GOLDEN, Colo. – The Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball saw its season-high five-match win streak come to a halt here Friday evening as the ThunderWolves suffered a four-set loss (25-19, 21-25m 21-25, 22-25) to Colorado Christian in its first match of this weekend's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Regional pod hosted by Colorado School of Mines at Lockridge Arena.
 
With Friday's setback, the Pack falls to 10-11 overall, while CCU improved to 10-12. The Pack will conclude the RMAC Region pod on Saturday, Oct. 28 against Mines at 5 p.m. CSU Pueblo picked up a four-set win last Friday at home against the Orediggers.
 
In Friday's match, the Pack recorded eight more kills (57-49) than the Cougars but was outblocked 13-5 and committed 12 more attack errors (26-14) than CCU in dropping its first match since suffering a four-set home loss on Oct. 6 to then 10th-ranked Colorado Mesa.
 
"We had one of those nights where we made a lot of errors and the team across the net played a lot better than we did. Tip of the cap to CCU, they showed up and played solidly like we figured they would," CSU Pueblo head coach Austin Albers said following the match. "We've got a few hours to regroup and find some desire before we square off against a Mines team that is going to be excited to play us."
 
The loss spoiled a career-high 24 kill night from redshirt sophomore outside hitter Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn University). In addition to the 24 kills, Van Veen hit .465 and collected a career-high seven digs.
 
In addition to Van Veen, sophomore outside hitter Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) added 12 kills and 11 digs for her 10th double-double and sophomore opposite side hitter Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark), who was named this week's RMAC Offensive Volleyball Player of the Week, finished with 11 kills and hit .280 for the Pack.
 
Defensively, freshman libero Maddox Richtmyre (Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon), who was this week's RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, tallied a team-high 12 digs and added two aces. Scoville and junior middle blocker Josey Nunn (Kingwood, Texas/Porter) each had two blocks.
 
Junior setter Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) recorded a career-high tying 28 assists and added six digs, while senior setter Grace Jansen (Sandy, Utah/Jordan) had 15 assists, an ace and three digs.
 
Libby Goodman paced CCU with 21 kills and hit .404, while Suzanna Conner added 12 kills, four blocks and hit .571 for the Cougars.
 
The Pack hit just .226 in the match, while CCU hit .285 and had 10 aces to six for the Pack. Friday's match featured 26 ties and seven lead changes.
 
Set 1: Neither team was able to grab a hold of the lead for more than a few points until the Pack used 12-4 run to turn a 7-all tie into a 19-11 lead. The run began with a kill by Nunn and was capped by an ace from Van Veen and a kill by redshirt sophomore middle blocker Golden Finch (Albuquerque, N.M./Cal State Bakersfield). CCU, though, responded with a 7-1 run capped by a Renee Phillips kill to cut the Pack's lead to 20-18. The Pack would score five of the final six points in the set, including sealing its 25-19 win with a kill by Van Veen. In the set, the Pack hit .256 with 14 kills, four blocks and three aces, while CCU hit .176 with 11 kills. Van Veen had five kills in the set.
 
Set 2: In the second set, CCU jumped in front 7-5 early in the set, before the Pack used a 5-2 run to take a 10-9 lead. The Cougars would respond with a 12-2 run to take a 21-12 lead. The run was aided by three aces from Alli Douglass and capped by a Goodman kill. CSU Pueblo wouldn't go away as they used an 8-3 run capped by a King kill to pull within 23-21. A kill by Goodman and a bad set by Richtmyre helped the Cougars seal its 25-21 set win. The Pack hit .114 and ad 14 kills, but committed 10 attack errors, while CCU hit .161 with five aces and six blocks.
 
Set 3: The third set featured 10 ties and one lead change as neither team would take control of the set until CCU used an 8-2 to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 17-12 lead. The Pack, though, responded with a 6-1 run capped by an attack error from Goodman to tie the set at 18. CCU would close out the set by scoring seven of the final 10 points to secure its 25-21 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Pack were outhit, .424 to .258 in the set as Goodman had eight of the Cougars' 17 kills. Van Veen and Harrington each had four kills in the set for the Pack.
 
Set 4: In the fourth set, CCU jumped in front 9-5 and led 12-7 when the Pack used a 7-2 run capped by an ace from Jansen to tie the set at 14. The teams from that point would trade points until CCU used a 4-1 run to turn a 17-all tie into a 21-18 lead. The Pack wouldn't go away as they scored four of the next five points to tie the set at 23. CCU sealed its 25-22 set and match win thanks to back-to-back attack errors by Van Veen and Nunn. In the set, the Pack hit .281 with 16 kills, including eight kills and a .500 attack percentage by Van Veen, while CCU hit .400 with 14 kills, including a combined 11 kills from Goodman and Conner.
 
Up Next: The Pack will conclude the RMAC Regional pod in Golden on Saturday with a 5 p.m. match against Mines, who is hosting this weekend's regional pod.