Last weekend, the Colorado College women’s volleyball team hosted and won the Pikes Peak Challenge. They added three more wins to their current streak. The tournament also brought the Tigers record up to 19-1. With this record, the Tigers have tied their previous best start to a season. The last time Colorado College won 19 out of its first 20 games was in 2013.
The impressive performance in the tournament came after a personal tragedy for the team. Head Coach Rick Swan’s mother recently passed away, and Swan was unable to attend the previous week’s practices. That the team was still able to pull together to perform so admirably is a testament both to the Tigers’ dedication to their sport and to Swan and his staff’s’ abilities as coaches.
The tournament began for the Tigers on Friday, Oct. 2 with a match against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Though the Tigers eventually triumphed, it ended up being an incredibly close and challenging match. The Tigers won the first set handily 25-14. But then Wisconsin-Oshkosh came back to win the next two sets, both 25-18.
CC was behind in the fourth set, with Wisconsin-Oshkosh leading 17-12. First-year middle hitter Myca Steffey-Bean made a kill that set off a four point streak that pulled CC within one point of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The set remained very close until Wisconsin-Oshkosh gained set point with a kill, putting the score at 24-23 in their favor. But the Tigers refused to give up the set; the two teams battled it out fiercely until the score was tied 26-26. Some errors by Wisconsin-Oshkosh gave the Tigers the set and tied up the match, sending the teams into the deciding fifth set.
“Although we were faced with adversity, numerous players came off the bench and stepped up to help us win,” said senior libero Sophie Merrifield. “The match was a battle, and I was proud of the determination and support of the entire team…we were still able to bounce back and win the match.”
The Tigers started off strong in the fifth set with an 8-1 run, but Wisconsin-Oshkosh was not going down easy. They came back and took the lead 14-13 for match point. Junior outside hitter Abbe Holtze tied the set with a kill and then another error by Wisconsin-Oshkosh gave the Tigers match point. Sophomore middle hitter Glenna Yancey won the set and the match with a hard kill straight down the middle.
“As a team, we approach every game expecting a challenge,” said Yancey. “It is very important to treat each team with equal levels of expectation and respect in order to get the job done, but we definitely went into the Wisconsin-Oshkosh game expecting a good opponent, and they were. Our consistency and ability to stay together as a team when we struggle is what I would say ultimately won the game.”
The next day, the Tigers won two more matches against Elmhurst College and Cornell College. The Tigers started off beating Elmhurst 3-0 with scores of 25-19, 25-19, and 25-23. Holtze had a team-high 12 kills, and Merrifield had a team high 12 digs.
The next match of the day was a bit more of a challenge. After losing the first set, Cornell came back to win the second set. But the Tigers rallied and defeated Cornell in the third and fourth sets, securing the match and the tournament. Holtze made a season-high 19 kills against Cornell. Senior hitter Courtney Birkett made her fourth triple-double of the season with 28 assists, 13 kills, and 13 digs.
Birkett credits both the team’s depth and wide-spread talent for the victories. “Everyone stepped up to play their part,” said Birkett.
Holtze was named the Most Valuable Player of the Pikes Peak Challenge. Merrifield was honored by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference as Defensive Player of the Week. This is Merrifield’s fifth SCAC honor.
After the successes at home, the Tigers are heading to Texas this weekend for three SCAC games. On Oct. 10, they play Austin College and the University of Dallas. Then, the Tigers finish up the weekend with a game against Centenary College on Oct. 11.