(Portions of this story courtesy of Colorado College)
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The top seeded Colorado
College volleyball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA
Division III Volleyball Tournament, Friday afternoon in Thousand
Oaks, Calif., with a 3-1 win over Hardin-Simmons University. Box Score | Official Site
The Tigers will play Occidental College at 6:30 p.m. (ET) on
Saturday. Occidental went the distance against Pacific Lutheran
University in the first match of the day, beating the Lutes 25-17,
24-26, 23-25, 25-17, 15-8.
Colorado College started the match strong, beating Hardin-Simmons
25-16 in the first set. The Tigers held the Cowgirls to a -.094
hitting percentage with six kills and nine errors during the
set.
Despite Colorado College's 17 kills in the second set,
Hardin-Simmons rallied back with a 25-23 win over the Tigers to
knot the match at one set apiece.
CC struck back in the third set, hitting a match-high .357 attack
percentage to regain the lead with a 25-20 win over HSU.
The Tigers finished the match with a 25-18 win in the final set to
beat the Cowgirls in four sets. CC was again strong in the fourth
set, holding HSU to a .000 hitting percentage with nine kills and
nine errors. The Cowgirls hit a combined .052 hitting percentage
over four sets with four players obtaining negative hitting
percentages.
Senior duo Meredith Ballard and Amy Schornack led the Tiger
offense with 12 kills each. Schornack also led the team with 36
assists for her first double-double of the weekend and narrowly
missed a triple-double with nine digs.
Junior Laura Goldsmith got her first double-double of the
tournament with 10 kills and a team-high 15 digs to lead the CC
defense. Freshmen Kristen Liberty and Logan Savidge each picked up
13 and 10 digs, respectively to aid the backrow.
Madison Reyes led the attack for Hardin-Simmons with 15 kills and
also added 10 digs on defense.
Colorado College improved to 32-6 this season (4-4 in NCAA play in
SCAC era), while Hardin-Simmons finished its season with a 29-6
record.
Southwestern vs. Chapman
Seventh seeded Chapman University upset second seeded Southwestern University in an NCAA West Regional quarterfinal match Friday evening, 3-1 on the campus of California Lutheran University. Box Score | Official Site
Chapman raced out to a commanding two sets to none lead thanks to 25-20 and 25-19 wins. Southwestern avoided the sweep with a 25-20 win in the third set before the Panthers of Chapman closed things out with a 25-21 win in set four.
With the win, Chapman improved to 24-8 on the season while Southwestern sees its season end at 30-4 overall.
Southwestern was paced by Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year Christina Nicholls. Nicholls helped run the Pirate offense as she recorded a team-high 28 assists on the evening. She also chipped in by collecting 20 digs.
Rachel Thibodeau added a double-double (17 kills/21 digs) for Southwestern.
The Pirates had a tough time getting things going as Southwestern tallied just a .111 hitting percentage compared to Chapman's .133.
With the loss, Southwestern falls to 9-10 in the NCAA tournament.
