Making it back-to-back five set thrillers against Mines, the Cougars took on the Hardrockers of South Dakota School of Mines and came out with the win again.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The first set between the two was back and forth with the teams trading leads to keep the pressure high. Near the end of the set the offense for Colorado Christian clicked to seal the win 25-23.
Keeping their offensive momentum going into the second set, the Cougars scored four straight points before letting the Hardrockers on the board. They maintained the lead throughout the rest of the set, with a closest point difference being 2. Finishing the set how they started, Colorado Christian scored 6 straight points to win 25-17 and boasted their best hitting percentage of the match with a .351.
South Dakota School of Mines started out the third set with a run of their won, beginning the set with 3 in a row. The Cougars were unable to tie it up or take the lead, despite coming up 1 point shy early on. The Hardrockers took set three by 9 points, with a final score of 25-16.
Yet again in set four the Hardrockers took the lead from the very beginning. But the Cougars fought their way back in with a 5-0 run to take the lead, making the score 12-10. South Dakota responded with a 6 point run to make a comfortable distance and finished out the set with the win to take it into five.
Responding well to the pressure, the Cougars got a jump early on and stayed consistent. Senior Cali Bahnsen finished out the match after scoring 3 of the remaining 4 points to take the victory, 15-9.
MATCH LEADERS: Making it her seventh straight match with the team high for kills, Cali Bahnsen led the team offensively after finishing with 20. Also in the double digits was Jacey Johnson with 12. Jincey Nystedt led the team in assists with 35, and Mariela Gonzalez led the team in digs by a mile as the only Cougar in double digits and tallying an impressive 36 total.
UP NEXT: The win gives the Cougars an overall record of 9-13 and an RMAC record of 5-9. The team will stay in South Dakota for their next match as they face the Yellow Jackets of Black Hills State University on Saturday, November 2nd at 5:30pm.
