Box Score No. 8 Colorado College continued its dominance on Saturday as it earned another pair of sweeps to win the Colorado College Invitational in Reid Arena.
"It was a great start to the season," said head coach
Rick Swan. "I'm excited with some of the things we did in the tournament."
The Tigers were led by junior
Courtney Birkett, who was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, with 27 kills, 13 digs and six blocks on the day.
Birkett led the team with 13 kills in the opening day's match as CC beat Simpson College 25-19, 25-19, 25-20.
The Tigers had two other players earn double figure kills with all-tournament team selection
Kristen Liberty and sophomore Abby Holtze picking up 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
Freshman
Sarah Barker, an all-tournament selection, orchestrated the attack dishing out 38 assists against the Storm and rounded out the day with 29 assists in the tournament finale.
Colorado College finished the day with a 25-16, 25-20, 25-11 victory over Oswego State University to win the tournament and improve to a perfect 4-0 record on the season.
The Tigers were strong offensively as a team combining for a .380 hitting percentage with 45 kills in 92 attempts with only 10 attack errors against the Lakers.
"I really liked the hitting percentage in the final match," said Swan. "I thought we had a good consistent level of play all weekend long.
"We even had a couple kids playing in different positions and did well."
Liberty, who normally is a middle hitter, moved to the outside in the final match. The senior went for seven kills on 17 attempts with no attack errors.
Sophomore
Keli Sherwood was also a strong presence at the net with a .643 attack percentage on nine kills in 14 attempts. Defensively, she had a hand on a team-high five blocks.
CC continues play at home when it hosts the Colorado College Classic on Sept. 5-6 in Reid Arena.
FINAL STANDINGS Colorado College 4-0
Minnesota Morris 3-1
Simpson College 2-2
Oswego State 1-3
Blackburn College 0-4
FINAL RESULTS Friday, Aug. 29: Oswego State def. Blackburn College, 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-10) Simpson College def. Oswego State, 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-13) Colorado College def. Blackburn College, 3-0 (25-8, 25-15, 25-12) Univ. of Minnesota-Morris def. Simpson College, 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-15, 25-22) Colorado College def. Univ. of Minnesota-Morris, 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-14)
Saturday, Aug. 30: Simpson College def. Blackburn College, 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-13) Colorado College def. Simpson College, 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-20) Univ. of Minnesota-Morris def. Oswego State, 3-1 (25-14, 25-22, 24-26, 25-17) Univ. of Minnesota-Morris def. Blackburn College, 3-1 (25-10, 18-25, 25-18, 25-18) Colorado College def. Oswego State, 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-11)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Courtney Birkett, Colorado College
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Kristen Liberty, Colorado College
Sarah Barker, Colorado College
Emily Auch, Minnesota-Morris
Abby Tietz, Minnesota-Morris
Katie Kieffer, Simpson College
Stephanie Bailey, Oswego State
Victoria Bowens, Blackburn College
