DURANGO, CO- Colorado Christian hit the road for the first time in RMAC play on Friday evening as they took on Fort Lewis College. Led by a poised effort and consistent overall play, the Cougars swept the hosts to improve to 2-1 in conference play after three games. 

The Skyhawks jumped ahead 5-2 early in their home opener, but kills from Abby Newell and Lilly Woods sent the visitors ahead 10-8. A five point run capped by a Suzanna Conner kill made it 15-9, and the onslaught continued all the way to a 25-20 set win with another Conner kill. 

The second set saw the offense continue to click on all cylinders and the defense shut down the Fort Lewis attack. The Cougars began with a nine point run, led by an incredible sequence of four kills from Renee Phillips and an Abby Breeding ace for a 12-4 advantage. Kills from Conner, Breeding and Newell further stretched the lead to 23-16, and an ace from Izzy Jones made it set point at 24-16. Conner closed the second set the same way as the first, putting down a kill for the 25-18 win. 

Breeding and Woods got off to a hot start to set three, notching kills for a 4-1 lead. The Skyhawks rallied for five straight to take a 6-4 lead, and they led throughout most of the set but the Cougars hung around to stay close. Trailing 19-17, CCU made their move with three straight points off of kills from Newell and Woods for a 20-19 lead. The Cougars showed a ton of poise, as they found themselves looking at another set trailing 22-20. Breeding started with a kill, and the defense came up huge after that with three straight blocks to give themselves match point at 24-22. Breeding finished off the match with a kill as the Cougars swept Fort Lewis with a 25-22 set win. 

The offense played well, hitting at a clip of .270 while holding their opponent to .096. Newell and Breeding paced the offense with 11 kills apiece, while Woods tacked on seven. Jones dished out 39 assists, while Phillips was dominant at the net with seven blocks. Shelby Hernandez was stellar at libero with 15 digs, and Breeding tacked on nine followed by Savannah Overson with seven. 

Colorado Christian will continue their roadtrip with a matchup in Gunnison against Western Colorado on September 28 at 5 p.m. MST.