Walker sparked a 10-5 UCCS run featuring three kills apiece from Payton Tompkins and Rylee Pitts to decrease the deficit to just a point. A UCCS service error, followed by a kill by Pitts and a CSM attack error quickly knotted up the score at 20. From there, UCCS grabbed the lead on a kill by Walker and never gave it back as the team stayed in control in route to a 25-23 first set victory.
- The second set was no different as both teams battled back and forth. Neither team fell below two points of the other through the first 18 points as the set was tied early at nine apiece. The next three points came from the hands of freshman Sydney Hyde who tallied three consecutive kills, all assisted by Audrey Dowd, to take the first three-point lead of set two. UCCS stayed ahead for a while, but Mines battled back, going on a 10-8 run to move the score to 20-19 in favor of UCCS. The Mountain Lions would take control once again as they only allowed two more points for the rest of the set to win 25-21and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
- Offensive errors plagued the Mountain Lions early in the third set, but kills from Nicole Martin, Maylen Mitrovich, and Tompkins kept them in it in route to a quick 7-4 lead for the Orediggers. Wanting to keep the match from going to four sets, UCCS hung around until tying the third at 9-9 in a set that had 10 ties and six lead changes. Through the next nine points, neither team would fall behind by more than one until a CSM kill broke the streak to give the Orediggers a 15-13 lead. The Mountain Lions would tie the set up again at 15 apiece, but three consecutive kills from Mines put UCCS down late. After falling down by three, two kills from Hyde gave the Mountain Lions some life, as they finished the third set on a 10-5 run to win 25-23.
MATCH STATISTICS
- Tompkins was the only player on the court to record double-digit kills on Saturday evening, as she finished with 17. Pitts was second for UCCS with eight.
- Two Mountain Lions finished with double-digit digs, as Mitrovich tallied 14 followed by Mackenzie Ransom with 12.
- Audrey Dowd led UCCS with 21assists, and Mitrovich was second with 15.
- UCCS led the match in kills (46 to 41), assists (44 to 36), service aces (6 to 1), digs (58 to 50), and hitting percentage (.221 to .172).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Mountain Lions' victory over CSM set a new program record, winning nine straight games to begin a season, with the team's previous best coming in 2001 when they took eight.
- The Mountain Lions broke an 18-match losing streak against Mines on Saturday, with their last victory on September 5, 2012. The last time UCCS beat CSM on its home court was October 25, 2011.
UP NEXT
- The Mountain Lions travel to Salt Lake City, Utah to take on Westminster University on Friday, September 26 with the match scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
SOCIAL
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For everything UCCS Athletics, follow the Mountain Lions on social media and stay tuned to gomountainlions.com.
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.
