CC's seniors won't forget their final home match for a long time.
Playing their cross-town rivals for the first time since Sept. 10, 2008, the Tigers continually came from behind to defeat CU-Colorado Springs 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 14-25, 17-15 on Tuesday night at Reid Gymnasium.
In a match when its offense struggled against the Division II Mountain Lions, CC blocked 12 shots and served nine aces to win key points.
The Tigers overcame a 10-6 deficit in the fifth set, tying the game at 13 on a combined block by Emily Perkins and Devin Wilkinson, and after a pair of kills from Meredith Ballard, Laura Goldsmith's third ace of the night sealed the victory for Colorado College.
The turning point in the match occurred during the second set when UCCS took an 18-10 lead and was poised to take a two-set lead. But the Tigers used a 9-1 run to knot the score, and after the teams traded points to make the score 21-21, CC won four of the final six points to square the match.
Ballard led the Tigers with 11 kills and four blocked shots, while Perkins notched her 12th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 18 digs. Erika Pirotte had nine kills, while Wilkinson added eight.
Goldsmith also had 18 digs, while Amy Schornack and Colleen Keresey added 12 and 11, respectively. Wilkinson had a hand in six blocks.
Nicole Pederson and Nikki Kinzer had 12 kills apiece to lead the Mountain Lions. Alex Nutttall recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 13 digs.
Kendall Utz had a match-high 24 digs for UCCS.
The Tigers improved to 27-6 overall and 5-1 in five-set matches. During the last three seasons, CC has won five of six matches that went to five sets during the month of November. CU-Colorado Springs slipped to 15-11.
Colorado College returns to action on Friday as the top seed at the 2010 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. The Tigers will play the winner of the Hendrix College-Millsaps College on at 4:30 p.m.
