SAN ANGELO, Texas (Aug. 27, 2022) – Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball (4-0) clinched its third sweep in four matches, following 3-0 victories at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational over East Central and Southern Nazarene. The Pack trailed four total times on the day and sealed its best road-tournament performance since 1997. 

Hannah Delor, Sadie Scoville and Payton Van Veen each were named to the Kathleen Brasfield Invitiational All-Tournament Team.
 
The 12-1 set-record is the best start to any season since 1997 and ties the best four-match stretch since head coach Austin Albers took over at the helm.
 
Match 1 | CSU Pueblo 3 – East Central 0
 
In the opening match of the day, CSU Pueblo exerted its dominance on the block and played clean volleyball to take an overwhelming three-set sweep of 25-16, 25-14, 25-20 over East Central. The Pack only trailed by three points once in the entirety of the match and did not fall behind once following the seventh point in the second set.
 
Set 1 | CSU Pueblo 25-16
 
The ThunderWolves got off to a slow start in the opening set, as the Tigers took an early 11-8 lead. This was be the largest lead of the morning for the Tigers and the Pack responded in a big way.
 
Trailing 11-8, Sadie Scoville reinvigorated the Pack squad with a kill and began an 8-2 scoring flurry. Kills by Hannah Delor, Payton Van Veen and Scoville highlighted the Pack run and flipped the script in the ThunderWolves' favor, 16-13.
 
The barrage did not end. Leading 18-15, the Pack ended the match on a 7-1 burst. The run began with back-to-back kills by the freshman, Scoville and an ace from Jazzy Espinoza. After a Tigers point, Scoville took over, hammered home three consecutive kills and the Pack put away the opening set 25-16.
 
Scoville owned six kills in the first set while the Pack added on two blocks to help overpower the Tigers. 
 
Set 2 | CSU Pueblo 25-14
 
Heading into the second set with a 1-0 lead, the Pack were able to settle into their own and prove their talent. The Tigers gained their final lead of the day early on in the set, putting the ThunderWolves down only 3-2.
 
The Pack enjoyed a 5-1 spurt with kills from Delor, Van Veen and Grace Hern. Although the Tigers stormed back to narrow the ThunderWolves lead to 9-8, the Pack were able to thwart the threat with a 3-0 run capped by a Van Veen and Josey Nunn block. 
 
From there, the Pack kept the Tigers at bay and let a bombardment of points ensue when the opportunity presented itself. Hern held a four-point serve that saw kills from Delor and Kasey Jahnke and Tigers attack errors. 
 
The ThunderWolves took advantage of East Central errors and put the second set away with a Nunn/Jahnke block. 
 
The dominating second set win allowed an opportunity for the Pack's second sweet in three matches.
 
Set 3 | CSU Pueblo 25-20
 
The final set of the morning match never saw the Pack relent control. A plethora of points piled on for the Pack thanks to kills from Van Veen, Delor and Scoville matched with a Megan Mattingly ace and a couple of Pack blocks led to a quick and daunting 12-4 ThunderWolves lead.
 
Slight surges by the Tigers were not enough o mount any serious threat to the Pack. The ThunderWolves could taste the 3-0 sweep after Taylor Cary's first career kill expanded the Pack's lead to 20-11.
 
The Tigers made the set interesting with a strong run but the Pack silenced the low-key threat and put the 25-20, match clinching set away with one more Delor kill.
 
The Pack finished the match with 38 kills to the Tigers' 23 and 10 blocks to East Central's six. Scoville and Delor led the offensive attack with nine kills apiece with much thanks to Sabrina King and Hern's combined 31 assists. 
 
Nunn led the defensive stands with seven total blocks.
 
Coach's Comments
"It was good to go out and get a sweep this morning despite not being our sharpest," said head coach Austin Albers. "We are certainly better than we performed and know that we need to raise our level of play and be more consistent going forward."
 
Match 2 | CSU Pueblo 3 – Southern Nazarene 0
 
In the matinee sequel, CSU Pueblo once again maintained dominance throughout and did not trail until the final set. The Pack swept Southern Nazarene 3-0 and maintained its perfect tournament record.
 
