GOLDEN, CO- The Cougars traveled to nearby Mines on Tuesday evening for a non-conference pod matchup with the Orediggers. CCU saw their eight game winning streak snapped by the hosts as a five-set slugfest went the way of Mines after an extremely hard fought match. 

A competitive first set started with kills by Suzanna Conner and Renee Phillips, and a block by Emily Darwin gave CCU an 11-10 lead. A big six-point run midway through the set saw the Cougars take a 17-11 lead, highlighted by consecutive kills from Conner and back-to-back aces by Kristina House. The Orediggers fought back to 18-18, but the visitors closed strong as another Darwin block and kill paired with a Traynor kill gave them the set 25-21. 

Mines started set two hot, racing to an 8-2 advantage early. CCU tried to hang around and keep the set competitive, but the early deficit proved too much as CSM took the set 25-15. 

A lightning fast start to the third set saw CCU jump ahead 9-2 as the offense was clicking on all cylinders. Conner had three kills in the stanza, Connelly Kilgore and Darwin had a pair of kills, and a Conner/Darwin block keyed the early run. Mines tried to fight back, but the reverse of set two happened as it was the Cougars who took the early lead and never looked back as a Kilgore slam gave them the 25-22 victory to go up 2-1. 

A 9-2 run to start the fourth set from the Orediggers was too much to overcome, as the closest CCU got within was two points as Mines forced a fifth set with a 25-21 victory. 

Tied 2-2 early in the fifth, CSM went on a four-point run to take a 6-2 lead. Kilgore caught fire from there, putting down four straight kills to bring her team within 8-7. Another four-point run from Mines proved too much in the end as they went up 12-7 and eventually closed things out on a block for the 15-10 victory. 

Conner led the offense with 18 kills, followed by 16 from Kilgore and 13 from Phillips. Traynor tallied 43 assists while Darwin had a huge night with six blocks. House continued to excel as she picked up 22 digs and registered four aces to lead her team in both categories. 

The Cougars return home October 4 for another non-conference pod matchup with MSU Denver with first served slated for 3 p.m. MDT inside the CCU Event Center.