After a long trek up to Portland, Oregon, the Cougar volleyball team ended their first day of official games with a split. Colorado Christian made sure both of their matches were worth the travel time, after taking both of them to five sets. The first match ended in a loss to the Dragons of Tiffin, and the second ended in a win over the Wolves of Western Oregon.
MATCH 1 VS TIFFIN
HOW IT HAPPENED: The match was off to an exciting start after going neck and neck and ending with the Cougar win in extra points, 27-25. Colorado Christian was able to carry this momentum into the next set, shutting down the Dragon offense to take the win with a score of 25-11. Although they took a tough loss, Tiffin was not willing to back down. Coming into the third set, the Dragons played a tactically cleaner game and had the upper hand on the Cougars for most of the set. But the Cougars rallied their way back to tie up the set at 23, only to end in a 2-0 run for Tiffin to take the game 25-23. Very similar to the third set, the fourth saw the Dragons maintaining the lead for the majority of the set. But yet again Colorado Christian worked their way back, but were unable to come out on top and lost 25-22. The Dragons took the final set of the match into their own hands, starting out with a lead of 6-1. They would then carry this five point margin into the final score of 15-10 to take the match, dealing the Cougars their first loss of the season.
MATCH LEADERS: Leading the Cougars in the match was senior middle blocker Hope Baldrica, raking in 15 kills and hitting a .370. Not far behind her was the other middle blocker, junior Katie Henry with eight kills and a percentage of .417. These kills came from a strong effort from setter Kylee Wurster, dishing out 33 assists. Leading the team defensively was libero Mariela Gonzalez, adding 22 digs to her name. Another impressive stat line on the match came from freshman Christa Tucker, earning four aces in her college debut.
MATCH 2 VS WESTERN OREGON
HOW IT HAPPENED: Keeping the set trend of the day, the Cougars mirrored their previous match. This time however, they took the final three sets instead of the first two. After a well fought match of five sets, Colorado Christian earned their first win of the season against the Wolves of Western Oregon. Both teams battled through the first three sets, with numerous lead changes which led to the first three sets being taken by only two points, 25-23. Western Oregon closed out the first two, but the Cougars were able to maintain their lead in the third to get the momentum going. The fourth set saw both the teams tied at 8, but the Cougars went on a five point run to set the tone for the rest of the game. After continually notching away at their lead, they ended with a ten point win of 25-15. Carrying the energy into the fifth set, Colorado Christian sealed their first win with a final score of 15-6.
MATCH LEADERS: With a triple threat in the front row, three Cougar hitters tied up with 16 kills to lead the team. Hope Baldrica, Jacey Johnson, and Ashley Drye lead the team offensively in this fight. Also in the double digits for kills were juniors Cali Bahnsen and Katie Henry with ten apiece. Only 4 sets away from doubling her assists from game one, Kylee Wurster gave out 59 assists in the big win. Yet again the defensive end was lead by Mariela Gonzalez, with an impressive 33 digs on the match. This time the four aces came from another defensive specialist, Kaira Smith making her mark on her Colorado Christian debut as well.
The split on the day gives the Cougars a 1-1 start to their season and nothing to lose. Finishing out the tournament with two more matches on Friday, August 23rd, Colorado Christian will face Northern State from South Dakota at 12:20pm MST, and the host team Concordia at 5:30pm MST before heading back to Colorado.
