Box Score Colorado College put an exclamation point on the 2013 regular season with a 25-23, 25-22, 17-25, 25-23 victory over Colorado State University-Pueblo on Tuesday night at Reid Gymnasium.
 
Senior middle hitter Kristen Liberty led the Tigers with a season-high 13 kills and hit .524 on 21 attacks. She also had a hand in four of the team's six blocked shots.
 
"Winning a match like this against a Division II opponent builds confidence heading into the conference tournament," Liberty said. "We've had a very successful season so far, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish."
 
The same can be said about tonight's match.
 
CC trailed late in the second and fourth sets, but battled back to pull out the victory.
 
Trailing 19-17 in the second set, sophomore Courtney Birkett had two of her team-high 14 kills and a blocked shot during an 8-3 run that gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
After winning the third set, the ThunderWolves were two points away from tying the match, but a service error tied the score at 23-23 and Colorado College sealed the victory with kills from freshman outside hitter Abbe Holtz and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Hahn.
 
"It was a nice win against a Division II team with very talented athletes," head coach Rick Swan said. "It will give us confidence going into this weekend's SCAC tournament. That's why we schedule tough matches at the end of the regular season."
 
Holtze finished with 10 kills and 13 digs for her 12th double-double of the season.   
 
Sophomore libero Sophie Merrifield finished with 14 digs, giving her 617 for the season. She needs only nine more to break CC's single season record of 625 set by Hannah Varnell in 2011.
 
The Tigers improved to 31-3, the program's fifth most wins ever in a single-season, and closed out its home schedule with a 14-1 record.
 
Sophomore outside hitters Morgan Wilkening and Marissa Calvillo paced the ThunderWolves with 14 and 13 kills, respectively.
 
Freshman libero Katie Burnett had a match-high 23 digs for CSUP, which slipped to 9-16.
 
Colorado College opens the 2013 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship against the University of Dallas on Friday, Nov. 8, at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
"We're looking forward to a big weekend," Liberty said. "I like our rivalry with Trinity and hopefully we'll get the opportunity to play them on their home court."