KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Colorado State University Pueblo women's volleyball team concluded play here late Saturday afternoon in the Texas A&M-Kingsville Invitational by suffering a gut-wrenching five-set loss (23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 24-26, 9-15) at the hands of Ouachita Baptist ay the Steinke Center.

With the setback, the ThunderWolves open the season 0-4, while OBU improved to 1-3 with the loss. It was the second five-set match of the season for the Pack as they opened the 2023 campaign with a five-set loss to Tiffin University on Friday.

In Saturday's finale, the Pack offense had three players finish in double-digits in kills as redshirt sophomore outside hitter Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn) led the way with a match and season-high 17 kills and hit .295. In addition to Van Veen, sophomore outside hitter Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) added 16 kills and 20 digs for the second double-double of the season and redshirt sophomore Savannah Coats (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) had 11 kills in the setback.

Scoville finished the event with a total of 54 kills as she averaged 3.18 per set and had 47 digs en route to being named to the 12-player All-Tournament Team.

Defensively, the Pack had 80 digs in the match as along with Scoville's 20 digs, freshman libero Mattox Richtmyre (Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon) also had 20 digs and three aces.

The Pack also had 15 aces in the match as junior setter Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) and redshirt junior setter Grace Jansen (South Jordan, Utah/Jordan) each had four aces.

OBU had two players with 10 kills. In the win as Riley Braziel and Emily Adams each had 10 kills. Braziel also had 20 digs for a double-double.

The Tigers outblocked (8-6) and outhit the Pack (.175 to .171), but CSU Pueblo used 15 service aces to OBU's 11.

Set 1: The first set was a back-and-forth affair as it featured 10 ties and two lead changes. CSU Pueblo jumped out to an early 8-5 lead and led 10-9 when the Tigers responded with an 11-7 run capped by a Braziel kill to take a 20-17 lead. The lead was shortlived as the Pack reeled off three straight points, including back-to-back aces from Van Veen to tie things up at 20. The Tigers would score two of the next three points to retake the lead 23-21. The Pack would again tie things up at 23-all, but OBU would cap the 25-23 win with a kill and an attack error by sophomore right side hitter Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark) to win 25-23. In the set, both teams hit .256 and the Pack also had three blocks.

Set 2: Much like the first set, the second set also featured 11 ties and three lead changes. The Pack jumped to an early 9-5 lead and led 10-7 when OBU tallied three straight points to tie the set at 10. The two teams would then trade points at 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, before the Pack used three consecutive points to turn a 15-15 tie into an 18-15 lead. The Pack's lead would eventually get to 22-17 thanks to an ace by Jansen. After that Jansen ace, the Tigers used a Braziel kill to pull within 22-18, but the Pack would score the final three points of the set to seal its 25-18 win. In the set, the Pack hit .317 and had 19 kills, including seven from Scoville. OBU would hit just .167 in the set.

Set 3: The third set was another close one as the teams combined for seven lead changes and five ties. In the early going neither team would make a big run until the Pack used a 6-1 run to take 15-10 lead. The lead would grow to 20-15, before OBU scored four of the next five points to cut the Pack's lead to 21-19. The Pack would seal the 25-19 win by scoring four consecutive points to take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the set, the Pack had 13 kills and hit .250, while OBU had nine kills and hit just .031.

Set 4: The Pack would push out to a 9-4 lead early in the set and then extended its lead to as much as 19-12. The Tigers, though, wouldn't go away as they responded with a 7-1 run to pull within a point at 20-19. After back-to-back service aces by King pushed the Pack's lead to 22-19, the Tigers answered back by scoring seven of the set's final nine points to seal its 26-24 win and force a fifth and deciding set. In the set, the Pack hit just .020, but recorded six aces, including four by King, while OBU hit .190 with 11 kills and three aces.

Set 5: The fifth set belonged to OBU as they hit .211 and held the Pack to -.042 attack percentage as CSU Pueblo had seven kills and eight errors in the fifth and decisive set. OBU led 6-2 early in the set, but the Pack would use a 5-3 run capped by an assisted block from Van Veen and redshirt sophomore Golden Finch (Albuquerque, N.M/Cal State Bakersfield) to pull within 9-7. That would be as close the Pack would get as OBU scored six of the set's final eight points to earn a 15-9 set win.

Up Next: The Pack remain on the road next weekend (Sept. 8-9) and they travel to Durango, Colo., to compete in four matches over the course as two days at the Fort Lewis Invitational. The Pack will open the event with a 9 a.m. MT match against Angelo State, before facing Southwestern Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. MT. On Sept. 9, the Pack will face Texas A&M-International and East Central (Okla.) at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. respectively.