GUNNISON, Colo. – Colorado State University Volleyball began its final road trip of the regular season here Friday evening with a four-set victory over Western Colorado (25-16, 25-19, 22-25, 25-13) in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action at Paul Wright Gymnasium.

With the victory, the ThunderWolves improve to 12-11 overall and 9-2 in the RMAC, while Western Colorado falls to 5-18 overall and 2-9 in the league. The Pack concludes the road trip with a 3 p.m. match on Saturday in Durango, Colo., against Fort Lewis College.

In Friday's win, which was its seven in its last eight matches for the Pack, they hit .365 as a team and recorded 11 aces and outblocked the Mountaineers, 4-0. The Pack committed a total of 26 errors, including 13 service errors.

"Starting the road trip off with a win was certainly what we needed. I thought we made some self-inflicted errors and looked disorganized at times, so we'll need to clean some of that up in the next 24 hours," CSU Pueblo head coach Austin Albers said following the win. "But I thought our response in set four was grounded in some better volleyball and we'll look to build off that tomorrow."

Sophomore outside hitter Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) paced the Pack offense with 15 kills, seven digs and hit .406, while sophomore opposite side hitter Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark) added 12 kills and hit .391 and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn) had seven kills and two blocks.

Freshman libero Maddox Richtmyre (Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon) paced the Pack defense with 18 digs, while junior middle blocker Josey Nunn (Kingwood, Texas/Porter) had three blocks in the win.
Junior setter Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) set the table for the Pack offense as she had 20 assists, seven digs and three of the 11 aces, while senior setter Grace Jansen (Sandy, Utah/Jordan) added 18 assists and two aces.

Freshman outside hitter Ceanna O'Loughlin (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) had six kills, five digs and three aces.

WCU was paced by 14 kills, three aces and seven digs from Maggie Olson, while Addison Lynn had 15 digs to lead the Mountaineers defense.

Set 1: The opening set featured six ties and two lead changes as the Pack hit .370 and had 12 kills and three aces. Neither team was able to grab a hold of a big lead in the set until the Pack used a 12-5 run to turn a 9-8 deficit into a 20-14 lead. The run was on a service error by King to pull WCU within 20-15, the Pack closed the set on a 5-1 run, including capping the 25-16 win on a service error by Olson. WCU hit .100 with nine kills in the set.

Set 2: The second set belonged to the Pack as they hit .435 with 11 kills and four aces. In the set, the Pack jumped out to a 7-2 lead, before WCU used a 5-2 run to pull within 9-7. The Pack, though, responded with a 6-3 run capped by an attack error by the Mountaineers to take a 15-10 lead. WCU came right back as they scored six of the next nine points to pull within 18-16. That would be as close as the home team would get as the Pack closed out the set on a 7-3 run, including capping the 25-19 win with a kill by Nunn. WCU hit .216 in the set with 12 kills.

Set 3: WCU would rally in the third set as they outhit the Pack, .355 to .265 and took advantage of eight Pack errors to earn a 25-22 win and force a fourth set. Western jumped out to a 17-12 lead, before the Pack used a 9-5 run capped by a Harrington kill and a Richtmyre ace to pull within 22-21. The two teams would trade points before Western scored the final two points of the set to post the win. Each team had 14 kills in the set, but the Pack had five attack errors and WCU had three attack errors.

Set 4: The fourth and final set was all ThunderWolves as they jumped out to an 11-4 lead and led 18-8 when the Mountaineers used a 4-2 run to pull within 20-12. The Pack, though, would close the set on a 5-1 run, including capping the 25-13 set win with a kill by Scoville. In the set, the Pack hit .419 with 16 kills, including four kills each by Harrington, Van Veen and Scoville, while WCU hit -.036 with four kills and five attack errors.

Up Next: The Pack will play its final regular season road match on Saturday, Nov. 4 as face Fort Lewis in a 3 p.m. match in Durango, Colo.