Set 1 | CSU Pueblo 25-20
 
The ThunderWolves kicked off the second match where they left off the first. Early on, the Pack enjoyed a 5-0 run which was capped off by back-to-back Van Veen kills. Soon, the Pack enjoyed an 11-4 lead after Delor aced the defense and Scoville notched another kill on the day.
 
Southern Nazarene surged back and tied it up at 15-15, but the Pack were able to fire back. After being tied up with the Storm at 20, the Pack blustered a 5-0 run that featured three Scoville kills, clinching the ThunderWolves an opening set victory.
 
Despite six ties, the Storm never once led the Pack and six Scoville kills overpowered the defense. The ThunderWolves logged 15 kills to the Storm's 12.
 
Set 2 | CSU Pueblo 25-16
 
Again, in set two, the CSU Pueblo offense came out firing. A 10-3 advantage was gained by the Pack after Espinoza highlighted the start with three kills during a 5-0 spurt. 
 
The Pack were able to hold a distant lead throughout the set thanks to a stout defensive stand by Nunn and Van Veen to go with a handful of kills by Scoville and Delor. These surges and stands allowed the Pack to hold an 18-7 lead with comfort.
 
After the Storm clawed back within 10 points, the Pack were able to clinch and put away the second set following a Mattingly kill. A 25-16 set two win allowed the Pack to gain a solid 2-0 advantage headed into their third opportunity for a sweep.
 
Set 3 | CSU Pueblo 25-22
 
Looking to clinch their third sweep of the weekend, the ThunderWolves gained an early 10-6 lead after a 4-0 surge and a quick three-kill start to the set. 
 
The Storm tried to regain the lead it had early on and dwindled the advantage to a single point around the midway point of the set. A kill from Van Veen helped swing momentum back in favor of the ThunderWolves with another kill and allowed the Pack to extend their lead back to four points following Storm errors.
 
The Storm proved stubborn in the Pack's attempts to clinch the set and once again whittled at the comfortable lead. Southern Nazarene only trailed 21-20 after the accumulation of small spurts.
 
Finally, CSU Pueblo put its foot back on the pedal and put things away by taking three of the final four points by way of kills from Van Veen, Delor and Espinoza. The Pack's 25-22 set three win clinched the team's third sweep of the weekend and allowed them to emerge as the only undefeated squad at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational.
 
In match two of the day, freshman Scoville and redshirt-freshman Van Veen led the charge with 10 kills apiece while they only made two attack errors each. King and Hern each accounted for the assists on the afternoon, totaling 19 and 18, respectively.
 
Coach's Comments
Albers sounded off on the win, weekend sweep and the 12-1 set-record. "We knew we would have a battle on our hands for the final match. SNU had some stellar hitters and kept getting better all week." Albers continued, "I was extremely pleased with how our players stepped up and responded to a tough opponent. They raised the level of play and I felt our assistant coaches really did a tremendous job helping us adjust the game plans as we saw things develop."
 
Albers said, "For us to go 4-0 on the road and only drop one set on our way to a 4-0 weekend is exactly where we set our expectations. It was encouraging to see us find ways to win matches whether that was on the block or offensively going blow-for-blow with other teams. This team is built different than teams in the past and we cannot wait to get back in the lab to work on improving."

All Tournament Team
Lisa Gonzalez, East Central
Keegan Lopez, New Mexico Highlands
Ayanna Jackson, Texas A&M - Kingsville
Kaley Brubaker, Southern Nazarene
Sunny Batschelett, Southern Nazarene
Whitney Bowie, Southern Nazarene
Hannah Delor, CSU Pueblo
Sadie Scoville, CSU Pueblo
Payton Van Veen, CSU Pueblo
Laney Dale, Angelo State
Elsa Lamphere, Angelo State
Sydney Munkowsky, Angelo State
 
Next Up
 
The CSU Pueblo volleyball squad heads back home for another four-game weekend set. This time, the Pack host the Steel City Showcase. Their first match will be against Wilmington at 11:30 a.m. on Friday followed by a 1980s themed match-up vs. Dallas Baptist University on Friday night at 7 p.m.