LAKEWOOD, CO- The Cougars celebrated their eight seniors on Saturday as they took on Western Colorado inside the CCU Event Center. CCU sent the seniors out the right way, putting together a comprehensive performance to sweep the Mountaineers and close the year with three straight victories. 

The hosts took an early 6-3 lead after a four-point run keyed by consecutive aces from Krista Traynor and a Suzanna Conner block. The teams went back and forth from there, with CCU eventually taking a 18-17 advantage. Four straight from the Cougars put them up 22-18 off of an ace from Kristina House and a Renee Phillips kill. Connelly Kilgore closed the set out with a kill to send her team to a 25-21 set victory. 

A dominant start to set two saw CCU go ahead 7-1 early, capped by a Tarryn Debenedetto ace. Leading 12-9, the Cougars went on a six-point run that put them in control off several kills from Sierra Crist.  A Traynor block and attack error closed out the set 25-15 as Colorado CHristian went on top 2-0. 

The Cougars had a perfect start to set three, rattling off the first six points of the set as Phillips and Traynor combined for a block and Phillips had back-to-back kills. Kilgore and Conner continued to keep things rolling with kills, and a five-point run keyed by another block and a Savannah Majeski ace put CCU on top 20-9. Janelle Deboer ended the match for her team, picking up two kills in the final three, including the winning slam for the 25-15 win to finish the sweep. 

Phillips led the attack with 12 kills, followed by six from Crist and five from Conner and Kilgore. Traynor had 23 assists and 14 digs, while House had 16 digs. Debenedetto, Phillips and House all had three aces apiece to lead their team. Phillips was dominant with eight blocks on her senior night. 

The Cougars closed the season with an overall record of 12-14 and 7-7 in the RMAC as they finished in ninth place in the highly competitive conference. The team celebrated and bid a fond farewell to eight seniors that included Tarryn Debenedetto, Renee Phillips, Emily Darwin, Janelle Deboer, Kristina House, Savannah Majeski, Kate Ringer and Abby Hess.