DENVER, CO- The Cougars headed to nearby MSU Denver on Thursday to take part in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament. Colorado Christian, the number six seed, took on the three seed Colorado Mesa at the Auraria Event Center. CCU saw their season come to a close in a three set loss to the Mavericks in the quarterfinal matchup. 

HOW IT HAPPENED- The first set started out close as the teams got out the early game tournament jitters. Libby Goodman got her offense going with a kill as the Cougars trailed 12-8. An experienced Mesa team went on a run to take a 19-11 lead and they would go on to close the set out 25-12.

Colorado Christian came to play in the second set, as Jessa Rose picked up an early ace to tie things at six. Consecutive kills from Goodman later in the set kept things tight at 12 apiece, and an ace from Tarryn Debenedetto gave CCU the lead 17-16. After a Mavericks run, Lilly Woods put down a kill to draw within 21-19, and Izzy Jones continued the strong service game with an ace to close the gap to 22-21. With the deficit at two, Goodman slammed home another kill to make it 23-22. However, Mesa overcame a double touch on set point to close out the competitive set with a 25-23 win.

CMU started strong in set three, scoring the first four points of the set. The Cougars tried to claw back, as a Woods kill cut the gap to just 9-7. Unfortunately, that was the closest CCU would draw all set as Mesa eventually stretched their lead to 21-11. The last point of the season appropriately came from the Cougars' and RMAC kill leader Goodman, but in the end the Mavericks claimed the set and the match by a final score of 25-13. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Lilly Woods led her team with nine kills followed by Libby Goodman with eight and Alli Douglass with seven
• Izzy Jones closed her sophomore campaign with 22 assists 
• Libero Jessa Rose picked up four digs, as did Savannah Overson

The Cougars close their season with a 15-13 overall record with a 10-8 conference mark. CCU finished sixth in the RMAC, one of the toughest division two conferences to compete in, while also placing four players on the all-conference list. Libby Goodman led the conference with 356 kills in the regular season to pace the offense. Bobby Blanken closes his sixth season as head coach of the Cougars, and with a strong core of players returning next season, look for CCU to continue to improve and rise in the conference standings.