ALAMOSA, Colo.—After opening the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) portion of the season with a three-game winning streak, the Grizzlies fell to Colorado Mesa but look to rebound and get back in the winning column on Friday and Saturday when they host the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Colorado State University Pueblo.
LAST TIME OUT
The Grizzlies played two games last week as they defeated Westminster College in five sets (25-10, 25-20, 17-25, 23-25 and 16-14) before dropping their first RMAC contest on Saturday in three sets (14-25, 15-25 and 15-25) against Colorado Mesa.
RANKED OPPONENTS
The Grizzlies' win over Angelo State earlier this season was the Grizzlies first win over a Top 3 team. The Grizzlies had defeated then-ranked No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney in five sets in the 2008 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament quarterfinals on Nov. 14, 2008. Overall, against ranked (Top 25) opponents, since 2005, Adams State is 5-28 in matches and 27-91 in sets. Tuesday's match was the first sweep for the Grizzlies over a ranked opponent. So far this season the Grizzlies are 1-1 against ranked opponents as they fell to No. 16 Southwest Minnesota State, 3-0 (25-11, 25-10 and 25-11).
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES
Adams State has won six of their last eight overall as they enter the contest with a 7-6 overall record and a 3-1 RMAC record. 16th year Head Coach
Lindy Mortensen now has 209 wins under her belt as the head coach. Adams State enters in a four-way tie for third place in the conference.
Individually, senior middle hitter
Shannon Mulkey is ranked tenth in blocks per set.
Outside hitter
Sai Collins, leads the team with 106 kills (2.52/set) while Mulkey is right behind with 94 kills and her 2.95 per set average. Mulkey is also hitting .220 while
Chasey Blach, a junior middle and outside hitter, is hitting at a .240 clip with 73 kills as the only Grizzly to have been in the starting lineup all 12 times.
Freshman
Madeleine Benally and junior
Bailey Schlosser have split time at the setter position as Benally having made seven starts while recording 194 assists in 27 sets, good for a 7.19 per set average. She ranks eighth in the RMAC while Schlosser has made five starts and ranks ninth in the RMAC with her 7.15 per set average (193 assists) in 27 sets played.
Freshman
Sierra Leone Sanchez leads the back row with 141 digs (3.28/set).
ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
The Mountain Lions are 3-8 overall and hold an 0-4 conference match up. They faced the then-ranked No. 3 team in Division II last Friday night at home. UCCS fell in three to the Roadrunners (22-25, 22-25, 18-25). UCCS then fell the following night against Colorado Christian University in five sets, (25-21, 28-30, 25-22, 22-25, 10-15.
The Grizzlies hold a 32-23 advantage over UCCS, but the Mountain Lions have won the last five matches against ASU, and six of the last seven. Adams State is is 19-7 when facing UCCS inside Plachy Hall.
The win in the opening set on Saturday against the Cougars snapped a 12-set losing streak for UCCS.
Jordyn Kinsey is currently sixth in digs in the UCCS career record books. Kinsey has accounted for 1,179 digs in four seasons and is 227 digs shy of fifth place.
Lauryn Shockley is ranked in the top five in the league in kills per set (first, 3.56), total kills (third, 153), points per set (third, 3.97) and attacks per set (fifth, 8.84).
UCCS is in the top half of the league in several categories, including hitting percentage (fifth, .200), kills per set (sixth, 12.28), and assists per set (seventh, 11.02).
ABOUT THE THUNDERWOLVES
Colorado State University Pueblo enters the weekend with a 9-3 overall record and a 3-1 RMAC record. The Thunderwolves opened the season with three straight sweeps before falling to No. 3 MSU Denver in five sets.
The leading attacker for the ThunderWolves is Maddy Wisniewski who averages 2.83 kills per set with a total of 147. Payton Stack is sitting in ninth in the conference as has a .316 attacking average.
UP NEXT
The Grizzlies will return to action next week when they travel to Golden to take on Colorado School of Mines on Friday, Oct. 8 and to Chadron, Neb. to take on the Eagles on Sunday Oct. 9.
