DENVER, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball could never fully seize momentum despite multiple late-set pushes as the No. 5 seeded ThunderWolves fell in four sets (19-25, 19-25, 25-21, 20-25) to No. 4 seeded West Texas A&M  here Thursday evening in the fourth and final quarterfinal round match of the 2025 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament held at the Auraria Events Center on the MSU Denver campus.

With the setback, the Pack concludes its 2025 season with a 20-9 overall record, while West Texas A&M improved to 23-7 overall and advanced to Friday's semifinal round where they will face top-seeded MSU Denver in the second of two regional semifinal matches.

The ThunderWolves battled through long rallied and strong blocking runs from the Lady Buffs but were unable to string together enough sustained offense to counter a high efficiency outing from WT's attackers. For the match, WT held a 64-51 edge in kills and outhit the Pack, .252 to .163.

"This team is special. We've talked about it from the beginning, the way they care about each other and fight for each other is unmatched, obviously, it didn't end the way we wanted, but we had some seniors that had to take a step out and freshman that had to step up tonight and we did everything we could in set four, but fell short," CSU Pueblo first-year head volleyball coach Jordan Bruere said in the post-match press conference. "You never want to end like that, but they really gave it there all this season and I'm super proud of them."

In her first season at her alma mater, Bruere was able to lead the Pack to 20 victories, a third-place finish in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament for just the fifth time in school history and first since 2022.

"This team is the most special team I've ever coached. Every team is special, but there is something different about these girls, they truly lock into one another and do the work," said Bruere, who played for the Pack from 2012-15.

In Thursday's match, which was the third this season between the two schools, the Pack offense was paced by a team-high 14 kills and eight digs from senior outside hitter Caelyn Gunn (Denton, Texas/Arkansas-Fort Smith), who was named this year's RMAC Offensive Player of the Year and was also a First-Team AVCA and D2CCA All-South Central Regional selection. Gunn had seven of her 14 kills in the Pack's third set win.

Along with Gunn's 14 kills, senior outside hitter Taylor Cary (Littleton, Colo./Rock Canyon) added 10 kills, while senior middle blocker Golden Finch (Albuquerque, N.M./Cal State Bakersfield) added nine kills, two blocks and hit a team-best .318. Junior right side hitter Lilly Zwart (Nelson, New Zealand/Western Nebraska) had seven kills in the setback.

Junior setter Elena Stankovic (Cajecina, Serbia/Barton County CC), who was named the RMAC Setter of the Year and a First-Team AVCA and Second-Team D2CCA All-South Central Region selection, finished the night with 38 assists, 10 digs and five assisted blocks. The double-double was her ninth of the season.

The Pack finished the night with nine blocks, including seven from junior middle hitter Finja Schul (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany/Western Nebraska CC). Schul also had four kills.

Senior libero Megan Mattingly (Phoenix, Ariz./Greenway) closed her collegiate career with 14 digs, while junior defensive specialist Chinaru Inoue (Nara, Japan/Western Colorado) added 12 digs.

West Texas A&M jumped out to lead of 15-12 and 18-13 in the opening set, capitalizing on several Pack attack errors and strong swings from Currie Marusak and Taytum Stow. Despite late kills from Schul, Finch and Gunn, the ThunderWolves dropped the first set, 25-19.

The second set followed a similar script as WT built a commanding 17-7 lead out of the gate, but the Pack responded with an 11-5 run that was keyed by three kills from Gunn and two kills from Zwart to pull within 22-18. The Lady Buffs, though, would score three of the final four points to post a 25-19 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Pack scored the first two points of the set and led 5-3, before WT used a 3-0 run to tie the set at 6-all. From that point on, neither team would lead by more than two points until the Pack scored six of the next seven points to take a 24-20 lead following a kill by Gunn. After WT pulled within 24-21 following a double block, the Pack capped the 25-21 set win thanks to a service error by WT's Landri Jay. The set featured 14 ties and six lead changes. The four point lead by the Pack was largest of the set for either team. Gunn had seven kills, and the Pack outhit the Lady Buffs, .245 to .186 in the set.

Much like the third set, the Pack scored five of the first seven points in the fourth set to jump in front 5-2, but WT responded with an 8-3 run to take a 10-8 lead. The Pack, though, responded with a 4-3 run to pull within 13-12 following a kill by Stankovic. WT came right back and scored seven of the next 11 points to take a 20-16 lead. After a kill by Cary brought the Pack within three at 20-17, the Lady Buffs would close out the set by scoring five of the next six points to seal its 25-18 set and match win.

West Texas A&M was paced by the play of Marusak, who finished the match with 23 kills and added 17 digs, while Stow added 13 kills, five blocks and hit .591. Emma Becker and Parker Gladhill each had 11 kills, and Jay tallied 21 digs in the victory.