GRAND JUNCTION, CO- Colorado Christian headed to Colorado Mesa for a big conference matchup on Friday evening in Grand Junction. CCU battled hard and showed a lot of perseverance, but in the end they fell in four sets to the Mavericks. 

Renee Phillips had the hot hand in set one as she put down consecutive kills for an early 6-4 lead. Suzanna Conner later served up an ace for a 14-11 advantage, but CMU went on several long scoring runs to take control of the set and ended up claiming a 25-20 victory. 

An early Mavericks run put them ahead by five. Trailing 16-11 later in the set, the Cougars rallied for seven straight to grab an 18-16 lead. Phillips had three kills in the sequence, while Karen Salinger put down back-to-back slams to cap the run. Janelle Deboer put her team ahead 22-19, but yet again the late set heroics of the hosts led them to the next six points for the 25-22 win. 

The Cougars kept things close in set three, tying things at 17-17 with a block from Conner and Emily Darwin. Phillips hammered one down for a 23-21 lead, and Connelly Kilgore and Darwin ended the set with kills to force a fourth set with a 25-22 victory. 

Colorado Mesa raced ahead in set four and never really looked back. At one point they led 21-10, but CCU showed a lot of fight with six straight points capped by a Kilgore ace. Phillips had two more kills, but in the end the deficit was too much as CCU fell 25-21 for the 3-1 setback. 

Phillips led the offense with 16 kills and had three blocks, while Kilgore put down 13 kills followed by Salinger with eight. Krista Traynoy dished out 41 assists, and Kristina House had 18 digs from her libero position. Conner led her team with four blocks, while Darwin had three. 

CCU will continue their roadtrip with a visit to Westminster on October 18 with first serve set for 4 p.m. MDT.