(Stories courtesy of Colorado College & Southwestern University)
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champion Colorado College saw its season come to an end with a 3-1 loss to the No. 3 seed University of Puget Sound Loggers. Southwestern University fell to host and top seeded California Lutheran University, 3-1.
No. 3 Puget Sound vs. No. 6 Colorado College
The 18th-ranked Tigers, who made their 15th consecutive appearance in postseason play and completed the year with a 23-10 record, dropped its final match of the season, 27-25, 25-13, 14-25, 25-22 to the 12th-ranked Loggers. Box Score | Press Conference
Sophomore Kristen Liberty led the Tiger offense with 10 kills, while senior Laura Goldsmith and freshman Courtney Birkett both added nine kills each. Senior Kate Squires orchestrated the offense dishing out 40 assists.
The defense was anchored by freshman Sophie Merrifield with 18 digs. Squires and Birkett each picked up 15 digs apiece, while freshmen Emily Phillips and Lauren Hahn added 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
Puget Sound was led offensively by Marissa Florant and Jackie Harvey with 14 kills and 12 kills, respectively. Christina Chung led the defense with a team-high 19 digs.
No. 1 California Lutheran vs. No. 8 Southwestern
CLU came out strong and took an early lead in the first set by attacking strong and holding the Pirates' attack from getting going. Cal Lutheran posted a .353 attack percentage in set one while Southwestern hit .000 for a 25-16 loss.
Set two was the same story as Cal Lutheran got stronger offensive and SU continued to struggle to find their rhythm. CLU posted a hitting percentage of .464 while the Pirates fell to -.056 as Cal Lutheran won 25-13.
Southwestern regrouped and pulled out a big set three win as their defense stepped it up a notch and kept Cal Lutheran to a .167 attack percentage. With Southwestern hitting .243 the Pirates won the third set 25-22 to extend the game.
In an extremely tight fourth set, CLU got the bounces they needed to close out the match with a 25-18 set four win.
Rachel Thibodeau led the attack for SU with 14 kills and was the only Pirates in double figures. CLU's Shannon Pearson posted a game high 16 kills and .448 attack percentage. Defensively, Southwestern was led by Kaitlyn Foster's 12 digs with Meredith Rollins and Thibodeau adding in 10 each. CLU's Rachel Smith led all defenders with 29 digs. Lorin Froetschel led SU and all blockers with five total blocks.
The Pirates end their season at 24-12 and return all but two players, Thibodeau and Rachel Sellari.
