Concord Falters on Day One of Colorado Mines Tournament

GOLDEN, Colo. – The Concord University volleyball team fell to Colorado Mines and 13th-ranked Regis in its first two matches at the Colorado Mines Volleyball Classic on Friday.
 
Match 1: Colorado Mines 3 – Concord 1 (25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20)
 
Set 1
Senior middle hitter Kyndra Pilant got the 2024 season underway with a kill to lead 1-0. After a quick back and forth, sophomore outside hitter Chloe Thompson took over for the Mountain Lions. Her first kill of the set gave CU a slight edge 4-3. Excluding CSM errors, Thompson scored the next six points for Concord, bringing the Maroon and Gray within three, 17-14. Sophomore outside hitter Meg Williams recorded her first kill of the season to knot the game 22-22, but a 3-0 Orediggers' run sealed the first set.
 
Set 2
After consecutive kills from sophomore middle hitter Jasmine Anderson, CU trailed by one early in the set 5-4. Kills from Thompson, Pilant, and Williams quieted a Colorado Mines scoring run, cutting the deficit to 16-10. Freshman setter Rylee Wise and sophomore setter Paige Richmond added aces late in the set, but CSM took a 2-0 lead by a final score of 25-17.
 
Set 3
After a fast start by the Orediggers, Concord rebounded with kills from Pilant and sophomore right side Natalie Brown to knot the set, 7-7. A 5-1 CU run was spearheaded by Pilant and Thompson to take a two-point lead, 14-12. After Colorado Mines took a 16-15 lead, Concord took control of the set. Brown, sophomore middle hitter Meagan Poticher, Williams, Anderson, Thompson, and Pilant added kills in the latter half of the frame to win the first set of the season for CU, 25-21. The Maroon and Gray hit .364 (15-for-33) in the set and logged a game-best 15 kills.
 
Set 4
Thomspon began the fourth game with two kills and gave Concord an early 7-5 edge. Following a CSM scoring spurt, a kill from Williams cut into the deficit, 15-12. Williams and Thompson would swing two more kills each in the set, but Colorado Mines would close out the first game of the season, 25-20.
 
Match Stats
Thompson (15 kills, 11 digs, .256 hitting percentage) and Williams (12 kills, 14 digs, .250 percentage) each notched double-doubles in the match and hit north of .250 in the match. Pilant added nine kills and four total blocks (one solo, three assisted). Davis contributed 21 digs while Richmond assisted on 24 CU points. 
 
Match 2: #13 Regis 3 – Concord 0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-13)
 
Set 1
A pair of kills from Pilant and one from Williams tied the first set 3-3 early on. Pilant (six) and Williams (six) combined for 12 of Concord's 13 kills in the opening frame, but were unable to make up ground on the Rangers as Regis took a 1-0 game lead, 25-18.
 
Set 2
Two Regis attack errors, an RU service error, and a kill from Pilant saw the Mountain Lions lead 4-1 early in game two. Williams and brown connected on kills to extend the lead to four. After Regis took the lead midway through the frame, kills from Anderson and Brown kept CU within reach 16-14. An 8-0 Rangers run closed out the second set and RU seized a 2-0 advantage.
 
Set 3
Brown, Thompson, and Pilant scored the first three points of the third game for Concord as it jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Thompson added two more kills to her tally to round out her six kills in the match. A pair of four-point runs from RU clinched the 3-0 sweep over Concord, 25-13.
 
Match Stats
Pilant finished as the only CU player to reach 10 kills and swung for a .643 hitting percentage. Williams added eight kills and two blocks. Richmond recorded 12 assists while sophomore setter Declyn Tooze assisted on eight Concord points.
 
CU faces Missouri Western at 12:00 p.m. and 17th-ranked Colorado Mesa at 7:00 p.m. Saturday in its final matches at the Colorado Mines Volleyball Classic.