GOLDEN, CO- Colorado Christian began the year with a doubleheader at the Oredigger Classic on Friday. The Cougars were swept by UT Tyler in a competitive three sets. They took on Southwest Minnesota State in the second matchup of the day, falling in three hard fought sets.
GAME ONE
Taking on the number six team in the South Central Region in the Patriots in game one, the Cougars played tough. After UT Tyler pulled ahead to a 12-5 lead, Colorado Christian battled back to 20-17 after some clutch kills from Libby Goodman and Izzy Jones. Down late in the first the Cougars made it a 24-22 deficit before falling in a close first set.
The Patriots jumped to an 8-2 lead and continued to push from there. Savannah Overson brought her team back with a kill to make it 14-11, but Tyler began to pull away from there. Back to back kills closed the second set out in favor of UT Tyler 25-15.
The third set was tightly contested throughout as both teams battled to the end. Renee Phillips gave the Cougars an 8-6 lead with a kill. Lilly Woods slammed home consecutive kills to tie things up at 21 apiece. Izzy Jones picked up another kill, but in the end the Patriots closed out a 25-23 victory- for the sweep.
GAME TWO
The second contest of the game pitted the Cougars against the number 22 ranked Mustangs from Southwest Minnesota State. The first set was a back and forth affair as neither team allowed any separation. Overson played well throughout, picking up timely kills as the score stood at 11 apiece early. A kill from Woods gave her team a 19-18 lead before Izzy Jones tallied a kill to tie things at 20. Alli Douglass slammed home a kill to put her team one point away from the set win at 24-23, but the Mustangs scored four of the last five points to claim a 27-25 win in set one.
Set two was another tight one, as the score was knotted at 12 midway through the set. After a Mustangs run, Douglass brought the score back to 18-16 with a kill. Goodman tied things at 20 with a kill, but yet again SMSU buckled down at the end to take a 25-22 set win.
The Cougars came out firing in set three as Woods put them up 7-4 with a kill. However, the Mustangs rattled off seven straight points to take the lead. Colorado Christian kep things close, bringing it back to a deficit if 17-14 before another seven point run sealed things for SMSU as they picked up the sweep with a 25-15 set three win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
UP NEXT- The Cougars will continue play tomorrow at 9:30am MST against RMAC opponent Western Colorado. They will close play at the Oredigger Classic with an afternoon matchup at 2:30pm MST against Colorado Mesa.
