LAKEWOOD, CO- The Cougars continued RMAC play on Friday night in front of a packed house at the CCU Event Center in a big matchup against crosstown rivals MSU Denver. After the two teams split the first two sets, the visiting Roadrunners battled to the next two sets for the four-set victory in a competitive competition throughout.
The first set started out evenly as both teams traded points with some service errors and kills by
Suzanna Conner and
Connelly Kilgore. The Roadrunners began to gain momentum, surging ahead 14-8. CCU rallied back with kills from
Sienna Thatcher and
Jenna Bell and an ace from Thatcher to bring her team within 17-15. MSUD climbed further ahead from there to grab a 22-17 lead, and they eventually took the set 25-19.
After trailing 5-1 early in set two, the Cougars rallied back to tie the set at 7-7 after consecutive aces from Thatcher. Aguilar and Conner comboed for a block to push CCU ahead 11-10, and The set remained tight to the 18-17 point as CCU tried to hold on. They would do so by scoring five of the final seven points of the set as consecutive Kilgore kills and a
Krista Traynor ace made it 23-18. Aguilar ended things emphatically with a solo block for the 25-20 set win.
The Roadrunners started the third set on a 6-0 run and it would end up being too much to overcome for CCU. Just when the hosts would rally, MSU Denver would respond as the closest CCU got was within three at 18-15 before a final push gave the visitors the 25-17 set win.
A battle ensued in set four as MSU Denver took an 8-3 lead early. CCU refused to quit, climbing back to within 14-11 after a block from Conner and Bell. Another run from the Roadrunners would send them ahead 19-12, but CCU would score the next five as
Sierra Crist and Traynor notched kills and Thatcher once again proved extremely effective from the service line with back-to-back aces. MSUD went on another mini run for a 22-17 lead, but once again the resiliency of the Cougars showed as they brought things within one at 22-21 off kills from Crist and Traynor. A pair of kills from the visitors would give them match point at 24-21, and ultimately a block from Aguilar and Crist would only delay the end by one point as MSU Denver finished things 25-22 for the hard fought four-set victory.
Conner paced the attack with 10 kills, and Kilgore and Thatcher followed with seven. 26 assists from Traynor helped the offensive attack, and libero
Allie Allen notched a team high 13 digs to lead the back row. Aguilar had three blocks while Conner picked up two.
The Cougars will celebrate their four seniors tomorrow in the final home game of the regular season against UCCS at 3 p.m. MST inside the CCU Event Center.
