Colorado Spings, CO- The Lady Mustangs suffered their first loss in conference after Friday’s loss against University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. UCCS (13-6, 8-2 RMAC) swept Western in three sets (25-19,25-20, 25-21) that would also end their nine-game wining streak.
Starting off the first set, WNMU jumped out to an early lead by a few errors from UCCS at 3-1, but UCCS would serve an ace later to take an 8-7 lead. With a kill from Taryn Schriner, Mustangs scored three points in a row to take the lead 12-11. Western could not gain any momentum after a kill from UCCS that made an 18-14 lead and would go on to lose the set 25-19.
Both teams had a low hitting percentage with Western at -.031 and UCCS at .171, but UCCS dominated with 14 kills compared to WNMU’s 6.
The second set went back and forth between the teams until the score became 12-7 in favor of UCCS, thanks a couple of kills and an error from Shannon Rich. From a kill by Rich and Leeta Grap, WNMU cut the lead to 19-17, but would fall short as UCCS took the set 25-20.
Western had a sharp hitting percentage at .296 but not as good as UCCS’s .317.
Lady Mustang came out hot by jumping to a 4-1 lead, after two kill’s from Grap and a kill from Rich, in the third set. Three errors in a row from UCCS would make Western’s lead 8-2. WNMU’s lead would not be held long as UCCS would score 7 of the next 8 points to tie the set at 9-9. A kill from Grap would make a 15-12 Mustang lead, however UCCS did not let up as they would go on a run by scoring 8 of the 9 next points to make the score 20-16. UCCS would go on to take 25-21.
Falling short in hitting percentage, the Mustangs came to .079 compared to UCCS’s .186. Leading in kills for Western was Grap with 11, followed by Rich with 5. Chyler Imai and Opal Drapeau carried the team in assists with a total of 26.
WNMU (14-4, RMAC 9-1) will face Metropolitan State University of Denver away Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
