The Colorado College volleyball team lived up to its No. 1 ranking on Friday night, sailing past Southwestern University in the first of two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference matches this weekend.

Georgia Mullins, the reigning AVCA Division III Player of the Week continued her torrid hitting spree, pounding down a match-high 16 kills while hitting .522 on 23 swings. The junior middle hitter also had a hand in four blocked shots.

Isabella Lipacis recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs. The first-year outside hitter also set a season-high with five total blocks.

Senior outside hitter Allie Freeburg hit better than .400 for the third time this season, putting away five kills on an error-free 11 attacks. She also had two aces and four digs.

Sophomore libero Peyton Hummel finished with a match-high 12 digs, her fourth match of the year in double figures.

"We talked all week about needing to focus on the little things and playing consistent volleyball," head coach Rick Swan said. "We have a huge target on our back and we need to bring our 'A' game to every match."

The Tigers set the tone for the match early in the first set when they snapped a 4-4 tie with an 18-8 run.

CC utilized a 7-1 run to open a seven-point lead midway through the second set, but Southwestern fought back to cut its deficit to 17-15 on a Riley Brantley service ace. A kill by Mullins helped restore order and ignite a 7-3 surge to give the Tigers the set and a 2-0 lead.

The Pirates led by four points early in the third set, but their attempt to get back in the match fizzled out when the Tigers snapped a 14-14 tie with five consecutive points and Colorado College went on to post its fifth sweep of the season.

"I was happy with the way we came out and set the tone early in Set 1," Swan said  "We did great job of keeping the momentum through out the match, and when we fell behind in Set 3, we stayed focused, believed in ourselves and found a way to finish the match on nice run at the end. We have a ton of respect for Southwestern and we knew they would play hard and give us a heck of match, especially in their gym."
    
     
Colorado College Standouts
Isabella Vasquez finished with seven kills and five digs.
Isabelle Aragon-Menzel dished out 30 assists while leading CC to a .306 hitting percentage.
 
Southwestern Standouts
Emma White led the Pirates with nine kills and tied for the team lead with six digs.
Alex Grooms hit .300 with seven kills on 20 swings with only one error.
 
Notes
Colorado College improved to 7-0.
Southwestern slipped to 1-2
 
Next for the Tigers
Colorado College and Southwestern wrap up the two-match series on Saturday at noon MT.