Colorado College rallied from a 15-11 deficit in the opening set on Saturday to bounce back and sweep Trinity University, 25-23, 25-20, 26-24, for its third consecutive SCAC playoff title. 
 
Playing in front of a loud, partisan crowd at a packed Reid Arena, top-seeded CC rode seven digs by freshman Sophie Merrifield in the opening set to seize momentum for the rest of the match. 
 
Trinity took a 15-11 lead in the first set after an ace by Meredith Erwin, but after head coach Rick Swan brought his team to the sideline, the Tigers went on a 6-2 to run to tie the score.
 
"I just tried to calm them down a little bit,” Swan said. “We told them there was a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement, and we just need to calm down, relax and play within ourselves. We told them to keep swinging and stay aggressive, though, to mix it up a little. We were feeding [Trinity's] big blockers too much in the beginning."  
 
The Trinity Tigers took a 23-21 lead on an ace by Leslie Green, but the hosts tied the game on a kill by senior outside hitter Laura Goldsmith and closed out the set on a TU attack error and a smash by sophomore outside hitter Kristen Liberty.
 
Colorado College built a 13-9 lead in the second set on a kill by Goldsmith, but Trinity battled back to tie the game at 20-20. Goldsmith put CC ahead with a kill, and freshman opposite hitter Courtney Birkett served up a pair of aces during a 4-0 run that finished on another kill by Liberty. 
 
The final set saw a tough battle between the two Tigers, with the set seeing 13 ties and seven lead changes.
 
Colorado College, which improved to 23-9 on the season, seized a 17-12 lead in the third set, but once again Trinity battled back to tie the match with a 6-1 run that was sparked with a kill by Kelsey Daniel.
 
TU held a slim edge in the final set with a 24-23 lead, but CC's senior Kate Squires and Liberty, both of whom were named to the SCAC all-Tournament team, combined for three straight points to earn the win and the championship.
 
By virtue of the conference championship, the Tigers earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament – marking it the 15th year in a row they have competed at nationals. 
 
Merrifield finished with 17 digs overall to lead CC on defense, while Goldsmith added 16 and Emily Phillips 15 more. Goldsmith, the SCAC Tournament MVP, led the home team offensively with 12 kills. Liberty hammered down nine while posting a .333 attack percentage. 
 
Trinity's Daniel matched Liberty's 12 kills and hit .476 for Trinity, which got 15 digs from Maryn Swierc.